China's ferrous futures ended the morning trading session lower on Friday October 19, with the rebar and coke contracts experiencing the steepest drops.Futures closing prices - morning session Shanghai Futures Exchange January rebar: 4,093 yuan ($590) per tonne, down 30 yuan per tonneJanuary hot rolled coil: 3,865 yuan per tonne, down 2 yuan per tonneDalian Commodity Exchange January iron ore: 516...Read More
An overview of the battery raw materials markets and their price moves from the past week.Read More
Pig iron suppliers to the United States have increased their offer prices amid a rebound in the price of hot-rolled coil (HRC) and a positive mood in the scrap market, sources told Fastmarkets on Friday October 19.Fastmarkets' price assessment for US imports of pig iron widened upward to $375-395 per tonne cfr on October 19, from $375-390 per tonne a week before."Russian suppliers are asking for a...Read More
Steel slab export prices from Brazil went up marginally in the week that ended on Friday October 19, with producers starting to focus on the North American market, where activity is beginning to revive.Fastmarkets' monthly assessment of Brazil's slab export prices was $500-510 per tonne fob on Friday, up from $490-510 per tonne fob in the previous week.Brazilian companies were heard offering mater...Read More
Base prices for stainless steel flat and long products in Europe were unchanged in the week ended Friday October 19, but the alloy surcharges for November, which will be announced next week, are expected to decrease.A distributor had been informed that surcharges for the key grade-304 cold-rolled (CR) sheet were likely to decrease by ?,?40-50 ($46-57) per tonne, it said.If there is such a decrease...Read More
The latest metal markets news and price moves to start the North American day on Friday October 19.Base metal prices have made a mixed start to morning trading on the London Metal Exchange with sister metals zinc and lead showing marginal declines against gains elsewhere.The three-month lead price has dropped below $2,000 per tonne and is now in its fourth day of declines. Still, the London m...Read More
Good morning from Fastmarkets MB's offices in Asia as we bring you the latest news and pricing stories on Friday October 19.Base metals prices on the Shanghai Futures Exchange were broadly down during Asian morning trading on Friday, with weaker-than-expected economic data from China sparking a wave of risk-off sentiment in the base metals market.Check Metal Bulletin's live futures report here.AMG...Read More
Metal Bulletin rounds up some of the key news and price moves across the global metal markets this week.Base metalsAlcoa intends to shut its Spanish aluminium smelting operations at La Coru??a and Avil?(C)s, saying they are the least productive in the Alcoa system due to structural issues. BHP's zinc concentrates production rose 5% year on year in the three months ended September 30, according to...Read More
Sacha Lifschitz, senior nickel trader at London-based Concord Resources, has left the company for personal reasons, Fastmarkets understands.Lifschitz declined to comment at the time of publication, while...Read More
The Comex copper price rebounded in the US morning on Friday October 19 despite weak growth in China, with potential further stimulus from the Chinese central bank expected. The copper price for December settlement on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange rose 2.70 cents to $2.7735 per lb. China's economic growth slowed more than expected in the third quarter of this year to the w...Read More
The global metals industry gathered in force last week in London for what remains, despite recent spin-off conferences elsewhere in the world, the largest and longest-established such event for the raw materials sector.London Metal Exchange (LME) week is a time of taking stock - of prices in the underlying markets, the state of the industry, the global political and economic backdrop and, closer t...Read More
Qianhai Mercantile Exchange, Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing's new onshore China commodities trading platform, started trading on Friday October 19, with a first deal for alumina concluded. Chinalco International Trade sold 3,000 tonnes of alumina to Xiamen Xiangyu Group at 3,030 yuan ($436.67) per tonne."We hope to establish fair market prices with industry customers and establish good market...Read More
Indian domestic prices for hot-rolled coil (HRC) have been showing signs of weakness on account of muted demand in the week ended Friday October 19.Local mills so far have not reduced domestic prices for HRC but they are facing pressure from buyers to consider a correction in prices."There is a lot of pressure from our distributors to reduce HRC prices, but we will not be reducing prices in Octobe...Read More
Prices for grade 18/8 alloy steel scrap in the UK and Europe decreased in the week ended Friday October 19, largely because of weak demand.Market participants described an extremely slow alloy scrap market in general, with trading levels diminished both through low demand from stainless steel mills and also by limited supplies.Mills have been buying lower-than-normal quantities of alloy scrap in O...Read More
Base metal prices ended the trading week weakly on the London Metal Exchange, with aluminium, zinc and lead all down on the previous day.The three-month zinc price dropped by 2.1% to $2,626 per tonne at the LME 5pm close - this was the contract's first daily drop in five days.Lead closed at $1,992 per tonne and aluminium $2,003 per tonne, both down $10 from their Thursday closing levels.The LME's...Read More
Metal Bulletin rounds up some of the key news and price moves across the global metal markets this week.Base metalsAlcoa intends to shut its Spanish aluminium smelting operations at La Coru??a and Avil?(C)s, saying they are the least productive in the Alcoa system due to structural issues. BHP's zinc concentrates production rose 5% year on year in the three months ended September 30, according to...Read More
A meeting in Brussels next week will discuss whether four chemical compounds irreplaceable in the production of lead batteries should be banned, effectively spelling the end for the technology in the region. The proposal for an in-effect ban is part of Reach, a European Union regulation concerning the Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and restriction of Chemicals that came into force in 2007...Read More
The Comex copper price rebounded in the US morning on Friday October 19 despite weak growth in China, with potential further stimulus from the Chinese central bank expected. The copper price for December settlement on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange rose 2.70 cents to $2.7735 per lb. China's economic growth slowed more than expected in the third quarter of this year to the w...Read More
The global metals industry gathered in force last week in London for what remains, despite recent spin-off conferences elsewhere in the world, the largest and longest-established such event for the raw materials sector.London Metal Exchange (LME) week is a time of taking stock - of prices in the underlying markets, the state of the industry, the global political and economic backdrop and, closer t...Read More
A year of unprecedented copper smelter disruptions has put copper concentrate benchmark negotiations on the front foot, with miners and smelters closer than usual in bid and offered terms at the outset of discussions. Major outages at key smelters, including Sterlite Copper's Tuticorin, Glencore's Pasar and Codelco's Chuquicamata have pushed up spot treatment and refining charges (TC/RCs...Read More