European traders of manganese alloys have been busy in the past couple of weeks, boosting prices of silico-manganese by almost 20% and of high-carbon ferro-manganese by 10% ahead of expected renewed consumer demand in February, according to trade sources and available industry data. Traders have been gearing up for increased consumer demand since December when European steelmakers saw a surprising...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Monday January 25 that are worth another look.The London Metal Exchange will launch its new cash-settled lithium futures contract on June 14, 2021, settled against Fastmarkets' price assessment for lithium hydroxide monohydrate.Liberty Steel Group has completed...Read More
Liberty Steel Group has completed "due diligence" on Thyssenkrupp Steel Europe and submitted a "firmed up" bid for its acquisition based on the results, the UK-based steel company told Fastmarkets on Monday January 25."On Monday January 25, 2021, Liberty Steel submitted a firmed-up bid for Thyssenkrupp Steel Europe based on the results of the comprehensive due diligence process including multiple...Read More
Corween Investments, the holding company of Liberty House, is one step closer to acquiring struggling Polish steel plate mill Huta Czestochowa, sources told Fastmarkets on Monday January 25. The tender for the sale of Huta Czestochowa attracted only one bid from Corween Investments, the current leaseholder of the mill. On Friday January 22, the district court of the city of Czestochowa approved Co...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Monday January 25 that are worth another look.The London Metal Exchange will launch its new cash-settled lithium futures contract on June 14, 2021, settled against Fastmarkets' price assessment for lithium hydroxide monohydrate.Liberty Steel Group has completed...Read More
Fastmarkets has corrected its manganese ore 44%, cif Tianjin, index, which was published incorrectly on Friday January 22 due to a calculation error.Fastmarkets' weekly index for MB-MNO-0001 - manganese ore, 44% Mn, cif Tianjin, $ per dmtu, should have been $5.02 per dmtu, but was published at $4.91 per dmtu on January 22. It was corrected on January 25.Fastmarkets' pricing database, MInD, has bee...Read More
Prices for domestic steel hot-rolled coil decreased in Northern Europe in the week ended Friday January 22, due to slower buying activity among distributors and a global price decrease.Fastmarkets calculated its daily steel hot-rolled coil index, domestic, exw Northern Europe, at ?,?711.25 ($865.61) per tonne on Friday, down by ?,?4.75 per tonne week on week, but up by ?,?46.25 per tonne month on...Read More
Prices in the CIS export steel billet market became firmer on Monday January 25 with fresh bookings heard in Latin America at slightly higher prices.A large cargo of Ukraine-origin billet was sold to Latin America at slightly less than $580 per tonne fob Black Sea, three sources told Fastmarkets.One market participant suggested that part of the cargo could be material with chemistry that may comma...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Monday January 25 that are worth another look.The London Metal Exchange will launch its new cash-settled lithium futures contract on June 14, 2021, settled against Fastmarkets' price assessment for lithium hydroxide monohydrate.Liberty Steel Group has completed...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Friday January 22 that are worth another look.Import prices for flat-rolled steel in South America softened in the week ended January 22 with some Chinese mills accepting lower bids from clients.Base metals producer Vedanta Resources is seeking a sales...Read More
A differentiated fee structure designed to drive member-to-member trade away from the telephone market is being proposed by the London Metal Exchange as part of its discussion paper. The goal is to incentivize trade on the exchange's electronic trading platform, LMESelect, and is proposed to be achieved by cutting fees to trade electronically while raising fees for the telephone market by around 5...Read More
The London Metal Exchange and its clearing house are revisiting a proposal to transition to a different way of calculating its clearing methodology. The exchange announced its discussion paper on the topic on Tuesday January 19. The last attempt was made in 2017 and was rejected by LME members because it would make the provision of credit lines expensive and result in the rapid withdrawal of...Read More
Covid-19 appears to have claimed another casualty: the London Metal Exchange ring trading floor. The closure of the floor, now entering its 144th year, has been proposed in a discussion paper issued by the exchange earlier on Tuesday January 19.The open outcry floor may be old, but it didn't appear to have serious underlying health issues. It has successfully fought back against talk it was set to...Read More
The London Metal Exchange will launch its new cash-settled lithium futures contract on June 14, 2021, settled against Fastmarkets' price assessment for lithium hydroxide monohydrate. The exchange will also add another aluminium cash-settled futures contract to its suite with the launch of a new European duty-paid aluminium premium contract settled against Fastmarkets' benchmark Rotterdam premium....Read More
The Chinese market price of nickel pig iron (NPI) rose in the week to Friday January 22 amid improved spot activity ahead of the Chinese New Year holiday (February 11-17), sources said.Fastmarkets assessed the price of nickel pig iron, high-grade NPI content 10-15%, spot, ddp China at 1,110-1,140 yuan ($171-176) per nickel unit on Friday, up by 20-40 yuan per nickel unit or 2.7% from 1,090-1,100 y...Read More
Seaborne premium fob index skyrocketed on Monday January 25 following two higher transactions during the day, while the premium cfr price increased on latest transactions also, sources said.Fastmarkets indicesPremium hard coking coal, fob DBCT: $145.95 per tonne, up $11.96 per tonnePremium hard coking coal, cfr Jingtang: $212.95 per tonne, up $3.74 per tonneHard coking coal, fob DBCT: $107.78 per...Read More
The London Metal Exchange will launch its new cash-settled lithium futures contract on June 14, 2021, settled against Fastmarkets' price assessment for lithium hydroxide monohydrate. The exchange will also add another aluminium cash-settled futures contract to its suite with the launch of a new European duty-paid aluminium premium contract settled against Fastmarkets' benchmark Rotterdam premium....Read More
The Chinese market price of nickel pig iron (NPI) rose in the week to Friday January 22 amid improved spot activity ahead of the Chinese New Year holiday (February 11-17), sources said.Fastmarkets assessed the price of nickel pig iron, high-grade NPI content 10-15%, spot, ddp China at 1,110-1,140 yuan ($171-176) per nickel unit on Friday, up by 20-40 yuan per nickel unit or 2.7% from 1,090-1,100 y...Read More
Japan's Sumitomo has written down a loss of 30 billion yen ($289 million) at its Ambatovy nickel-cobalt asset in Madagascar, in addition to the separate 55 billion yen ($530 million) impairment announced in the middle of last year, according to a company statement dated January 25, 2021.This was the latest in a series of difficult events for Ambatovy, which has been out of the market since March 2...Read More
Tin's forward price reached a new year-to-date high on the London Metal Exchange on Monday January 25, while other prices were mixed despite a slight rise in the United States dollar index throughout the day. The metal's three-month price traded at a new 2021 intraday high of $22,600 per tonne, surpassing the previous high of $22,375 per tonne set just last week. It is also the highest intraday pr...Read More