Prices in the Commonwealth of Independent States' export market for steel billet moved up on Thursday October 21 amid rising scrap and domestic billet prices in Turkey, which added to the positive expectations among sellers.Fastmarkets' calculation of its daily index for steel scrap HMS 1&2 (80:20 mix), north Europe origin, cfr Turkey, was $497.04 per tonne on Thursday, unchanged day on day but up...Read More

Reduced operations at steel rerolling mills in several key cities across China have hurt prices for steel billet in China's local and import markets, sources said on Thursday October 21.The northern Chinese steelmaking hub Tangshan ordered rerolling mills in its Fengrun district to suspend production from October 21 to 31 to improve air quality, market participants told Fastmarkets.The production...Read More

Inflation accelerated again in September, and gold prices (finally!) reacted positively. Bad news: the rally was short-lived.Unfortunately, I was right. One month ago, when commenting on the CPI readings for August, I wrote that inflation “doesn’t have to go away anytime soon” and that the economic developments suggest that “inflation isn’t disappearing just yet.&rdqu...Read More

“Gold going nowhere” seems to be a reasonable description of recent price action in the metals markets.Below is a daily chart of GLD for the past year… The price variation from the mid-point (170) of the price range (160-180) is only about 5 1/2 percent – either up or down.For those expecting bigger things, this might trigger some impatience. It might also be disappointin...Read More

What’s the price level exit for theblack gold?The new front month contract (as weswitched now to Dec’21) for WTI Crude Oil futures closed the week at $82 perbarrel on Friday (Oct. 15th).Fundamentally, nothing seems to be able to stop, in the short term, the surge incrude oil prices which continued to rise on Friday amid concerns over supply,since the WTI hit a new high in almost seven...Read More

Mining stocks were picked up byinvestors in the latest bullish wave. But these bad performers may be dumpedjust as quickly as they were bought.After the HUIIndex rallied back above the neckline of its bearish head &shoulders pattern, a new bull market for mining stocks has finally begun. Or has it? Well, after an identicaldevelopment occurred in 2000, the HUI Index soon invalidated the breakou...Read More

Abig week for precious metals markets as inflation pressures push consumer prices to painful new heights.OnThursday, the U.S. Labor Department reported that inflation at the wholesalelevel is up 8.6% from a year ago. That’s the steepest annual advance since thedata started being reported.Ofcourse, Americans who have shopped at a grocery store recently or tried to rentor buy a car don’t...Read More

Copper makes the headlines, but GYX has been bullish all along; gold awaits its time as the message from metals land is bullish, risk ‘on’ and cyclicalWhile copper went through its correction we have been noting each week in NFTRH that the Industrial Metals index, GYX had never aborted its bullish stance. Trends remained up and the index price held the SMA 50’s intermediate trend...Read More

Rio Tinto will invest $7.5 billion to reduce emissions and meet its carbon targets earlier than planned, the company announced on Wednesday September 20.Following more ambitious climate targets by governments, Rio Tinto is revising its emissions reduction targets. Its new target is to reduce its Scope 1 & 2 carbon emissions of the greenhouse gas (GHG) Protocol by 50% by 2030, more than triple...Read More

BMW Group is to source steel from Sweden's H2 Green Steel for its European plants from 2025, the German car manufacturer said this week.Announcing the move on Wednesday October 20, BMW said that the company was "systematically pursuing [a] goal of significantly reducing CO2 emissions at their source in the supply chain."BMW said that, from 2025, it will source steel produced with up to 95% fewer C...Read More

Rio Tinto will invest $7.5 billion to reduce emissions and meet its carbon targets earlier than planned, the company announced on Wednesday September 20.Following more ambitious climate targets by governments, Rio Tinto is revising its emissions reduction targets. Its new target is to reduce its Scope 1 & 2 carbon emissions of the greenhouse gas (GHG) Protocol by 50% by 2030, more than triple...Read More

Steelmakers in China will likely keep their production rates low in the fourth quarter of 2021 amid pollution controls and tight electricity supply even though they still seem to have a lot of "quota" left for the year, market participants say.In the first nine months of this year, China produced 805.89 million tonnes of crude steel, according to the country's National Bureau of Statistics (NBS)....Read More

A summary of BHP's operational review for iron ore and metallurgical coal for the quarter ended September 30, 2021, as released on Tuesday October 19.In brief Total production of iron ore for the three months ended September 30 was 63.3 million tonnes (70.6 million tonnes on 100 % basis), down by 4% year on year.Iron ore production was down by 3% quarter on quarter over July-September. The dip in...Read More

Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Thursday October 21 that are worth another look.Rio Tinto will invest $7.5 billion to reduce emissions and meet its carbon targets earlier than planned, the company announced on Wednesday September 20.The government of the United...Read More

Egypt's prices for imported billet and domestic reinforcing bar increased in the week to Thursday October 21, with demand also picking up from previous weeks, sources told Fastmarkets.Local rebar producers increased their prices effective October 20.Buying increased after the price hikes were announced because buyers believed prices could rise further, traders said.On the other hand, the Advanced...Read More

The government of the United Kingdom plans to set up an expert committee on critical minerals to provide independent advice on the scope and content of a critical minerals strategy to meet the country's net-zero carbon emissions targets, it said.In a move designed to guide investment decisions, the government also plans to update the country's critical minerals list, which details materials that a...Read More

Prices in the Commonwealth of Independent States' export market for steel billet moved up on Thursday October 21 amid rising scrap and domestic billet prices in Turkey, which added to the positive expectations among sellers.Fastmarkets' calculation of its daily index for steel scrap HMS 1&2 (80:20 mix), north Europe origin, cfr Turkey, was $497.04 per tonne on Thursday, unchanged day on day but up...Read More

Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Thursday October 21 that are worth another look.Rio Tinto will invest $7.5 billion to reduce emissions and meet its carbon targets earlier than planned, the company announced on Wednesday September 20.The government of the United...Read More

The three-month copper contract is trading near record highs on the London Metal Exchange, cash prices are rising even faster, and inventories are descending toward zero. Try running a hedge book in those conditions.It's been a very real quandary facing the physical trade and industry, which awoke on Tuesday October 19 to find copper's cash to November spread had flared to a backwardation of more...Read More

The collapse of the iron ore market and market turbulence over Chinese property developer Evergrande Group are adding to the economic woes caused by the Delta variant of Covid-19 for much of this year.It is hard to find bright sparks in the months ahead for the ferrous supply chain, which has been buffeted repeatedly in a short span of few months, starting with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang's comment...Read More