Tight supply and steep backwardation on London Metals Exchange continued to support European premiums while China premiums retreated slightly amid increased arbitrage loss, and US premiums were stable in the week to November 16, Fastmarkets learned.European premiums strong while long term contact negotiations for 2022 ongoingChina premiums slid amid increased arbitrage lossUS premiums unchanged wi...Read More
Freight rates, which have spiked in 2021 and impacted steel and ferro-alloy markets, are likely to remain high in 2022 due to an imbalance of demand and availability of ships and containers, panelists said during Fastmarkets' International Ferro-alloys Conference this week in Prague."Freight rates have increased from three to four times this year compared to previous normal levels, mainly due to t...Read More
Fastmarkets' Ferrous Analytics report helps subscribers keep track of hot metal costs and steel production spreads in China, along with key pricing components of the steelmaking raw materials supply chain in Asia.Read More
Domestic stainless steel prices in China maintained their downward trend for the week ended Wednesday November 17 due to soft demand.DomesticStainless steel cold-rolled coil 2mm grade 304 domestic (Wuxi): 18,800-19,000 ($2,942-2,974) per tonne, down by 500 yuan per tonne from a week earlier.Downstream industries performed poorly, leading to lower stainless steel demand.Market sentiment became bear...Read More
The United States ferrous scrap export market remains on an even, if somewhat subdued, keel in the wake of three US cargoes reportedly sold to Turkey at stable prices.A mixed deep-sea cargo priced at $523 per tonne cfr comprising a 90:10 mix of No1 and No2 heavy melting scrap and bonus-grade material was heard offered to a Turkish mill out of Houston on Wednesday November 17. It is understood that...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 29.00-29.90 on Wednesday November 17, 2021....Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Wednesday November 17 that are worth another look.Regional cooperation, public planning and funding capacity for new technologies will be key for the Latin American steel industry to deliver reduced greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the long term, top executives and experts...Read More
Exports of finished steel from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) rose by 20.4% year-on-year in January-June 2021 amid rising demand in both Asia and Europe, according to the latest statistics from the South East Asia Iron & Steel Institute (Seaisi).Both long and flat steel exports flourished in the first half of the year, against a backdrop of rising prices and improved demand in...Read More
Finished steel inventories at member mills of the China Iron & Steel Association (Cisa) rose by 661,900 tonnes (5.15%) in the first 10 days of November compared with the preceding 11 days, according to data published by the association on Monday November 15. November 1-10 outputCrude steel: 1.80 million tonnes per day, up 3.70%Finished steel: 1.75 million tpd, down 3.05%...Read More
Chinese metals production and processing group Daye Nonferrous will postpone the start of operations at its new double-flash copper smelter for six months because of a lack of essential buiding components that have been sourced from overseas, Fastmarkets has learnt.The 400,000 tonnes per year project in Huangshi, close to Wuhan, was scheduled to come online by the end of this year, but commissioni...Read More
Key data from Fastmarkets' pricing session in Europe on Wednesday November 17.Key drivers European ferro-titanium spot prices were unchanged for the fifth week in a row after a tender for annual delivery in 2022 from Korean steel major Posco was settled in the current spot price range, according to sources. There were no reported spot trades over the week to Wednesday November 17. Ferro-titanium s...Read More
The price of Galvalume in the United States fell for the second month in a row in November - this time sharply - with competitively priced imports being felt in the market."Due to the massive volume of imported Galvalume and the low pricing for that material, we were successful the last two months in having our domestic prices come down fairly significantly," one distributor said. Galvalume "trave...Read More
Spot prices for hot-rolled coil in China inched lower on Wednesday November 17 after a small rally in the futures market failed to provide sufficient upward momentum to the spot market.DomesticEastern China (Shanghai): 4,680-4,740 yuan ($734-743) per tonne, down by 10-40 yuan per tonneThe most-traded HRC contract the Shanghai Futures Exchange rose on Wednesday, snapping three consecutive trading d...Read More
Regional cooperation, public planning and funding capacity for new technologies will be key for the Latin American steel industry to deliver reduced greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the long term, top executives and experts said in an event on Wednesday November 17.Steel companies have accepted the need to change their production models, but several challenges are in the way of reducing the indus...Read More
Key data from Fastmarkets' pricing session in Europe on Wednesday November 17.Key drivers European ferro-titanium spot prices were unchanged for the fifth week in a row after a tender for annual delivery in 2022 from Korean steel major Posco was settled in the current spot price range, according to sources. There were no reported spot trades over the week to Wednesday November 17. Ferro-titanium s...Read More
Traders selling Iran-origin steel billet were looking for new opportunities with the markets continuing to weaken in Asia, including China, which until earlier this year was the major outlet for Iranian semi-finished steel.Egypt removed its 10% safeguard duty on billet earlier this week and has begun to offer good opportunities for companies trading Iranian semis.Around 50,000 tonnes of billet wer...Read More
Turkish steel mills remained quiet in deep-sea scrap import markets amid a depreciation of the country's currency and limited demand for finished long steel product, sources told Fastmarkets on Wednesday November 17.Mills booked three deep-sea cargoes for December shipment at the beginning of the week.A steel mill in the Marmara region booked a United Kingdom cargo at $490 per tonne and a Baltic S...Read More
Traders selling Iran-origin steel billet were looking for new opportunities with the markets continuing to weaken in Asia, including China, which until earlier this year was the major outlet for Iranian semi-finished steel.Egypt removed its 10% safeguard duty on billet earlier this week and has begun to offer good opportunities for companies trading Iranian semis.Around 50,000 tonnes of billet wer...Read More
Price movements for seaborne iron ore were largely rangebound on Wednesday November 17 except for the mid- and high-grade iron ore fines segments, which tracked the stronger transacted prices on a trading platform, sources told Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets iron ore indices62% Fe fines, cfr Qingdao: $91.08 per tonne, up $1.04 per tonne62% Fe low-alumina fines, cfr Qingdao: $91.30 per tonne, up $0.30 per...Read More
Aluminium market participants in Europe have reported growing concerns over the possible implications for the production of secondary aluminium ingot DIN226 after a recent fire at the Befesa salt slag treatment plant in Hanover, Germany, on November 5.A fire broke out at the plant in Brinker Hafen on that date, and was reported to have caused millions of euros-worth of damage."We are working acros...Read More