The Indian government's plans of hitting 300 million tonnes of steel capacity by 2030 sounds overambitious in the current scenario given that output only managed to reach the 101 million tonne mark in 2017 - indicating three-fold (Read More
After suffering for some seven years through to 2015, the world's steelmakers have had cause for cheer over the past couple of years. After some heavy losses and write-downs, they finally appear to have emerged from the wreckage of the global financial crisis. An economic upswing has taken root in most regions of the world, Chinese steel output and export growth has slowed noticeably, and steel pr...Read More
For a number of years problems at Ilva, the largest steelworks in Europe, have been casting shadow over the performance of the whole Italian steel industry. Will an acquisition of Ilva by a consortium led by ArcelorMittal, now in its final stage, be a game changer for the market?Following multiple reports of environmental and health problems caused by the Taranto plant, in 2013 Ilva was placed und...Read More
Incontrovertible evidence from yesterday indicates serious violations of monopoly and restraint of trade issues in COMEX silver futures. Ted explains...by Ted Butler via Silver SeekIt's now been four months since the US Department of Justice secured a criminal guilty plea from the former trader from JPMorgan for spoofing and manipulating precious metals prices on the COMEX and three months since t...Read More
China ended steel production in all of the country's illegal induction furnaces by the end of June last year, it ha claimed.Most operators in China are primarily small private mills that use low-quality scrap to produce substandard rebar. This is mixed with grade III (HRB400) rebar and sold at a discount to construction contractors.For a long period, the government had neither a record of nor cont...Read More
China's month-on-month new electric vehicles (NEV) sales rebounded in August after month-on-month declines in June and July. The drop in sales between May and June was the first drop since September 2016, but Fastmarkets MB had expected Chinese NEV sales to dip temporarily after the June subsidy changes came into effect because consumers and NEV manufacturers would have to adjust to the new subsid...Read More
Iron ore prices fell sharply in the second half of November after climbing through October, with prices for higher-grade material pioneering the decline.Fastmarkets MB daily benchmark for 65% Fe fines dropped by 22% by Monday November 26 after peaking on October 29. The 62% Fe iron ore index declined by 16% over the period, as some Chinese steelmakers started to seek larger volumes of cheaper ores...Read More
The steel scrap sector in the United States still depends on exports to Turkey, a member of the Fastmarkets research team said during the ferrous session at the Bureau of International Recycling (BIR) conference in London.This dependence persists despite the changes in the international markets created by the US' imposition of its Section 232 tariffs on imports of steel products, metals analyst Le...Read More
Seaborne pig iron has become relatively competitive versus ferrous scrap over the past year in most regions, and China is no exception. As the first chart below illustrates, the gap between the MBR's proxy for imported pig iron price in China and the Metal Bulletin's Chinese domestic heavy melt scrap price assessment had shrunk by late 2017. The premium averaged $17 per tonne this year to date, co...Read More
The closure of some induction furnaces in China in 2016 followed by the government's crackdown on all unlicensed IFs in mid-2017 freed up some scrap volumes, albeit arguably of low-quality material. Chinese domestic scrap prices came under pressure from the increased supply, which prevented them from keeping pace with the rise in steel and other raw material markets in the fourth quarter of 2016;...Read More
Gold futures marked the highest finish in two weeks Friday, as progress in trade talks in the final day of this week's round of U.S.-China trade negotiations was seen as bullish for the yellow metal, overshadowing strength in the dollar and a pick up in global equity markets. Meanwhile, palladium topped $1,400 an ounce to notch a record for futures prices, which settled with a weekly rise of nearl...Read More
This week, Panoramic Resources (ASX:PAN) sent out the first shipment of bulk nickel/copper/cobalt concentrate from its Savannah mine in Western Australia to Lianyungang, China.The shipment is making the news because its contents were produced after Panoramic was able to reopen the mine, which had been placed on care and maintenance in May 2016. The miner was waiting for a recovery in the nickel pr...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets MB stories you might have missed on Friday February 15 that are worth another look.The London Metal Exchange's linked load-in/load-out (LILO) warehouse rule thus far has not been activated at Istim's warehouses in Port Klang, Malaysia, despite a large aluminium queue building at the warehouse, sources confirmed to Fastmarkets MB.Section 232 tariffs on aluminium...Read More
RAPAPORT... Vast Resources has been invited to mine at the Marangediamond fields in Zimbabwe as part of a joint venture. The UK-headquartered miner will collaborate with theChiadzwa Community Development Trust, which was granted the right to mine theHeritage Concession portion of the site, Vast said last week. Russian miner Alrosa and China's Anjin Investments have been invited to return to...Read More
RAPAPORT... US holiday sales grew 2.9% in 2018, lower than the 4.3% to 4.8%increase the National Retail Federation (NRF) had predicted. Total sales for the November-December period were $707.5billion, according to figures from the Commerce Department. The officialfigures were released nearly a month late following the partial US government shutdown. That number falls well below the NRF's fore...Read More
RAPAPORT... MCH Group has appointed Bernd Stadlwieser CEO, as the Baselworld parent company works to reinvigorate interest in its annual fair. "[Stadlwieser] has a great deal of experience in sectors ofindustry that are of importance to us, as well as for taking forward thetransformation process that has been launched," MCH chairman Ulrich Vischer said last week. A 20-year veteran of the wat...Read More
The Angas zinc mine, just outside Adelaide and currently under care and maintenance, is about to become the site of 5 MW advanced compressed air energy storage or A-CAES project which will provide synchronous inertia, load shifting and frequency regulation to the area's electrical grid.The developer is Toronto-based Hydrostor, a firm that was awarded $9 million in grants to build the facility, wh...Read More
"Australian gold major Newcrest Mining has posted a big jump in half-year profit despite lower gold and copper prices. https://t.co/yQm96W3Bsk #mining #miningnews #gold"Read full newsRead More
Bolton Urges All Sides ToRead full newsRead More
The most recent leg of China's credit boom has been due to an important shift toward household lending.Read full newsRead More