The cash price for tin and its benchmark spread are receiving a boost from a short-term lack of supply on the London Metal Exchange, the question is when and how stocks on the exchange will return?The LME cash contract was at $23,120 per tonne on January 26 and traded nearly $300 above its three-month delivery counterpart, which went as high as $22,740 per tonne the same day, with both prices at n...Read More
China's ban on Australian mined copper import and a lingering Peruvian mine disruption have gone against its smelting industry's original ambition to produce more copper, Fastmarkets understands.China has been engaged in an escalating trade row with Australia of late, with Chinese copper smelters and traders verbally ordered to avoid buying Australian copper concentrate in early November 2020. The...Read More
A sharp increase in China's cobalt metal imports last year was a consequence of refineries' efforts to hedge against tightening upstream supply, and trader moves to lock in profits during times of a favorable import arbitrage, market participants told Fastmarkets. And these participants expect imports to remain elevated in 2021.A total of 6,192 tonnes of cobalt metal was shipped to China over the...Read More
Tin and lead's forward prices on the London Metal Exchange continued their advances, with rises of over 1.5% on Tuesday January 26 and tin nearing the $23,000 per tonne mark, supported by falling stocks and a lower dollar index. Tin's price reached yet another new year-to-date high during trading of $22,900 per tonne on Tuesday, nearing the July 9, 2014 intraday high of $22,950 per tonne. The met...Read More
The cash price for tin and its benchmark spread are receiving a boost from a short-term lack of supply on the London Metal Exchange, the question is when and how stocks on the exchange will return?The LME cash contract was at $23,120 per tonne on January 26 and traded nearly $300 above its three-month delivery counterpart, which went as high as $22,740 per tonne the same day, with both prices at n...Read More
Iron ore prices fell on Tuesday January 26, due to weakening demand generally and in response to China's announcement about its plans to cut crude steel production in 2021 as part of its 14th Five-year Plan. Fastmarkets iron ore indices 62% Fe fines, cfr Qingdao: $165.07 per tonne, down $4.09 per tonne62% Fe low-alumina fines, cfr Qingdao: $166.19 per tonne, down $3.94 per tonne58% Fe fi...Read More
Tin and lead's forward prices on the London Metal Exchange continued their advances, with rises of over 1.5% on Tuesday January 26 and tin nearing the $23,000 per tonne mark, supported by falling stocks and a lower dollar index. Tin's price reached yet another new year-to-date high during trading of $22,900 per tonne on Tuesday, nearing the July 9, 2014 intraday high of $22,950 per tonne. The met...Read More
Activity in the European hot-rolled coil market has been slow, with buyers avoiding purchases in expectation of long-term price falls, sources told Fastmarkets on Tuesday January 26.Fastmarkets calculated its daily steel hot-rolled coil index, domestic, exw Northern Europe at ?,?711.00 ($864.16) per tonne on Tuesday January 26, up by ?,?1 from ?,?710 per tonne on January 25.The index was down...Read More
A global shortage of computer chips, another consequence of the Covid-19 pandemic that is affecting carmakers, has in some cases forced automotive producers to close assembly lines, Fastmarkets understands.In the automotive manufacturing sector, silicon-based computer chips - semiconductors - have become increasingly important due to their use in safety-related electronics systems, video displays...Read More
Brass and bronze ingot maker Atlas Pacific Corp has ceased alloy ingot manufacturing, according to sources with direct knowledge of the matter.The Bloomington, California-based scrap processor is instead sourcing products from other foundries in order to supply its customers, those sources said."As part of a long-range strategic plan, Atlas Pacific is now fully aligned with premier companies to ma...Read More
Demand for copper to be used in electric vehicles (EV) and other renewable energy applications was expected to be almost the equivalent of the total US refined copper market by 2025, according to the country's largest copper producer.Richard Adkerson, chief executive officer of Freeport-McMoRan, told a conference call for the company's 2020 earnings on Tuesday January 26 that global EV and renewab...Read More
The London Metal Exchange has registered Grafton Warehouse Services' Port Klang warehouse to be a part of the London Metal Exchange's network, according to a notice from the exchange on Tuesday January 26.The warehouse company is wholly owned by London-based Grafton Commodity Trading. The company also has active operations through Grafton Warehouse Services (USA) and Grafton Warehouse Services (Si...Read More
Freeport-McMoRan said its Indonesian unit, PT-FI, has advanced discussions with the majority-owner of the country's Gresik smelter regarding an expansion by around 30%. This would see the smelter's concentrate treatment capacity rise by around 300,000 tonnes per year and would reduce PT-FI's commitment to develop a new smelter in Indonesia to 1.7 million tpy from 2 million tpy, Freeport said.The t...Read More
Demand for flat steel imports in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Saudi Arabia was still weak, with prices contunuing to fall, sources said on Tuesday January 26.Both countries showed soft demand because buyers did not want to make bookings with prices on their way down. Offer prices from China and India continued to fall this week, but buyers' bids were even lower."Large-volume bookings are unl...Read More
Demand for steel rebar and billet in the United Arab Emirates was slow this week because buyers expected prices to fall, while producers kept their prices unchanged, sources told Fastmarkets on Tuesday January 26.Billet imports were likely to remain slow until local producers gave discounts, sources added.Domestic rebarSince Janaury 13, the country's steel producers have been offering rebar at 2,5...Read More
China's steel market participants expect that the country will export more steel in 2021 than in 2020 with the recovery of demand worldwide, Fastmarkets heard on Tuesday January 26.While the country's steel exports fell by 16.5% year-on-year in 2020 to 53.67 million tonnes, market participants believed that performance would improve this year, based on the recovery of global business activity from...Read More
There was a stalemate in the export slab market in the Commonwealth of Independent States region in the week ended Monday January 25, with mills holding back offers and inviting customers to place bids while most customers were awaiting clearer direction. Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel slab, export, fob Black Sea, CIS was $635-640 per tonne on Monday, down from $675-695 per to...Read More
Iron ore prices fell on Tuesday January 26, due to weakening demand generally and in response to China's announcement about its plans to cut crude steel production in 2021 as part of its 14th Five-year Plan. Fastmarkets iron ore indices 62% Fe fines, cfr Qingdao: $165.07 per tonne, down $4.09 per tonne62% Fe low-alumina fines, cfr Qingdao: $166.19 per tonne, down $3.94 per tonne58% Fe fi...Read More
Danish scrap and metal recycling company HJHansen Recycling Industry has signed a deal for the acquisition of all shares of fellow Danish recycler Uniscrap, it told Fastmarkets on Tuesday January 26.The terms of the deal, and the cost of the purchase, were not disclosed. The shares will be acquired from Germany's Scholz Recycling.Final approval for the acquisition must be obtained from the Danish...Read More
Turkish steel mills continued to stay away from the deep-sea scrap import market, on continuing poor demand for steel billet and finished long steel, sources told Fastmarkets on Tuesday January 26.Steel producers in Turkey have been quiet in the deep-sea markets since last week and have been seeking lower prices.The most recent transaction was heard on Wednesday January 20 at $440 per tonne c...Read More