The zinc price in Shanghai rose on Tuesday July 6 despite the state's latest attempt to cool down the price of the galvanizing metal by auctioning off inventory.The daily zinc Shanghai Futures Exchange price closed at 22,310 yuan on Tuesday, up 0.6% day on day.There was minimal price reaction after the Chinese government sold its 30,000 tonnes of zinc ingots reserve at the first-ever public tender...Read More
The United States' Department of Commerce announced on July 2 that they will sanction China's Wanbao Mining and its entities for supporting Myanmar's military regime.The entities are involved in copper mining and satellite services. They are Wanbao Mining Ltd., its two subsidiaries - Myanmar Wanbao Mining Copper, Ltd. and Myanmar Yang Tse Copper, Ltd. - and King Royal Technologies Co., Ltd.Read More
Base metal prices on the London Metal Exchange mostly increased on Tuesday July 6, with a tepid dollar driving the complex up. The United States dollar index was at 92.29 on Tuesday, up 0.8 from an earlier reading on the same day, but lower than its peak of 92.76 during its late-May to early-July rally. The three-month LME lead price led the increase on Tuesday, up 1.2% compared to Monday's c...Read More
Base metals prices on the Shanghai Futures Exchange, apart from those for lead, were up during morning trading on Tuesday July 6. Those on the London Metal Exchange were mixed, but that was after a generally positive day on Monday.Brent crude oil climbs after Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries fail to agree a production increaseBase metalsLME three-month base metals prices were mixed th...Read More
Prices for hot-rolled coil in the United States surged after domestic mills raised offers while buyers continued to aggressively vie for the few available spot tons. Fastmarkets' daily steel hot-rolled coil index, fob mill US was calculated at $89.53 per hundredweight ($1,790.60 per short ton) on Tuesday July 6, an increase of 2.33% from $87.74 per cwt on Friday July 2 and up 4.13% from $85.98 per...Read More
Prices for carbon steel plate in the United States have stabilized after four consecutive weeks of increases, and market participants expect a flat period followed by more price hikes.Fastmarkets' weekly assessment for steel cut-to-length plate carbon grade, fob mill US was at $75 per hundredweight ($1,500 per short ton) on Friday July 2, unchanged from the previous week but nearly tripl...Read More
The United States' steel import licenses climbed in June to the highest level since January 2020, according to government figures.The US was licensed to import 2.66 million tonnes of steel in June, up 16.01% from 2.29 million tonnes in May, according to data from the US International Trade Administration's steel import monitoring system. Import licenses were up 108.27% from 1.28 million tonnes in...Read More
The Zakat, Tax & Customs Authority in Saudi Arabia has decreed that all imports into the country will be subject to import duty, whether they come from free-trade zones or other member-states of the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC).GCC countries normally have duty-free trade between each other. They are Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.The Saudi Arabian decree...Read More
Indian suppliers exhausted their third-quarter quota for shipments of hot-rolled coil into Europe on the first day of the new three-month period, according to data released by the European Commission (EC).The EU's HRC import quota of 169,717 tonnes assigned to suppliers from India was fully exhausted on July 1.About 13,798 tonnes of HRC from India were awaiting allocation on July 5.European buyers...Read More
Ferrous scrap prices in Mexico increased in the week ended Friday July 2, after being mostly stable in the previous week, amid consumers fighting to secure supply.After a week of stability, most steelmakers in Mexico's northern Monterrey region and central Baj?-o region applied price increases to all grades due to limited material availability.Price movements were reported in a wide range, between...Read More
Seaborne coking coal prices were largely stable in both the cfr and fob markets on Tuesday July 6, with most market participants still on the sidelines after the centenary of the Chinese Communist Party on July 2, sources told Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets indicesPremium hard coking coal, fob DBCT: $202.52 per tonne, down $0.68 per tonnePremium hard coking coal, cfr Jingtang: $308.55 per tonne, up $0.70...Read More
The recent imposition of a stricter Covid-19-related lockdown across Bangladesh has left the densely populated country's steel sector facing several difficult short-term challenges, Fastmarkets heard on Tuesday July 6.Surging numbers of Covid-19 cases and deaths in Bangladesh from the middle of June onward led authorities to put in place a strict one-week lockdown starting on July 1. The governmen...Read More
Iron ore prices largely edged up on Tuesday July 6 following the steel price increase, while market chatter on the crude steel production cut and authorities' focus on curbing the commodity price surge weighed on the market, sources told Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets iron ore indices 62% Fe fines, cfr Qingdao: $222.36 per tonne, up $0.54 per tonne62% Fe low-alumina fines, cfr Qingdao: $226.02 per tonne,...Read More
Buyers' activity in the steel scrap import market remained low on Tuesday July 6 despite rising contracts for rebar and hot-rolled coil on the Shanghai Futures Exchange."Market chatter on mills cutting production has turned the finished steel markets bullish, so raw materials [markets] followed. This is why rebar and HRC rose higher than iron ore in the futures market today," a Zhejiang-based trad...Read More
Hot-rolled coil prices increased in China's domestic market on Tuesday July 6, following gains in futures prices, while market participants continued to digest talks of production cuts.DomesticEastern China (Shanghai): 5,580-5,620 yuan ($864-870) per tonne, up by 80 yuan from 5,500-5,540 yuan per tonne. The expectation of production cuts at Chinese steel mills in the second half of the year has be...Read More
China's domestic rebar prices continued their upward trend on Tuesday July 6 on restocking demand, but end user demand soured, sources told Fastmarkets.DomesticEastern China (Shanghai): 4,950-4,980 yuan ($767-771) per tonne, up by 80 yuan per tonneTrading houses raised their procurement rates on Monday to build up inventories in anticipation of lower production in the second half of 2021.The...Read More
The Cobalt alloy grade, in-whs Rotterdam, $/lbtrade log including business, bids and offers reported to Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets publishes trades logs for its key price assessments and indices to bring more transparencyinto the markets it covers and the pricing process it applies.Read More
The Cobalt standard grade, in-whs Rotterdam, $/lb trade log including business, bids and offers reported to Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets publishes trades logs for its key price assessments and indices to bring more transparencyinto the markets it covers and the pricing process it applies.Fastmarkets assessed Cobalt...Read More
Base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange were up across the board this morning, Wednesday July 7, suggesting dip buying after Tuesday’s weakness that saw copper, aluminium and nickel fall by 2%, or more.Tuesday's drop in the ISM services purchasing managers index (PMI) to 60.1, from 64, was partly blamed for the day’s weaker markets, as was the jump in the US Dollar Index.Bas...Read More
Russia-origin aluminium will carry an export duty of 15% with a minimum rate of $254 per tonne from August 1 until December 31 this year, according to the Russian government.Export duties have been approved on 340 non-ferrous and steel products, after Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin signed an official decree on Friday June 25.Primary aluminium, under harmonized system code 760110, will al...Read More