The downward pressure on flat-rolled steel import prices in South America persisted in the week ended Friday November 5, with buyers still cautious of ordering January-shipment cargoes while gauging future demand and overall pricing trends.More market participants expressed their fears during the week regarding an export duty being imposed on steel products from China from January 2022. They said...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
The export pig iron market from the Commonwealth of Independent States softened in the week ended Thursday November 4 due to demand from the United States at lower prices than neighboring markets.Fastmarkets' price assessment for high-manganese pig iron export, fob main port Black Sea, CIS $520-545 per tonne on November 4, down from $550 per tonne a week before.Buyers in the United States, who hav...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
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
Mining and metals companies say they're serious about transitioning to a sustainable economy, but whether they can afford to is another matter.Achieving decarbonization throughout the supply chain is going to require a huge amount of investment in technology to reimagine production processes and redesign existing sites.Last week, the International Aluminium Institute estimated that to decarbonize...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
Seaborne cfr coking coal prices dropped slightly on Friday November 5 with no trading activity, sources said, while ow-volatility PCI prices also declined following the downtrend in thermal coal prices.Fastmarkets daily indicesPremium hard coking coal, cfr Jingtang: $600.25 per tonne, down $0.63 per tonneHard coking coal, cfr Jingtang: $525.23 per tonne, unchangedPremium hard coking coal, fob DBCT...Read More
Spot prices for hot-rolled coil in China edged lower on Friday November 5, while futures prices set a new nine-month low.DomesticEastern China (Shanghai): 4,960-5,000 yuan ($775-781) per tonne, widening downward by 20 yuan per tonneNorthern China (Tangshan) weekly assessment: 5,030-5,090 yuan per tonne, down by 260-270 yuan per tonne Spot HRC prices in eastern China ended the week down by 340-370...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 specialty steel raw materials markets in Europe and their latest price moves.Janie Davies, Dalila Ouerghi,...Read More
Low-carbon aluminium differentials in Europe have widened after this week's United Nations environmental conference, COP26, put sustainability in the spotlight.Fastmarkets assessed the aluminium low-carbon differential P1020A, Europe, at $0-10 per tonne, up from $0-7 per tonne in the previous assessment on October 1."We would be looking for $10 per tonne minimum right now, and I think that is tota...Read More
The Brazilian federal government has decided to cut by 10% the import duties imposed on most materials under its tariff system, the ministries of economy and foreign relations said in a joint statement on Friday November 5.Among the changes, duties on the majority of flat-rolled and long steel products will be cut to 10.8%, from 12% currently. Import taxes on stainless steel will drop to 12.6% fro...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
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
Brazilian aluminium producer Companhia Brasileira de Alum?-nio (CBA) signed a deal to acquire an 80% share of Alux do Brasil, a local secondary alloy producer, for 110 million Reais ($20 million), it said on Thursday November 4.The company will be able to increase its recycling capacity by 20% with the new asset, as well as enter a new business segment of selling secondary aluminium alloys mo...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
Coated steel coil prices decreased in Turkey during the week ended Friday November 5, while some buyers expect further price falls, sources told Fastmarkets.Buyers expect more price decreases because of recent price falls for hot-rolled coil and weak demand, sources said.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel hot-rolled coil, domestic, exw Turkey was $910-930 per tonne on November 5, narro...Read More
Domestic prices of hot-rolled coil in Europe were fairly stable on Friday November 5, reflecting limited market activity, sources told Fastmarkets.Despite the lack of trading, sentiment remains positive in anticipation of restocking by distributors, upward pressure on prices from high energy and transport costs and because of the agreement reached between the United States and the EU on Section 23...Read More
ArcelorMittal will suspend production as its Sestao plant in Spain until early 2022 to carry out upgrade works to double capacity, a company representative told Fastmarkets.With the company moving forward scheduled engineering works by a month due to high electricity costs, steel production at Sestao will stop from the end of November until early next year, the spokesperson said."Production...Read More