Steel plate prices have remained stable in the United States despite continued weakness in sheet pricing.Fastmarkets AMM's price assessment for cut-to-length plate was at $48 per hundred ($960 per short ton) on Friday October 12, unchanged compared with the previous week.Lead times average eight weeks at mills with spot tons available, market participants said."Plate is a pain now. It's tighter th...Read More
Increasing raw material costs have driven special bar quality (SBQ) prices up by $1 per hundredweight ($20 per short ton) across all grades, with market participants reporting lead times for hot-rolled bar that extend into early February 2019.Fastmarkets AMM's price assessment for 1-inch round 1000 series (Carbon) hot-rolled bar was at $46 per cwt on Friday October 12, up from $45 p...Read More
Slab export prices from Brazil edged up late last week as producers waited for sales to the United States to resume.Fastmarkets MB's weekly price assessment for slab exports from Brazil was $490-510 per tonne fob on Friday October 12 compared with $480-500 per tonne fob on October 5.Brazilian producers are willing to sell to markets outside North America, such as Europe and Asia, at...Read More
Fastmarkets' weekly price assessments for the Russian domestic steel market will not be published on October 15, 2018, because of a public holiday affecting the regional office whose staff compile the assessments.Instead, the prices will be published on October 16, 2018.The assessments affected are the Russian domestic prices...Read More
The European Commission's imposition of tariff rate quotas on 23 steel products earlier this year is severely threatening non-integrated downstream wire rod consumers who have become increasingly reliant on imports over the last few years, the European Non-Integrated Wire Rod Processors Association (Eunirpa) said. Wire rod imports into Europe have increased sharply in the past three years - the ti...Read More
The latest metal markets news and price moves to start the North American day on Monday October 15. Base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange were predominantly lower during morning trading due to a firm dollar index, while the lead price continued its recovery.Here's how base metals prices looked at...Read More
The latest news and price moves to start the Asian day on Tuesday October 16.Base metal prices on the London Metal Exchange were mostly lower at the close of trading on Monday October 15 compared with Friday, with a softer United States' dollar having little effect on prices but trade tensions and weak stock markets keeping investors cautious. Read more in our live futures report. Here are ho...Read More
Manganese ore prices were mixed for the week ended Friday October 12, with low-grade material into China sliding due to increased liquidity following the end of the Golden Week holiday while higher-grade product ticked up in what one miner called a balanced market.Meanwhile, alloy prices fell in Europe but were flat in India and the United States. Low-grade manganese ore price falls sharply; high-...Read More
The need for investment in new lithium projects creates a need for risk management tools, but the market's immaturity creates challenges, according to panelists at an LME focus session during this year's annual LME Week. Increasing demand for lithium compounds arising out of the electric vehicle and battery boom has created an appetite to bring new projects on stream, but there are risks associate...Read More
Vale's iron ore production increased by 10.30% year-on-year in the third quarter of 2018, while sales soared by 9.40% in the same comparison.Iron ore output reached a record high of 104.95 million tonnes from July to September, compared with 95.10 million tonnes in the corresponding months a year before.The increase was due to the continuing ramp-up of the company's S11D project, in Brazil's north...Read More
The Turkish deep-sea scrap market was silent on Monday October 15, with market participants waiting to see if an improved Turkish lira will help boost prices.The Turkish lira has picked up since the country freed the American evangelical pastor Andrew Brunson on Friday afternoon, whose detention over his alleged links to proscribed political groups resulted in political tension with the United Sta...Read More
Turkish domestic scrap prices have fallen over the past week because the country's lira has started to regain some of its former value, sources said on Monday October 15.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for auto bundle (DKP grade) ferrous scrap was TRY1,850-2,040 ($315-347) per tonne delivered on Monday, compared with last week's TRY1,900-2,040 per tonne.The rise in the assessment came after s...Read More
The latest bids, offers and deals in the global markets for iron ore, pig iron, direct-reduced iron and other steelmaking raw materials. Latest transaction: iron oreIron oreVale, Global Ore, 170,000...Read More
Seaborne iron ore prices were rangebound amid a quiet market on Monday October 15 with uncertainties emerging over steelmaking restrictions in east China.MB 62% Fe Iron Ore Index: $71.66 per tonne cfr Qingdao, down by $0.01 per tonne.MB 62% Fe Pilbara Blend Fines Index: $70.69 per tonne cfr Qingdao, down by $0.01 per tonne.MB 62% Fe Iron Ore Index-Low Alumina: $76.34 per tonne cfr Qingdao, down by...Read More
Trading activity in the seaborne iron ore pellet market was subdued last week, with some participants expecting prices to come down.The MB 65% Fe Iron Ore Pellet Index, published by Fastmarkets MB, was at $160.54 per tonne cfr China on Friday October 12, down by $1.10 per tonne from a week earlier.The fall in the MB 65% Fe Iron Ore Pellet index (MBIOI-PT) was based on the visible market activity d...Read More
Seaborne coking coal spot prices moved in opposite directions on Monday October 15, with the cfr China segment picking up some strength while the fob Australia one softened.A November-laycan cargo of low-vol Australian premium hard coking coal was sold to an end user in northeastern China at $220 per tonne cfr China, sources confirmed during the day. The last cfr China transaction for such a produ...Read More
China's ferrous futures started the week mixed, with the steel contracts posting gains during morning trading on Monday October 15, while those for steelmaking raw materials trended downward to end the session lower.Futures closing prices - morning session Shanghai Futures Exchange January rebar: 4,154 yuan ($600) per tonne, up 36 yuan per tonne January hot rolled coil: 3,952 yuan per tonne, up 20...Read More
Arbitrage for copper, aluminium, zinc and nickel imported into China on Monday October 15*Copper -$151.73 (-1053.74 yuan)Aluminium -$467.58 (-3247.27 yuan) Zinc -$54.19 (-376.37 yuan) Nickel $303.89 (2110.43 yuan) *Fastmarkets calculates the physical arbitrage for import into China daily by using SHFE front-month and LME three-month prices...Read More
First Cobalt Corp is in discussions with various feedstock suppliers and potential offtake parties who could finance an eventual restart of its cobalt refining facility in Ontario, Canada. The base case scenario would see the refinery resume operations at 24 tonnes per day, the company said, with production of cobalt sulfate for the lithium-ion battery market or cobalt metal for the US aerospace i...Read More
At the inaugural LME Focus Day, part of this year's LME Week in London, Fastmarkets' head of base metals and battery research, Will Adams, discussed the supply and demand outlook for the cobalt market over the next five to seven years. While there is unlikely to be any shortage of cobalt over the next two to three years, the market is expected to gradually shift toward being in a deficit again in...Read More