Base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange were largely trading sideways during the morning session on Tuesday April 13, after decreases across the board on Monday due to warnings out of China about rising commodity prices.The three-month aluminium price bucked the trend however, rising by 0.8% to $2,280.50 per tonne as at 9am on Tuesday, from a closing price on Monday of $2,262 per tonne. Th...Read More
Base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange were down across the board this morning, Tuesday April 13, as were most of the metals prices on the Shanghai Futures Exchange, while broader markets were quiet.China's trade data showed imports and exports grew, highlighting broad-based economic recovery Markets waiting for the release of United States consumer prices today and to see how that will a...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.This month's key North American steel forecast highlights:?EUR? There is no end in sight to the shortfall in flat steel supply that has characterized US markets in early 2021, and we expect record-high US pricing for hot-rolled coil to persist through the second quarter of 2021 and into the second half of the year. We are fo...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts is ready to view.In both Europe and the United States, the prices of most flat steel products have pushed to record highs in the weeks to Monday March 22. They remain slightly below their mid-2008 peaks in China, but are at multi-year highs there too.This illustrates in part the heavier consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic for steelmakers in...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.Chinese seamless linepipe prices have jumped by $120 per tonne over the past month because of rising costs. With iron ore prices remaining elevated, scrap costs on the rise, and activity at steel mills curbed by environmental measures, steel billet has become difficult to source, bolstering the prices for seamless linep...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view. This month's key North American steel forecast highlights: US hot-rolled coil prices continued to move in line with our forecasts in February, although actual prices again modestly exceeded our forecasts. Domestic HRC prices averaged $1,194 per ton in February, exceeding our forecast price of $1,150 per ton for the month. U...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.This month's key ferro-alloy forecast highlights:?EUR? Impressive advances in ore and alloy prices persisted in March, with most markets posting significant price gains. Strengthening demand from steelmakers along with supply shortages and depleted inventories in numerous markets, as well as freight and transportation...Read More
Inner Mongolia, China's ferro-chrome production heartland, has imposed restrictions on its metallurgical sector in a move that has fueled the high-carbon ferro-chrome markets in China and Europe, and although this may ease off, the gains were unlikely to be lost while alloy ramp-ups continue, sources have told Fastmarkets.The decision to restrict energy consumption in Inner Mongolia since December...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.This month's key ferro-alloy forecast highlights:?EUR?In a strong start to the year, January saw ore and alloy pricing gains across all markets priced by Fastmarkets - with the exception of Chinese silicon metal export prices, which retreated slightly last month after posting impressive gains in December 2020.The combination...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts is ready to view.With nickel prices down by almost 20% over the space of around ten days during late February and early March, one might have been expecting us to be reporting sharply-lower prices of stainless steel, at least for the most common nickel-containing grades of stainless steel.This is not the case, at least in Europe and the Unite...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts is ready to view.We spoke in our previous tracker of stainless steel prices ending 2020 on a high. That trend has continued during early 2021 and, in fact, the upward rally in prices has increased its momentum.Compared with the monthly price increase of some 5% seen at the end of 2020, prices for grade-304 stainless steel in al...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts is ready to view.Prices of stainless steel are generally set to reach highs for the year as 2020 comes to a close. For the most common nickel-containing grades of stainless steel, this upward trend is being driven above all by rising nickel prices, which themselves are hitting relatively high levels into the end of 2020.The price increases si...Read More
A summary of base metals premiums from across the globe for the week to Tuesday April 13.Please click...Read More
Aluminium's futures price traded close to its 2021 year-to-date high at the close of trading on the London Metal Exchange on Tuesday April 13, while most metals recovered their losses from Monday because of a tumble in the US Dollar Index.The three-month price of aluminium closed at $2,993 per tonne at 5pm, but had reached $2,295 per tonne during trading, just $6 per tonne below its year-to-date h...Read More
The US Midwest aluminium premium climbed to its highest point in more than six years on Tuesday April 13, supported by rising global premiums and shrinking supply.Fastmarkets assessed the aluminium P1020A premium, ddp Midwest US at 22.5-23.5 cents per lb on April 13, up by 2.22% from 22-23 cents per lb previously and its highest since February 18, 2015, when the premium was assessed at 23.75-...Read More
Brian Helsel, president of the American Tin Trade Association, tells Fastmarkets how he foresaw the recent squeeze on tin markets last year, recalls a turbulent time for trading and discusses the outlook for the metal.There were many pings in the background on a frenetic trading day for Brian Helsel, president of the American Tin Trade Association, when he spoke to Fastmarkets about a tin shortage...Read More
Visible progress has been made toward network readiness and availability of 5G telecommunications in the first quarter of 2021, after delays last year resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic, sources have told Fastmarkets.To date this year, there has been already a significant ramping-up of the uptake of 5G devices. The Global Mobile Suppliers Association (GSA), in its 5G devices summary for March 20...Read More
Prices in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) export steel billet market continued to climb on support from demand in Latin America while momentum in China slowed down, sources told Fastmarkets."Everyone in the CIS is now offering [billet] at a minimum of $600 per tonne fob Black Sea," one trader said.Some market participants reported offers from the CIS at up to $605 per tonne fob Black...Read More
Domestic prices for hot-rolled coil in Northern Europe continued to rise on Tuesday April 13 due to a material shortage, market sources told Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets calculated its daily steel hot-rolled coil index domestic, exw Northern Europe at ?,?905.00 ($1,077.07) per tonne on Tuesday April 13, up by ?,?3.33 per tonne from ?,?901.67 per tonne on April 12.The index was up by ?,?20.99 per tonne...Read More
Flat steel import prices to the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia increased sharply in the week to Tuesday April 13 despite weak demand, sources told Fastmarkets.The weakness in demand was attributed to the Islamic holy month of Ramadan that started on the evening of April 12, traditionally a slow period for both countries amid reduced working hours.But uncertainty on rebates fo...Read More