The Century zinc mine, the world's third largest prior to its 2016 closure, is on track to restart production in late July and generate up to 264,000 tonnes per year of zinc.Fully owned by New Century Resources, the mine in Australia's Queensland is set to complete its start-up production in three months' time, according to the company's quarterly activities report released on Wednesday. First pro...Read More
Tin premiums for standard material were stable globally in the week ended Tuesday January 30 but the market is looking hungrier for Indonesian material and keenly awaiting exports to resume as expected in the coming days. 99.9% tin premiums stable in Europe and China but a bit higher in the United States Indonesian export permit renewal process still main focus Low-lead tin premiums a...Read More
Zinc premiums were largely flat in inactive spot markets in the week to Tuesday January 30, with the exception of Southeast Asian market, thanks to growing galvanizing demand in Vietnam, while lead premiums were steady on weak spot demand. Zinc premium for Southeast Asia ticked up on growing galvanizing demand from Vietnam, but were largely unchanged elsewhere LME zinc price set a new 10-ye...Read More
The German metals sector is being hit with a number of day-long strikes this week while negotiations over pay between employers and trade union IG Metall continue, Metal Bulletin heard on Wednesday January 31.German metals companies could incur a significant loss of revenue, due to production and delivery shortfalls as a result of the strikes, along with additional costs for catching up on outages...Read More
Comex copper prices bounced back on Wednesday January 31 after a multi-session downturn with a softening dollar lifting the metals complex. Copper for March settlement on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange gained 2.90 cents or 0.9% to $3.2180 per lb. The contract had been on a four-day losing streak. "Judging by the limited pullback and decent dip-buying interest, bulls are sti...Read More
ArcelorMittal's global earnings increased by 28.92% year-on-year in the fourth quarter of 2017 due to increased steel shipment volumes and higher prices, the company said on Wednesday January 31.Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (Ebitda) at the world's largest steelmaker reached $2.14 billion in October-December last year, compared with $1.66 billion in the correspondi...Read More
Saudi Arabian flat steel re-roller and coater Unicoil is now able to produce pre-painted galvanized steel (PPGI), or color-coated coils, in thicknesses up to 1.50mm, the company told Metal Bulletin on Wednesday January 31.Its previous limit was 1.20mm, but increased demand for building cladding, side-walling and kitchen appliances made the company focus on higher gauges, Unicoil said.The company c...Read More
Earnings at ArcelorMittal's Brazilian division rose by 59.9% year-on-year in the fourth quarter of 2017, due to increased volumes and prices.Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (Ebitda) totaled $341 million in the October-December period, up from $213 million a year before, ArcelorMittal announced on Wednesday January 31.The company shipped 3.05 million tonnes of steel p...Read More
Iranian export billet prices dropped $5-10 per tonne over the week ended Wednesday January 31, with deals reported at lower prices than last week amid the global downtrend in the long steel market.Metal Bulletin's weekly price assessment for Iranian export billet was $489-505 per tonne fob on January 31, against $508-510 per tonne fob a week earlier.Several bookings were heard done at $496-505 per...Read More
Domestic prices for steel wire rod widened upward by ?,?10 per tonne in Northern Europe this week with mills in the region pushing through further price rises, sources told Metal Bulletin on Wednesday January 31.Metal Bulletin's weekly price assessment for domestic mesh-quality wire rod in Northern Europe widened upward week-on-week to ?,?550-570 ($682-706) per tonne delivered on Wednesday, its hi...Read More
Finnish stainless steelmaker Outokumpu expects to encounter continued cost pressure from high prices for graphite electrodes and ferro-silicon in 2018, it said on Wednesday January 31."We're seeing increases in graphite electrode [contract] prices into the early part of 2018 of more than 300% [year-on-year from the average cost in 2017]," chief financial officer Christoph de la Camp said during a...Read More
The appreciation of the South African rand since mid-November 2017 should preclude near-term price drops for the country's ores and alloys and will probably lead to further increases, according to producers. Metal Bulletin's indices for South African manganese ore, chrome ore and charge chrome have all been rising since early in December amid strong demand from China. Of those three commodities, t...Read More
Key data from the January 31 pricing session in Europe.Ferro-titanium 70% (max 4.5% Al) $ per kg, delivered duty-paid in Europe TodayPreviousChange to midpoint of rangeMidpoint % change5.00-5.505.50-5.6000Titanium scrap turnings, unprocessed (max 0.5% Sn) $ per lb, cif European ports ...Read More
The following Metal Bulletin noble alloys and ores prices changed on Wednesday January 31:Noble alloys Molybdenum Europe drummed molybdic oxide, $/lb: $29.50-30.00 per lb from $29.75-31.00 Ferro-molybdenum basis 65% min, in-warehouse Rotterdam, $/kg Mo: $11.80-12.00 per kg from...Read More
Jupiter Mines this week opened a $42 million share buyback, partly funded by a 1.1 billion South African rand ($91.9 million) distribution to shareholders by South African manganese miner Tshipi, of which it owns 49.9%. The board of Tshipi resolved to distribute the cash to shareholders due to soaring production and higher manganese ore prices, Jupiter said. Metal Bulletin's 37% manganese ore...Read More
ArcelorMittal has predicted that its global iron ore shipments will rise by 10% year-on-year in 2018 following an increase in production at its mines in Liberia, the firm said on Wednesday January 31.Iron ore production will rise to 5 million tonnes from ArcelorMittal's Liberian mines in 2018, compared with around 2 million tonnes in 2017, the company said.Global shipments of iron ore shipped at m...Read More
Russia's Metalloinvest, one of the largest pig iron suppliers in the world, reduced its pig iron shipments in 2017 because of the effects of maintenance and repair works, the company said on Wednesday January 31.In 2017, the company reduced its pig iron output by 9.3% to 2.7 million tonnes. Shipments to third parties went down by 12% to 2.077 million tonnes.Traditionally, Metalloinvest exports...Read More
Billet import volumes into Turkey have fallen over the past three years, with the producers opting to buy scrap because the price margin between these two products has widened since the second half of 2016, making scrap imports more profitable.In 2015, Turkey imported 7.85 million tonnes of steel billet, while scrap imports totaled 16.25 million tonnes in the same year, according to the Turkish St...Read More
Turkish steel producers went quiet again on Wednesday January 31 but still expected to book more cargoes for March, according to sources.Market participants expected the Turkish buyers to show some buying interest through to the end of the week."The Turks need to buy more scrap for March. I think they will be back in the...Read More
Iron ore prices continued to hover around $73 per tonne cfr China on Wednesday January 31 amid an inactive physical market. Metal Bulletin's 62% Fe Iron Ore Index Today: $72.92 per tonne cfr Qingdao Daily change: down by $0.05 per tonne Month-to-date average: $75.83 per tonne Metal Bulletin's 58% Fe Premium Index Today: $59.96...Read More