The Cobalt hydroxide payable indicator, min 30% Co, cif China, % payable of Fastmarkets' standard-grade cobalt price (low-end) 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 hydroxide p...Read More
Brazil-based metals producer Nexa Resources suspended activity at the open-pit San Gerardo zinc-lead mine at its Atacocha unit in Peru due to road blockades, the company said on Thursday March 11.The miner restricted operations to the minimum workforce necessary for critical maintenance and safety, it said, after demonstrations from the local Machcan community were blocking access to Atacocha's pr...Read More
Key data from the pricing sessions in Asia, Europe and the United States for the week ending Friday March 12. ChinaThe spot domestic market price remained firm when production was suspended in Baotou due to the energy consumption restrictions in Inner Mongolia, adding to the already tight availability.The export price edged higher amid increasing spot demand from Asian buyers.Europe The spot...Read More
Taiyuan Iron & Steel (Tisco) plans to triple its annual output of stainless steel products by 2025, according to its general manager Gao Jianbing.The mill - China's second-largest stainless steel producer - plans to raise its annual crude steel output to 25 million tonnes by that year. Of these,...Read More
Falsified steel production records are undermining China's crackdown on industrial pollution, especially in key steelmaking city Tangshan, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment said on Thursday March 11.Unannounced checks by ministry officials on four steel mills in the city had found that the mills had "doctored and deleted production records" and "tipped each other off" about the spot checks....Read More
New transactions concluded for containerized steel scrap cargoes sold to Bangladesh fetched lower prices over the past week, sources told Fastmarkets.Buyers in Bangladesh, Pakistan and India have been successful in the past week in their attempts to reduce import prices for containerized scrap. "Asian mills appear to be winning in this round of buying," a trading source in the United States said.A...Read More
Falling Japanese scrap prices have led to a resurgence in interest for such cargoes, with multiple transactions heard concluded in the week ended Friday March 12. A transaction was concluded at $440 per tonne cfr Vietnam for a bulk Japanese H2 cargo, while another transaction was heard concluded at $445 per tonne cfr northern Vietnam for the same grade of material.Offer for bulk Japanese H2 cargoe...Read More
An abrupt downturn in sentiment and the resulting bearish effect on demand have caused spot prices for containerized ferrous scrap in the key import market of Taiwan to fall, with traders attempting to liquidate positions quickly, sources told Fastmarkets during the week to Friday March 12.Fastmarkets' daily price assessment for containerized steel scrap, HMS 1&2 (80:20), United States material im...Read More
Fastmarkets' benchmark copper concentrates index continued its downward momentum in the week to Friday March 12, reflecting buying from traders and smelters at progressively lower levels. Fastmarkets' copper concentrates treatment and refining charge (TC/RC) index, cif Asia Pacific fell to $26 per tonne / 2.6 cents per lb on Friday, down by 14% from a week prior. Chinese smelters are...Read More
Copper prices may be soaring, but the market is not yet factoring in key future demand from decarbonization and the new energy transition, the chairman and chief executive of Freeport-McMoRan said. Richard Adkerson, who has been at Freeport since 1989 and watched multiple pricing cycles evolve, said the natural comparative period for the currently soaring copper price is 2010-11, when the market p...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Thursday March 11 that are worth another look.Europe's proposed Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) has been approved by a firm majority in the European Parliament and is expected to help to preserve the region's steel supply chain, industry...Read More
Small and medium-size recycling companies would lose their ability to hedge if the London Metal Exchange changes its margin methodology, an executive at metal recycling company European Metal Recycling (EMR) said. According to Murat Bayram, EMR managing director for non-ferrous Europe, the proposed change from a Discounted Contingent Variation Margin (DCVM), which realizes forward profits on the s...Read More
Key proposals in the London Metal Exchange's discussion paper will likely weaken the link between metals pricing and the physical market and lead to price distortions, the president of Hong Kong-based trader Global Metals Network Ltd said. These proposals include the permanent closure of the LME ring, the incentivization of electronic trading and a switch in margin methodology, Mark Sellier&n...Read More
Metal markets are still yet to see the major flows of institutional capital into commodities that characterized past "super-cycles", fund managers told attendees of the virtual Fastmarkets Copper Seminar on Thursday March 11.Commodities from oil to grains and metals have seen prices rise sharply since the start of the year, with bank analysts and executives like Goldman Sachs' Lloyd Blankfein call...Read More
The premium on alumina cargoes in Brazil compared to Australian units is at its highest in more than two years on Thursday March 11 due to continued lack of balance in supply between the Pacific and the Atlantic, sources said.Fastmarkets' alumina index adjustment to fob Australia index, Brazil was at a premium of $7.83 per tonne on Thursday, widening from $0.90 per tonne on February 23."It's no su...Read More
"Information gaps" caused by the shift to virtual events for major copper gatherings last year made annual negotiation of key copper contracts unprecedentedly challenging, industry executives said on a panel at Fastmarkets' Copper Seminar on Thursday March 11. Key events including LME Week 2020, Asia Copper Week and Cesco Santiago were all held virtually last year due to travel restrictions to pre...Read More
Stakeholders across the copper value chain need to collaborate to drive widespread adoption of responsible production and consumption, participants at a panel discussion said at the Fastmarkets Copper Seminar on Thursday March 11.Speakers at "The green transition: Responsible copper production" panel on Thursday highlighted the great strides made in consumer and investor interest in responsible pr...Read More
Key proposals in the London Metal Exchange's discussion paper will likely weaken the link between metals pricing and the physical market and lead to price distortions, the president of Hong Kong-based trader Global Metals Network Ltd said. These proposals include the permanent closure of the LME ring, the incentivization of electronic trading and a switch in margin methodology, Mark Sellier&n...Read More
Turkish steelmakers continued to stay back from the deep-sea scrap markets because of falling prices and increasing supply, market sources said on Thursday March 11.Two Turkish steelmakers booked US cargoes last Saturday and late on Monday at $453-456 per tonne cfr on an HMS 1&2 (80:20) basis, sending the daily scrap indices down by $5.79 per tonne on March 9.But booking activity did not continue,...Read More
Momentum has faded in the Japanese steel scrap export market following six straight weeks of increases, with buyers stepping away from closing sales, sources told Fastmarkets this week.Japan scrap export prices fell over the last week in the markets for H2 heavy scrap and Shindachi busheling, while tags for shredded and heavy scrap or plate and structural (P&S) material remained more stable.Fastma...Read More