China's domestic rebar prices were flat on Friday April 19 amid stable activity, but participants expected prices to pick up next week. Domestic Eastern China (Shanghai): 4,060-4,080 yuan ($606-609) per tonne, unchangedNorthern China (Beijing): 4,000-4,040 yuan per tonne, unchangedBuyers kept procurement rates flat ahead of the weekend, leading to unchanged prices.Participants, however, said...Read More
Copper and tin were the only base metals on the Shanghai Futures Exchange to dip during morning trading on Friday April 19, depressed by a strong dollar, while the rest of the complex saw limited gains.The most-traded June copper price dipped to 49,390 yuan ($7,367.80) per tonne as at 10:51am Shanghai time, down by 110 yuan, or 0.22%, compared with the previous day's close. The dollar in...Read More
Incumbent Indonesia president Joko Widodo's likely victory in the national polls should stimulate a recovery in domestic steel demand, sources in Southeast Asia told Fastmarkets this week. Preliminary results from multiple independent survey agencies, which are determined using samples taken from the actual votes, after the votes were cast on April 17 had shown that Widodo, commonly known as Jokow...Read More
Low-grade manganese ore prices have held relatively steady since rebounding from this year's lows in January, when market participants toned down fears of oversupply in the alloy market. Normally volatile low-grade manganese ore prices have held relatively steady since rebounding from this year's lows in January, after which market participants toned down fears of oversupply in the alloy market. F...Read More
When the London Metal Exchange amended its policies related to its physical delivery network a few years ago, it overlooked one key thing. The issue centers on LME's linked load-in/load-out (LILO) rule, which operates by linking the amount of metal a warehouse loads in to the amount it is obligated to load out for warehouses that have queues of over 50 days.The rule changes were part of package of...Read More
Ahead of Fastmarkets' Battery Materials 2019 conference in Shanghai, Fastmarkets looks at use of lithium in next-generation vehicles and other battery uses, as well as soaring prices, which have spurred interest in lithium and boosted its importance in recent years as a battery material. In June 2016, the spot price in China peaked at $27 per kg, more than three times the global contract price, ac...Read More
Gold fell on Wednesday for a third straight session to settle at another low for the year, with prices finding little reason to make any significant moves on the back of a steady dollar and mixed trading this week among U.S. benchmark stock indexes. Prices for the metal also barely budged in the immediate wake of the Federal Reserve's Beige Book. The snapshot of U.S. economic conditions, released...Read More
Incumbent Indonesia president Joko Widodo's likely victory in the national polls should stimulate a recovery in domestic steel demand, sources in Southeast Asia told Fastmarkets this week. Preliminary results from multiple independent survey agencies, which are determined using samples taken from the actual votes, after the votes were cast on April 17 had shown that Widodo, commonly known as Jokow...Read More
Copper and tin were the only base metals on the Shanghai Futures Exchange to dip during morning trading on Friday April 19, depressed by a strong dollar, while the rest of the complex saw limited gains.The most-traded June copper price dipped to 49,390 yuan ($7,367.80) per tonne as at 10:51am Shanghai time, down by 110 yuan, or 0.22%, compared with the previous day's close. The dollar in...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
Chris says silver is setting up for a HUGE move. What does Chris say about gold? Come on in to find out the answer to that question and more...Chris Vermeulen interviewed by Matt on Silver FortuneChris Vermeulen, founder of TheTechnicalTraders.com, joins me for a discussion centered around what the charts have to say about the future of silver and gold in the next 12 months. 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
For most investors familiar with precious metals, it's a great sign when silver out-performs gold.It's kind of like the old market analogy that it's good when small-cap stocks or tech stocks lead the broader market higher.Silver, like small caps and tech stocks, represents the high beta part of the financial markets. So, when silver leads, it means that precious metals have a more aggressive/bulli...Read More
(Bloomberg) - An iPhone assembler, e-commerce emporium and real-estate developer typically don't compete in the same business - except when it comes to electric vehicles in China.That's because of a seismic shift toward EVs, which has spurred billions of dollars in investments by traditional carmakers, startups and titans of the internet, electronics and real-estate industries. The rush is on even...Read More
The latest bids, offers and deals in the global markets for hot-rolled coil, cold-rolled coil, hot-dipped galvanized coil, pre-painted galvanized iron, steel plate, steel sheet and other flat steel products. Latest transactions: hot-rolled coilHot-rolled coilEast China, domestic,...Read More
The latest bids, offers and deals in the global markets for steel billet, slab and bloom. Latest transaction: billetBillet China,...Read More
The latest bids, offers and deals in the global markets for rebar, wire rod, steel beams and other long steel products. Latest transactions: rebarRebar East China, domestic, grade...Read More
Lukewarm investor sentiment for natural diamonds seems to contradict the stable demand and favourable supply forecasts for natural diamonds, US-based diamond analyst Paul Zimnisky notes in a statement released last week. He recalls that during State-owned Russian diamond company Alrosa’s Capital Markets Day, on March 18, the company noted that the questions most frequently asked during one-o...Read More