Prices for steel reinforcing bar in the United States continue to hold steady, but a raw materials-driven upside to the market may materialize in the near future, market participants said.Fastmarkets' weekly assessment for steel reinforcing bar (rebar), fob mill US remained at $39.75 per hundredweight ($795 per short ton) on February 24. US market While overall market sentiment has remained stable...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Thursday February 25 that are worth another look....Read More
Jacky Gofflot will become chief executive officer at French lead producer Recylex on Monday March 1 when Sebastian Rudow, who has recently resigned, leaves the company.Gofflot was hired in April last year to manage Recylex's battery-breaking sites, the company said, and brought more than...Read More
The rise in bulk freight rates, especially from Asia, has dramatically boosted seaborne steel prices and disrupted South American foreign trade, market participants told Fastmarkets in the week to Thursday February 25.Trader sources have reported a material decrease in vessel availability, especially in China, that led to some steel mills cancelling their offers to the continent. Shipping companie...Read More
The price of aluminium showed a 2.3% rise and held close to its new 2021 high of $2,243 per tonne during trading on the London Metal Exchange on Thursday February 25.The price of nickel was the only one among the base-metals complex to close lower day on day at the 5pm close, being down by 2.6%.Aluminium's three-month price was up to $2,235 per tonne at the close, from Wednesday's 5pm price of $2,...Read More
The seaborne premium low-volatility hard coking coal fob price slumped dramatically on Thursday February 25, with the latest transaction sealed at $126 per tonne fob Australia. Fastmarkets indicesPremium hard coking coal, fob DBCT: $127 per tonne, down $11.93 per tonnePremium hard coking coal, cfr Jingtang: $219.04 per tonne, unchangedHard coking coal, fob DBCT: $130.07 per tonne, up $0.50 per ton...Read More
Iron ore prices mostly increased on Thursday February 25, supported by healthy mill margins and expectations of a steady rise in demand for steel, sources told Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets iron ore indices 62% Fe fines, cfr Qingdao: $174.24 per tonne, up $1.53 per tonne62% Fe low-alumina fines, cfr Qingdao: $174.70 per tonne, up $1.59 per tonne58% Fe fines high-grade premium, cfr Qingdao: $160.06 per t...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.Chinese export prices for seamless oil country tubular goods (OCTG) and linepipe barely moved in February 2021, after rallying in January, because the holidays to celebrate the Lunar New Year curbed market activity sharply.With the holiday now ended, we have seen some sharp jumps in round billet prices and we expect there to...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 moved in line with our forecasts in January, with actual prices modestly exceeding our forecasts for the month. Fastmarkets' US HRC index averaged $1,099 per ton in January, slightly above our forecast price of $1,075 per ton for the month. W...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.The uptrend in European flat steel prices continued in January 2021 as expected, with the prices for hot-rolled coil in the North and South of the region averaging ?,?698 and ?,?686 ($840 and $826) per tonne respectively, within 1% of the Fastmarkets research forecasts.With European HRC prices climbing to their highest level...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.The conequences of the Covid-19 pandemic on energy demand affected oil and gas prices through much of 2020 and weighed on drilling rates and demand for oil-country tubular goods (OCTG) in most regions.These effects were most likely to continue well into 2021 and perhaps longer, according to Fastmarkets OCTG Intelligence Serv...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.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
Alumina cargoes in Brazil were trading at a slight premium to Australian material on Thursday February 25 due a muddled supply picture, but opinions on the market's direction remained mixed.Fastmarkets' alumina index adjustment to fob Australia index, Brazil, was at a premium of $0.90 per dry metric tonne compared with Australian units on Thursday, against a $4.51 per dmt discount on January 14.Th...Read More
Domestic prices for steel hot-rolled coil in Northern Europe increased day on day on Thursday February 25 due to tight supply, sources have told Fastmarkets.Market participants expected that European steelmakers would increase their offers next week in an attempt to trigger further price rises.Fastmarkets calculated its daily steel hot-rolled coil index, domestic, exw Northern Europe, at ?,?735.00...Read More
A summary of Kaiser Aluminum's fourth-quarter and full-year 2020 earnings results, published on Wednesday February 24.Fourth-quarter results in brief Kaiser's fourth-quarter 2020 net sales were $272 million, up by 6.25% from the previous quarter's net sales of $256 million but down by 26.29% from $369 million in the fourth quarter of 2019. The company reported net income of $6 million, up signific...Read More
Jacky Gofflot will become chief executive officer at French lead producer Recylex on Monday March 1 when Sebastian Rudow, who has recently resigned, leaves the company.Gofflot was hired in April last year to manage Recylex's battery-breaking sites, the company said, and brought more than...Read More
The price of aluminium showed a 2.3% rise and held close to its new 2021 high of $2,243 per tonne during trading on the London Metal Exchange on Thursday February 25.The price of nickel was the only one among the base-metals complex to close lower day on day at the 5pm close, being down by 2.6%.Aluminium's three-month price was up to $2,235 per tonne at the close, from Wednesday's 5pm price of $2,...Read More
The backwardation in copper's benchmark cash-to-three-month spread reached a near two-year high of $51.50 per tonne, with the bullish rally on the red metal showing no signs of relenting.The London Metal Exchange cash price for copper reached $9,648.50 per tonne on Thursday, rising by 22.5% from the start of February. Analysts say copper's all-time high of $10,207.50 per tonne - hit in...Read More