The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.Key ferro-alloy forecast highlights for the coming months:?EUR? A strong recovery in both bulk and noble alloys is expected in 2021 but the markets are unlikely to return to the levels seen before the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic. We have seen a quicker-than-expected recovery across various regions amid the economic fal...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.Fastmarkets analysts were invited to present our outlook for the coking coal market at Coaltrans Asia, held online on November 23-25. One of the key topics at the event was the trade tensions between China and Australia, which overtook Mongolia to become the largest coking coal exporter to China this year...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
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts is ready to view.While much commentary has been written about Asian economies performing far better than those elsewhere this year during the global Covid-19 pandemic, it is stainless steel markets in Europe and the United States that are ending the year in better shape than their Asian counterparts.We do not talk of demand levels or demand g...Read More
Domestic prices in Europe for steel cold-rolled coil were fairly stable over the week to Wednesday February 10 because buyers have been holding back from making new deals until a settled price trend is seen, sources have told Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel CRC, domestic, exw Northern Europe, was ?,?800-810 ($968-980) per tonne on February 10, unchanged over the week.The...Read More
Domestic prices for steel heavy plate started to decline across Europe over the week to Wednesday February 10 due to soft demand, sources have told Fastmarkets.Heavy plate prices had gone up by ?,?50 per tonne in the South and by ?,?60-70 per tonne in the North of Europe from mid-January to the start of February this year, due to rising costs for slab feedstock and some demand recovery.Fastmarkets...Read More
A summary of London Metal Exchange warrant premiums from across the globe for the week to Wednesday February 10.Please click...Read More
Tin's cash/three-month spread came to a new historic backwardation on Wednesday February 10, on the same day that a low dollar index propelled the futures contracts for all London metal Exchange base metals prices - except for zinc - to new 2021 highs. Tin's benchmark spread widened to a $2,490 per tonne backwardation during trading on Wednesday, the most on record, further proving the ongoing squ...Read More
Waiting times for aluminium at warehouses across Asia increased throughout January, according to the London Metal Exchange's latest queue report. New queues have emerged in the aluminium hub of Port Klang, Malaysia, with Istim warehouses no longer having the longest wait time. Waiting times for aluminium at Istim warehouses in Port Klang were at 23 days at the end of January, from 20 days at the e...Read More
Fastmarkets will publish its first low-carbon aluminium differentials on Friday March 5, one for primary aluminium (P1020A) and one for aluminium value-added products (VAP). The new pricing mechanisms will bring transparency to the growing industry for low-carbon aluminium products as the market tries to meet increased demand for a sustainable supply chain. The below infographic highlights how the...Read More
Trafigura is set to open an office in Toronto, Canada, to help foster links with mining companies based in the region, sources told Fastmarkets.The office will be helmed by zinc and lead concentrates trader Daniel von Arx, the sources said.Trafigura declined to comment.The eastern city of Toronto acts as a home for the marketing departments of many global mining companies with listings on the Toro...Read More
ArcelorMittal and Thyssenkrupp Steel have both recently announced successful testing of methods to reduce carbon emissions in blast-furnace steelmaking via coke gas and hydrogen, the companies have reported separately.ArcelorMittal has completed its coke gas injection project at the Alto B Furnace at its Gij??n operations, Spain. This is intended to reduce its CO2 emissions by 125,000 tonnes per y...Read More
Steel production in Turkey in 2021 can return to the level seen in 2017, when the country produced 37.52 million tonnes, according to the Turkish Steel Producers' Association (T???oeD) - but only if the measures imposed to control the Covid-19 pandemic are reduced.Turkey produced 35.76 million tonnes of crude steel in the 12 months of 2020, a 5.99% year-on-year increase from the 35.74 million tonn...Read More
Domestic prices for steel hot-rolled coil across Europe were fairly stable over the week to Wednesday February 10, supported by good order books among EU steelmakers and good demand, sources have told Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets calculated its daily steel hot-rolled coil index, domestic, exw Northern Europe, at ?,?708.33 ($856.64) per tonne on Wednesday, down by ?,?1.67 per tonne from ?,?710.00 per to...Read More
Domestic steel rebar prices in Southern Europe continued to slide for the second week in a row amid slow demand and a downtrend in the scrap segment, sources told Fastmarkets on Wednesday February 10. Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel reinforcing bar (rebar), domestic, delivered Southern Europe was ?,?595-615 ($722-746) per tonne on Wednesday, down by ?,?5 from ?,?600-620 pe...Read More
The export billet price from the Commonwealth of Independent States region inched up on Wednesday February 10 after a booking to Turkey was heard done at higher levels. A cargo of CIS-origin billet was sold to Turkey at $530 per tonne fob Black Sea, several sources reported to Fastmarkets. This is up by $10-20 per tonne from previous sales heard earlier this month. This took Fastmarkets' daily ste...Read More
Turkish scrap import prices rebounded from the bottom with at least two fresh deep-sea transactions, market sources said on Wednesday February 10. A steel mill in the Iskenderun region booked a Baltic Sea cargo, consisting of 18,000 tonnes of HMS 1&2 (95:5) at $399.50 per tonne cfr. And a steel mill in the Marmara region booked a European cargo at $395 per tonne cfr for HMS 1&2 (80:20), although t...Read More
Export prices for Japan-origin steel scrap rose again over the seven days to Wednesday January 10 following a strong result in the Kanto Tetsugen auction and continued buying from China.The highest bid in the auction - which is a cooperative of scrap dealers in the Tokyo region - came in at ?39,271 ($375) per tonne fas on Wednesday.That price was down by ?5,480 per tonne month on month from Janu...Read More
China's Shaanxi Iron & Steel has booked its first-ever imported scrap cargo, the company said this week.Its trading subsidiary Tong Chuan Import & Export booked 5,000 tonnes of steel scrap from Peru, with the cargo due to arrive at Rizhao Port in mid-March.This is the first import business in northwest China since restrictions on imports of ferrous scrap were relaxed."Ferrous scrap...Read More