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
Stainless steel prices continue to register new highs around the end of the first half of 2021 and steelmakers continue to enjoy outsized margins.They have responded in recent months by increasing their output, which has now pushed above pre-pandemic levels and will eventually restore balance to the market.For now, though, supply gaps are still being filled and buyers find themselves competing aga...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts is ready to view.Recent weeks have brought two key developments with regard to trade policy on stainless steel products that will be to the detriment of consumers.In China, the country's stainless steelmakers no longer enjoy a 13% export rebate as of May 1, reducing greatly their incentive to export and instead leading them to focus on supply...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts is ready to view.Stainless steel prices and margins for stainless steel producers have risen notably over the past few months in both Europe and the United States, but there are now signs that the rally is petering out.A clear reason for the halt to rising prices comes from the near 20% drop in nickel prices seen in late February/early March,...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts is ready to view.With nickel prices down by almost 20% over the space of around ten days during late February and early March, one might have been expecting us to be reporting sharply-lower prices of stainless steel, at least for the most common nickel-containing grades of stainless steel.This is not the case, at least in Europe and the Unite...Read More
Base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange were mainly weaker on the morning of Monday November 8, but those on the Shanghai Futures Exchange were mainly firmer as they followed the strength seen on the LME on Friday.* US Congress’ passing of the long-awaited infrastructure bill bodes well for the metals* Chinese trade data show a record surplus, but weaker than expected imports highligh...Read More
U.S. equity index futures were higher this morning. S&P 500 futures were up 6 points in pre-opening trade.Lowe's (LOW $233.30) is expected to open higher after Wells Fargo raised its target price from $230 to $260.Caterpillar gained $2.28 to $205.88 after Congress passed an Infrastructure Bill over the weekend. Live Nation dropped $4.90 to $118.90 following news of a criminal investigation of...Read More
Major companies in logistics and heavy industry have come together as part of an initiative launched by the World Economic Forum at the the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference - COP26 - in Glasgow to create a critical mass of demand for low carbon technologies aimed at decarbonising heavily polluting sectors.The First Movers Coalition, announced on November 4, is a partnership between th...Read More
Sellers of physical copper are holding out for a higher premium for 2022 contracts in the United States.No major deals were reported by the end of the American Copper Council (ACC) fall meeting in Miami, Florida this past week, although there was talk of a US copper premium in the 10-cents-per-lb range.In the US, Fastmarkets assessed the copper grade 1 cathode premium, ddp Midwest US at 8-9 cents...Read More
Fastmarkets' copper concentrate treatment charge/refining charge (TC/RC) indices were largely stable this past week. More tonnages are available on tender for shipment next year, while smelters' buying has been relatively limited ahead of annual negotiations. For clean concentrate, a 90,000-tonne Cozamin tender for 2022 production was due to be awarded later on Friday November 5, with winning ter...Read More
Base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange mostly edged higher at the close on Friday November 5, after a week of volatility across the complex.The aluminium three-month price stabilized after falling 3.8% on Thursday. It closed at $2,556.50 per tonne, from $2,554 per tonne the previous day.The metal was once again the most traded with 21,689 lots traded on LMESelect by the 5pm close."Maybe [...Read More
An overview of the energy transition raw materials markets and their price moves in the week to Friday November 5.Susan Zou, Yingchi Yang and...Read More
An overview of the energy transition raw materials markets and their price moves in the week to Friday November 5.Susan Zou, Yingchi Yang and...Read More
Fastmarkets opened a consultation on October 1, inviting feedback on its IOSCO-audited non-ferrous materials methodologies in line with our annual methodology review process.The consultation, which closed on October 31, sought to ensure that the specifications and methodology for our audited alumina, aluminium, cobalt, copper, lithium and manganese ore prices continue to reflect the physical marke...Read More
Key data from Fastmarkets' pricing sessions in China, Europe and the United States on Friday November 5.China The bearish sentiment triggered by decreasing ferro-silicon futures continued to weigh on the Chinese spot ferro-silicon price, leaving market participants with a strong wait-and-see attitude. The high cost of electricity fees, a postponed steel mill tender, along with thin deals and inqui...Read More
Fastmarkets' copper concentrate treatment charge/refining charge (TC/RC) indices were largely stable this past week. More tonnages are available on tender for shipment next year, while smelters' buying has been relatively limited ahead of annual negotiations. For clean concentrate, a 90,000-tonne Cozamin tender for 2022 production was due to be awarded later on Friday November 5, with winning ter...Read More
An overview of the specialty steel raw materials markets in Europe and their latest price moves.Janie Davies, Dalila Ouerghi,...Read More
An overview of the specialty steel raw materials markets in Europe and their latest price moves.Janie Davies, Dalila Ouerghi,...Read More
An overview of the energy transition raw materials markets and their price moves in the week to Friday November 5.Susan Zou, Yingchi Yang and...Read More
Ferrous scrap prices in the global markets were unstable in the week ended Friday November 5 because deep-sea import prices in Turkey, the biggest scrap importer, fell earlier. But they rebounded toward the end of the week, while suppliers in the United States were able to resist the decline because of strong domestic demand. Turkish import prices rebounded late in the week Strong domestic demand...Read More