Liberty Steel has resumed production at its UK special steel plant in Rotherham, the steelmaker said on Tuesday April 6.Operations at the plant were halted on March 12, the company said."We are grateful for the support from our customers and suppliers in enabling the restart and in supporting our self-help measures such as matching our current stock to customer orders and working with customers to...Read More
An explosion and then a fire erupted at continuous casting machine No2 at ArcelorMittal Italia on April 5, trade union USB said.No workers were injured during the incident, the union said. Market sources told Fastmarkets that ArcelorMittal claims the fire did not have an impact on production. The steelmaker did not reply to Fastmarkets' request for comment by the time of publication.European buyer...Read More
India's JSW Steel has beefed up its production capacity after confirming the purchase of the plate and coils division of fellow steelmaker Welspun Steel, the company has announced.The purchase agreement had been in place for two years before the rubberstamp came on Wednesday March 31, with Welspun announcing in April 2019 that it would sell the assets to JSW Steel subject to approval of the Compet...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Tuesday April 6 that are worth another look.The price spread between 62% Fe and 65% Fe iron ore fines reached a historical high in March as a result of various factors, according to market sources.Read More
Artisanal cobalt produced in the Democratic Republic of Congo and formalized by the Entreprise G?(C)n?(C)rale du Cobalt (EGC) can help fill a supply deficit created in the uptake of electric vehicles (EVs), according to EGC chief executive officer Jean-Dominique Takis. "We are all aware that the increase in demand for cobalt is directly linked to energy transition... We do not expect a substantial...Read More
Tesla delivered 184,800 electric vehicles (EV) in the first quarter of 2021 despite a shortage of computer chips that has crippled the global auto industry, the world's biggest EV maker said on Friday April 2.This is an increase of 23% compared to the 180,570 deliveries the company recorded in the fourth quarter of last year. The better-than-expected results were attributed to solid demand for the...Read More
Fastmarkets has corrected its weekly manganese ore 37% index, cif Tianjin and 44% index, cif Tianjin rationales, which were published incorrectly on Tuesday April 6 due to reporter error.The corrected rationales can be seen below:MB-MNO-0003: Manganese ore index 37% Mn, cif Tianjin, $/dmtuThe Fastmarkets manganese ore 37% index, cif Tianjin moved down by 8 cents to $4.61 per dry metric tonne (dmtu...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Tuesday April 6 that are worth another look.The price spread between 62% Fe and 65% Fe iron ore fines reached a historical high in March as a result of various factors, according to market sources.Read More
Proposed changes to the London Metal Exchange's market structure may actually have the opposite effect to its desired intention: destroying liquidity, not increasing it.Attention has been focused on the proposed permanent closure of the LME ring, the incentivization of electronic trade and changes to margin methodology, which were central issues in the exchange's recently closed discussion paper.B...Read More
The price spread between 62% Fe and 65% Fe iron ore fines reached a historical high in March as a result of various factors, according to market sources.Fastmarkets' index for iron ore 62% Fe fines, cfr Qingdao was at $159.85 per tonne on Thursday March 25 while that for iron ore 65% Fe Brazil-origin fines, cfr Qingdao was at $190.40 per tonne.The spread between the two indices rose to a historica...Read More
Nickel's three-month price on the London Metal Exchange came to its highest level in a month on Tuesday April 6, with a rise of 3%, while there were similar gains for copper and tin.Copper's intraday high reading was $9,104 per tonne, the highest level since it reached $9,145 per tonne on March 23. It followed a surge on its Chicago Mercantile Exchange price of 3.4% on Monday to $4.15 per tonne.&n...Read More
Proposed changes to the London Metal Exchange's market structure may actually have the opposite effect to its desired intention: destroying liquidity, not increasing it.Attention has been focused on the proposed permanent closure of the LME ring, the incentivization of electronic trade and changes to margin methodology, which were central issues in the exchange's recently closed discussion paper.B...Read More
London Metal Exchange futures prices for copper, nickel, zinc and tin started the week with gains on Tuesday April 6, following positive economic data released in the United States and China on Monday. Tin's three-month price jumped by 3.4% to $25,985 per tonne at 9am on Tuesday, the biggest increase in the complex, closely followed by zinc, which was up 2.7% to $2,858.50 per tonne from last Thurs...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
Ferrous scrap prices rose in the two Mexican regions assessed by Fastmarkets, with supply becoming scarcer and some buyers no longer able to obtain cheap material.In the central Baj?-o region and that near Monterrey city, there were increased reports of busheling being sold above 10,000 pesos ($486) per tonne, although not all sellers were able to obtain such deals. Higher prices for other gr...Read More
Domestic prices for steel hot-rolled coil increased further across Europe over the week to Thursday April 1 due to a material shortage and good demand.Fastmarkets calculated its daily steel hot-rolled coil index, domestic, exw Northern Europe at ?,?843.33 ($993.44) per tonne on April 1, up by ?,?21.66 per tonne week on week and by ?,?103.33 per tonne month on month.The calculation of Thursday's in...Read More
Mining production was mostly higher in Peru during February compared with the corresponding month in 2020, with the country increasing output for copper, zinc and tin, energy and mines ministry Minem said on Tuesday April 6.The country produced 170,989 tonnes of copper in February, up by 0.68% year on year from 169,826 tonnes but down by 3.07% from 176,402 tonnes in January of this year.Miner...Read More
A summary of base metals premiums from across the globe for the week to Tuesday April 6.Please click...Read More
Nickel's three-month price on the London Metal Exchange came to its highest level in a month on Tuesday April 6, with a rise of 3%, while there were similar gains for copper and tin.Copper's intraday high reading was $9,104 per tonne, the highest level since it reached $9,145 per tonne on March 23. It followed a surge on its Chicago Mercantile Exchange price of 3.4% on Monday to $4.15 per tonne.&n...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