Sir Brian Bender, chairman of the London Metal Exchange for almost a decade, has died at age 72.Bender joined the LME in 2010, fresh from a lifelong career in the British civil service, and described himself in an interview with Metal Market Magazine on his retirement in 2019 as a "slightly leftfield candidate" for the role.He presided over a transformative period of change at the exchange, includ...Read More
Domestic steel reinforcing bar prices in Russia's Central Federal District around Moscow corrected downward by $14-27 per tonne on increased supply from mills in the region during the seven days to Monday November 15."Demand remains high. We don't exclude that the government will have to take some action again to cool down rebar prices, like they did in summer," one large trader source told Fastma...Read More
Supply-side disruptions will likely continue well into 2022 with production cuts in China and capacity in other regions insufficient to meet demand amid persistent logistics constraints, panelists said on Sunday November 14 during Fastmarkets' International Ferro-alloys Conference.In a poll during the session titled "Macrotrends for the Ferro-alloys Industry" attendees also supported this forecast...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Monday November 15 that are worth another look.Ferro-alloy supply-side disruptions will likely continue well into 2022 with production cuts in China and capacity in other regions insufficient to meet demand amid persistent logistics constraints, panelists said on Sunday November 14 during...Read More
Base metals prices closed lower on the London Metal Exchange on Monday November 15, extending a downward consolidation amid an uncertain macroeconomic picture and a strong United States dollar index.Nickel's three-month price registered the largest fall on Monday, with a drop of $19 per tonne from $19,979 per tonne at the close on Friday. The metal traded as high as $20,030 per tonne - its highest...Read More
Seaborne iron ore prices slipped slightly on Monday November 15 amid continuous weak demand from Chinese steel mills, which have begun formal production curbs for the winter heating season as of today, market sources said.Fastmarkets iron ore indices 62% Fe fines, cfr Qingdao: $89.05 per tonne, down by $0.64 per tonne62% Fe low-alumina fines, cfr Qingdao: $90.26 per tonne, down by $1.13 per tonne5...Read More
Spot prices for hot-rolled coil in China declined on Monday November 15, with market sentiment subdued by the release of bleak property data.Fastmarkets assessed the price of steel hot-rolled coil domestic, ex-whs Eastern China at 4,700-4,750 yuan ($737-744) per tonne on Monday, down by 60 yuan per tonne from Friday.The most-traded HRC contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange extended losses...Read More
China's widespread power availability issues, which have been crippling industrial operators for months, highlight what could be a fundamental shift in the ferro-chrome smelting capacity coming out of the country, sources have said.China's ferro-chrome production has been stalled by electricity restrictions because power providers have had to cut back output in response to the soaring price of coa...Read More
Base metals prices closed lower on the London Metal Exchange on Monday November 15, extending a downward consolidation amid an uncertain macroeconomic picture and a strong United States dollar index.Nickel's three-month price registered the largest fall on Monday, with a drop of $19 per tonne from $19,979 per tonne at the close on Friday. The metal traded as high as $20,030 per tonne - its highest...Read More
The United States Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) plans to make its second tin offer of fiscal 2022 in a bid opening at 9:30am Eastern time on Tuesday November 16 and closing at noon on November 17.Fastmarkets understands that the volume of tin to be offered will be close to the 60 tonnes the DLA offered on October 12, but in a change in procedure the agency will no longer disclose the offer size i...Read More
Operations at the Antamina copper-zinc-lead mine in Peru restarted last week, with talks between the local community and the mining entity continuing on Friday November 12, Fastmarkets heard. Two sources confirmed that mining resumed as of Monday at Antamina, where operations were stopped on October 31 due to roadblocks and protests. The mine is the biggest copper deposit in Peru, and is join...Read More
Ball Beverage Packaging South America (BPSA), the South American branch of international packaging company Ball Corp, achieved dual Aluminium Stewardship Initiative (ASI) certifications for its 15 manufacturing facilities across South America, it announced on Monday November 15.BPSA has been successfully certified with both ASI Performance and Chain of Custody (CoC) standards for responsible produ...Read More
South Korea's copper smelter LS Nikko is diversifying its raw-materials portfolio by smelting circuit boards in mobile phones collected across the country, the company said on Monday November 15.The initiative is in collaboration with mobile phone distributor SK Networks to collect 50,000 used mobile phones via an artificial intelligence-based recyling platform, which could help manage and process...Read More
Revisions to the European Union's Waste Shipments Regulation (WSR) are intended to promote and encourage investment into the circular economy as well as to provide further protection to developing countries from the transfer of hazardous waste, executives from European Aluminium told Fastmarkets during an exclusive interview on last week.They said the regulations are not intended to ban the export...Read More
Steel rebar and wire rod producers in the Commonwealth of Independent States reduced export offer prices in response to lower bids coming from foreign customers since the beginning of November.Wire rod offers from Ukraine's main long steel supplier - ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih - slid to $860-870 per tonne fob Black Sea from $900-910 per tonne fob earlier in November.Meanwhile, Russian material was a...Read More
Prices for billet originating from the Commonwealth of Independent States region rose over the weekend amid higher offers heard in the market.Offers from Russia and Ukraine increased to $650-655 per tonne fob Black Sea, according to a number of market participants, citing reduced availability of material.The decision of the Egyptian government to remove safeguard...Read More
Trading in the European hot-rolled coil market remained slow on Monday November 15, with buyers in wait-and-see mode, sources told Fastmarkets.Distributors have been holding back from making deals until the price trend becomes clear.European producers have been offering first-quarter-rolling coil at high prices, insisting that the increase is necessary due to higher energy and emission costs. In a...Read More
Domestic prices for hot-rolled coil in Europe declined slightly in the week to Friday November 12 amid subdued trading activity in the spot market.HRC buyers across Europe were largely maintaining a wait-and-see attitude during the week.European mills were still able to offer fourth-quarter HRC to the spot market at lower prices due to slowed demand from the automotive industry. Notably, some volu...Read More
The Egyptian Ministry of Industry and Trade has suspended safeguard duties on imported billet and rebar, effective Monday November 15.The measure suspends import duties that had been in effect in the country since October 2019 to help local industry combat the significant rise in energy and shipping costs.There had been expectations that the duties would be removed in June this year, but the...Read More
Import prices for rebar in Singapore were unchanged during the week to Monday November 15 amid thin spot negotiations in the market for January or February shipment material.Offers for rebar cargoes from the Middle East were at $740-745 per tonne cfr Singapore on a theoretical weight basis.Turkish steelmakers were heard to have increased their offers to $740-750 per tonne fob on an actual weight b...Read More