Elkem chief executive officer Michael Koenig has resigned.Elkem will now initiate a succession process to recruit a permanent replacement for the role, while board member Helge Aasen will serve as interim chief executive officer of the Norway-based silicon and ferro-silicon...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 standard grade, in-whs Rotterdam, $/lb at 22.90-23.70...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.Fastmarkets assessed Cobalt alloy grade, in-whs Rotterdam, $/lb at 23.00-23.95 on Thursday July...Read More
China's domestic and export prices for stainless steel kept rising over the past week on steady local end-user demand and nickel gains.The three-month nickel contract on the London Metal Exchange ended the official trading session on Wednesday June 30 at $18,440 per tonne, up by $571 per tonne from $17,869 per tonne a week earlier.DomesticStainless steel cold-rolled coil 2mm grade 304 domestic (Wu...Read More
China's domestic rebar prices picked up on Thursday July 1 on early gains in the futures market, though market participants have expressed some pessimism following the release of data showing new orders in the construction industry falling in June. DomesticEastern China (Shanghai): 4,880-4,900 yuan ($755-758) per tonne, up by 20 yuan per tonneWhile the purchasing managers' index for business activ...Read More
Domestic hot-rolled coil prices in China extended their gains on Thursday July 1, with sustained expectations of production curbs in the second half of 2021 sending HRC futures to their highest in two weeks.DomesticEastern China (Shanghai): 5,460-5,500 yuan ($845-851) per tonne, up by 40 yuan per tonne from 5,420-5,460 yuan. The most-traded HRC contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange rose to - 5...Read More
Following a three-month consultation, Fastmarkets has adjusted its iron ore index methodology to increase the transparency and predictability of its process for incorporating "floating price" information.This follows a proposal made in April for the refinement of the methodology to include data on floating prices - whereby the transaction price is determined by the index that a particular cargo is...Read More
Japanese scrap export prices continued to increase over the past week on strengthening demand for high-grade material in Japan and South Korea, sources told Fastmarkets."Korean and Japanese mills want the premier grades so the gap between H2 and Shindachi and heavy scrap (HS) keeps rising," a Japanese scrap trader said on Wednesday June 30.Offers for Shindachi busheling were heard at ?62,200-62,3...Read More
Chinese steel mills in several provinces have been instructed to lower their production rates this week for environmental reasons, thereby reducing demand for raw materials, sources said on Thursday July 1."The production cuts are not limited to the Tangshan area now. Mills in Anhui, Shandong, Zhejiang, Hunan, Shanxi, and Gansu provinces have all received instructions to keep their production rate...Read More
Iron ore prices went up on Thursday July 1 and there was market chatter about a crude steel production limit for 2021 in certain Chinese provinces, sources told Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets iron ore indices 62% Fe fines, cfr Qingdao: $219.32 per tonne, up $5.24 per tonne62% Fe low-alumina fines, cfr Qingdao: $221.75 per tonne, up $3.90 per tonne58% Fe fines high-grade premium, cfr Qingdao: $182.51 per...Read More
Coking coal prices diverged on Thursday July 1, with cfr prices reversing amid expectations of easing domestic supply tightness in July and fob prices continuing to increase due to restocking demand, sources told Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets indicesPremium hard coking coal, fob DBCT: $191.80 per tonne, up $1.48 per tonnePremium hard coking coal, cfr Jingtang: $306.59 per tonne, down $0.94 per tonneHard...Read More
Turkish steel mills have continued their deep-sea scrap purchases at fairly stable prices, market participants told Fastmarkets on Thursday July 1.A steel mill in the Marmara region booked a Baltic Sea cargo comprising 14,000 tonnes of HMS 1&2 (95:5) at $504.50 per tonne cfr. This was the third deep-sea deal heard so far this week, with another two...Read More
Brazilian exports of iron ore rose by 12.19% in June this year compared with the corresponding month of 2020, despite Vale closing down part of a large complex in southeastern Brazil, according to data published by the country's economy ministry on Thursday July 1.Iron ore exports totaled 33.68 million tonnes in June, up from 30.02 million tonnes a year before, the data showed.Vale, which is Brazi...Read More
The United Kingdom has extended safeguard measures against imported steel for three years - until June 30, 2024 - the UK Trade Remedies Authority (TRA) said on June 30."The tariff-rate quota is an extension of the tariff-rate quota imposed by the European Union on behalf of the United Kingdom and other countries or territories that had effect in the United...Read More
Chinese steel mills in several provinces have been instructed to lower their production rates this week for environmental reasons, thereby reducing demand for raw materials, sources said on Thursday July 1."The production cuts are not limited to the Tangshan area now. Mills in Anhui, Shandong, Zhejiang, Hunan, Shanxi, and Gansu provinces have all received instructions to keep their production rate...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Wednesday June 30 that are worth another look.BHP announced in 2018 that the depletion of its 80-million-tonnes-per-year Yandi mine in its Western Australia iron ore operations would begin from the second half of 2021. Fastmarkets explores how the low-grade fines landscape...Read More
News that several major producers had withdrawn from spot trading due to supply shortages has further strengthened China's spot ferro-chrome market, sending spot prices in the week to Tuesday June 29 to their highest point since April."With continuing energy controls in Inner Mongolia in June, our production has been increasingly disrupted due to tightened power restrictions," Jietie Ferroalloy sa...Read More
Antofagasta has agreed to supply four major Chinese smelters with copper concentrates in the first half of 2022, with a treatment charge in the mid-$50s, Fastmarkets understands.The Chilean copper miner and representatives from China Copper, Jiangxi Copper, Tongling Nonferrous and Jinchuan Group held meetings for three days since Monday, sources said, with an agreement finally reached on the eveni...Read More
Premiums for tin ingots in Europe and the United States continued their rise to new highs in the fortnight to June 29, with freight and trucking costs and delays still the main issue pressuring premiums upward, sources told Fastmarkets. Premiums in Asia were stable, with the high London Metal Exchange price diverting participants away from the spot market. China's Yunnan Tin, the world's lar...Read More
Copper's three-month price has shown the biggest fall during June among base metals on the London Metal Exchange, rocked by Chinese announcements and rising inventories, while the prices of other base metals such as aluminium and tin were higher than on June 1.Copper's price was $9,374.50 per tonne on Wednesday June 30 at the close of trading, falling from $10,245 per tonne on June 1.Among the fac...Read More