The mining industry does a huge amount of good for local communities, to say nothing of its essential contribution to society through the materials it produces. Unfortunately, it all too often manages to give itself a bad name, worsening negative perceptions of the sector through accidents, spills and a failure to act as a steward of the environments in which it operates. In the past month alone,...Read More
The threat of Section 232 tariffs on aluminium imports from Canada into the United States has, like the great white shark following the Brody family in the universally panned film, 'Jaws: The Revenge,' returned - akin to a truly awful horror movie franchise. And that's how Neil Herrington, senior vice president for the Americas, US Chamber of Commerce, views reports that the US administration is c...Read More
The global nickel market continues to suffer a disconnect between on-exchange activity and market fundamentals, with the appetite for physical material distinctly lackluster, while speculative sights are set firmly on the electric vehicle (EV) battery revolution. Shanghai Futures Exchange nickel prices continue to be volatile despite stagnating stainless steel and EV demand for nickel because of t...Read More
Inflows into silver are likely to continue in the second half. As a result, the silver price is anticipated to surpass the US $21.00 mark in late-2020...From The Silver Institute:Posted on 07 09, 2020Investors Flocked to Silver-backed Exchange Traded Products and Silver Bullion Coins(Washington, D.C. - July 9, 2020) Silver's role as a valued investment was broadly on display during the first half...Read More
The London Metal Exchange has released off-warrant stock data to the market in a bid to increase transparency of global metal availability. In an announcement on July 9, the exchange said it hopes by providing visibility to metal which may potentially be put on LME warrant in the future, the market will be able to trade on the basis of a more complete supply picture. The LME's new data, which is o...Read More
The price that most traders are looking at is the $21 level. Once silver pushes above this level, then we could see a fast BREAKOUT to $27.50... by Steve St Angelo of SRSrocco ReportToday [Wednesday, July 8th] both silver and gold broke above important technical levels. The gold price hasn't been this high since September 2011 when it peaked at $1,923 during that month. Silver finally pushe...Read More
The three-month copper price on the London Metal Exchange was higher at the close of trading on Thursday July 9, continuing to test levels last seen in January despite a volatile forward curve, while nickel lost ground into the afternoon despite high turnover across the base-metals complex.Copper's outright price on the LME closed at $6,300 per tonne on Thursday afternoon, improving from an intrad...Read More
Too bad we don't walk around with honest, CLEAN MONEY in our pockets anymore. WE REALLY SHOULD if we're actually serious about coronavirus...(by Half Dollar) One thing that irks me to no end is the weak (and wrong) argument from the globalists that "plastic", as in charging purchases with a credit card or debit card, is safer than cash.Under the logic of these freedom destroying, humanity enslavin...Read More
Movements in prices for seaborne iron ore were rangebound on Thursday July 9, with concerns coming to light over the limited port inventories of some low- and mid-grade iron ore fines brands, according to market participants.Fastmarkets iron ore indices62% Fe fines, cfr Qingdao: $106.32 per tonne, down by $0.18 per tonne.62% Fe low-alumina fines, cfr Qingdao: $108.30 per tonne, up by $0.02 per ton...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.Aluminium: Capped by oversupplyA lack of a meaningful supply adjustment to the Covid-19 demand hit is keeping the aluminium physical market oversupplied and weighing on prices, limiting the success of more buoyant macro and technical forces on prices. Our premium forecasts are under review in light of threats from the U...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.Aluminium: Poised for a technical breakoutFears over a second wave of Covid-19 continue to grow, forcing prices of aluminium and the other base metals to take a pause. Our base-case scenario is that countries will respond more efficiently to contain the virus spread, so economic activity and metal demand should continue to r...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.Aluminium: Demand outlook revisedWe are not surprised to see aluminium prices retreat from last week's high after flagging up in recent reports that they had become overbought. 'Sell-the-rally' traders will be targeting the April high now, down at $1,534 per tonne. This week we have reviewed our aluminium demand forecasts fo...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.Aluminium: Short-term upside targets achievedLME aluminium's price recovery to $1,600 per tonne has been driven by macro forces acting on all metals, and amplified for aluminium by technical factors after prices became so oversold at the double-bottom lows in April and May. With a 4-million-tonne supply surplus this year, al...Read More
In light of the recent turmoil in the oil market, the Fastmarkets research team has closely examined the correlations between the price of oil and the prices for ferrous scrap and finished steel products, to discover nuanced relationships and their changes over time.It is common for steel market participants to refer to high correlations between oil prices and the prices for scrap and steel. Among...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.Price uptrend stumbles, but expected to resumeAs we expected, Chinese export and domestic steel prices moved upward in June, settling within the 2% range of our forecasts. Rebar prices trended downward in the second half of the month while heavy rains and floods in parts of the country meant that some construction sites had...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.The latest forecast of global oil country tubular goods (OCTG) consumption paints a stark picture of the slowdown in demand from the energy industry in the wake of the Covid-19 outbreak and subsequent oil and gas retreat.For 2020, total global consumption is expected to amount to 13.2 million tonnes, a decline of nearly 3.5...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.Depending on which market one looks at, prices of coated steels have either risen, fallen or remained roughly the same since mid-May. One crucial impact of the Covid-19 pandemic that has swept the world this year is the decoupling it appears to have created between global steel markets.In China, prices of most steel products...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.In previous reports, we noted that upside risks to our forecasts existed. These were based on Chinese steel production, and in turn alloy consumption, outperforming our expectations.Chinese crude steel production is rising each month in a year-on-year comparison, prompting our revised view that Chinese alloy consumption will...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.The Covid-19 pandemic and the associated impacts on steel production, mining and manufacturing activity, end-use consumption, and trade and transportation continue to dominate ferro-alloy markets. US steel mills are operating at around 50% of capacity, with similarly low operating rates evident in Europe as well. Chinese ste...Read More
Ferro-alloys prices have generally retreated over the past month, with demand concerns gaining in prominence.The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.Ferro-alloy pricing trends have generally diverged ove the past month, depending on the security of the supply-side position of the market. With most supply concerns fading with the resumption of industrial activity i...Read More