Aluminium output will grow steadily due to rising consumption and strong prices, multiple speakers said at Asian Metal's Aluminium Raw Materials Conference in Jinan in China on Friday May 18.Demand for primary aluminium will reach 70 million tonnes by 2020, according to Ron Knapp, Secretary General of the International Aluminium Institute. This represents an increase of about 3 million tonnes...Read More
The latest metal markets news and price moves to start the North American day on Tuesday May 22. Base metals on the London Metal Exchange were a mixed picture during morning trading, with copper prices climbing 1% while zinc and tin edged lower.Reaching a high of $6,959 per tonne over the morning, copper's three-month price is edging towards the $7,000 per tonne support level. The red metal's rece...Read More
Base metals on the London Metal Exchange were a mixed picture during morning trading on Tuesday May 22, with copper prices climbing 1% while zinc and tin edged lower. Reaching a high of $6,959 per tonne over the morning, copper's three-month price is edging towards the $7,000 per tonne support level. The red metal's recent price rise has been buoyed by strong demand from China, in addition to an e...Read More
Brazilian flat steel producers have announced price increases of 8-15% to distributors and industrial clients for early June, according to national flat steel association Inda.Usiminas confirmed a price increase of 10.60% for hot-rolled coil (HRC), cold-rolled coil (CRC) and heavy plate. For coated steel products, the increase will be around 15%.The Usiminas price rise will be applied on June 5, w...Read More
Brazilian sales of flat steel products increased by 5.40% year-on-year in April 2018, mostly led by the performance of the automotive sector.Sales from distributors amounted to 225,100 tonnes last month, compared with 213,700 tonnes in April 2017, national flat steel association Inda said on Tuesday May 22.The growth was led by the automotive and agricultural machinery sectors, while other steel-c...Read More
Brazil's foreign trade chamber, Camex, has decided not to impose final trade sanctions against imports of hot-rolled coil (HRC) from China, despite finding confirmation of subsidy practices.In a meeting held by Camex's ministers on Monday May 21, the chamber applied five-year anti-subsidy duties varying from $196.49 per tonne to $425.22 per tonne on Chinese HRC (see table), but then suspended the...Read More
Crude steel output in Brazil rose by 1.90% year-on-year in April, with both demand and consumption volumes increasing, according to figures released by national steel institute A??o Brasil on Tuesday May 22.Production in the month came to 2.95 million tonnes, compared with 2.89 million tonnes a year earlier.Brazilian mills produced 2 million tonnes of finished steel last month, up by 6.40% from Ap...Read More
CIS export billet prices remained stable on Tuesday May 22 with buying activity no better than sluggish, Metal Bulletin has heard."With these prices, no-one is making money so sales are not happening," an international trader told Metal Bulletin, referring to high offer prices from CIS mills and low bids from customers.Metal Bulletin's CIS billet export index was $524 per...Read More
CIS export rebar and wire rod prices remained unchanged in the week ended Monday May 21 with varying factors pulling the markets in different directions.Some market participants expected prices to pick up in the near term amid a reduction in the availability of material from Ukraine's ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih. This follows last week's production halt, which itself was the result of a four-day stri...Read More
Trade log for battery-grade lithium carbonate in China including trades, bids and offers reported to Metal Bulletin. Unless otherwise stated, all prices are per tonne on an in-warehouse China basis. Delivered prices are netted back. Click here for Metal Bulletin's price assessment for lithium carbonate min 99.5% Li2CO3 battery grade, spot price range, ex-works China, yuan per tonne. Metal Bulletin...Read More
Chinese vanadium export prices continued to register declines after exporters lowered their offers in order to drum up buying interest, while European vanadium prices again followed the downtrend in the Chinese market. Chinese export prices soften on thin trading European vanadium prices remain under pressure amid profit-taking US FeV market grinds to a halt, prices flatThe Chinese vanadium expor...Read More
Physical iron ore prices continued to retreat on Tuesday May 22 amid further losses in the futures and finished steel markets.Metal Bulletin 62% Fe Iron Ore Index: $64.41 per tonne cfr Qingdao, down by $0.89 per tonneMetal Bulletin 58% Fe Premium Index: $52.87 per tonne cfr Qingdao, down by $0.95 per tonneMetal Bulletin 65% Fe Iron Ore Index: $83.40 per tonne cfr Qingdao, down by $0.70 per tonneMe...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 oreRio Tinto, tender, 170,000 tonnes of...Read More
The seaborne coking coal spot market was quiet on Tuesday May 22 in the absence of firm bids. Market participants opted to remain on the sidelines to wait for a clearer trend to emerge in the market."End-users in China already stocked up several rounds in the past few months. At current prices, they would not have that great of...Read More
China's rebar, coke and iron ore futures fell during morning trading on Tuesday May 22, while the hot rolled coil and coking coal contracts ended the session largely flat.Futures closing prices - morning session Shanghai Futures Exchange October rebar: 3,586 ($561) per tonne, down 20 per tonneOctober hot-rolled coil: 3,778 yuan per tonne, down 1 per tonneDalian Commodity Exchange September iron or...Read More
China's domestic hot-rolled coil prices decreased slightly on Tuesday May 22 amid sparse trading. DomesticEastern China (Shanghai): 4,240-4,260 yuan ($664-667) per tonne, down 10 yuan per tonneNorthern China (Tianjin): 4,080-4,100 yuan per tonne, down 10 yuan per tonneBuyers procured materials at a lower rate on seeing the benchmark HRC futures contract trade below Monday's settlement price of 3,7...Read More
Arbitrage for copper, aluminium, zinc and nickel imported into China on Tuesday May 22*Copper -$94.87 (-606.25 yuan) Aluminium -$505.76 (-3,231.80 yuan) Zinc -$8.14 (-52.01 yuan) Nickel -$487.85 (-3,117.36 yuan) *Metal Bulletin calculates the physical arbitrage for import into...Read More
China's domestic and export prices for rebar fell on Tuesday May 22 on weakening futures. Domestic Eastern China (Shanghai): 3,900-3,950 yuan ($611-618) per tonne, down 50 yuan per tonneNorthern China (Beijing): 3,880-3,900 yuan per tonne, down 10-20 yuan per tonneThe continual drop in the futures market over the past few days put pressure on spot rebar prices. In east China, prices experienced a...Read More
Canada-based minerals supplier Cobalt 27's Electric Metals Streaming subsidiary has entered a metal purchase and sale agreement with Ramu Nickel (RNL) for cobalt and nickel produced at the Ramu mine in Papua-New Guinea, Metal Bulletin has learned.Under the agreement, Cobalt 27 will have the right to purchase 55% of RNL's share of cobalt metal produced at Ramu, and 27.5% of its nickel, for the life...Read More
The rally in manganese flake prices is likely to resume after production cuts at Ningxia Tianyuan, the world's biggest manganese flake producer, market participants told Metal Bulletin. Ningxia Tianyuan has reduced manganese flake output by around 16,000 tonnes per month due to one of its three facilities closing down for maintenance, a source at the company told Metal Bulletin. Ningxia Tianyuan h...Read More