Sibanye Stillwater could be eyeing rivals to form the third-largest gold mining company.Continue...Read More

Steel rebar prices in the north of Europe have been broadly flat over the past week despite a lack of buying activity, but with support from high feedstock prices, sources told Fastmarkets on Wednesday March 10.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel reinforcing bar (rebar), domestic, delivered Northern Europe, was ?,?630-660 ($749-784) per tonne on Wednesday, widening downward from ?,?640-...Read More

The steel wire rod market in Northern Europe has been largely flat over the past seven days, although sentiment was quite positive amid a materials shortage and good buying appetite, Fastmarkets heard on Wednesday March 10.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel wire rod (mesh-quality), domestic, delivered Northern Europe, was ?,?660-690 ($784-820) per tonne on Wednesday, stable week on wee...Read More

Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Wednesday March 10 that are worth another look.High bulk freight costs are causing severe challenges in shipping ferrous materials this week, sources told Fastmarkets.The majority of members of the Workers' Union at Minera Los Pelambres in...Read More

Peter Krauth, editor of Silver Stock Investor, discusses recent movements in the price of silver and what he believes lies ahead. Silver is an odd metal.The crowd loves to hate on it for decades. That's simply because they don't really understand it. But when sentiment flips, it becomes a rock star.I think silver has entered its rock star period. And it's about to generate a string of hits. They...Read More

Turkish steel mills went quiet in the deep-sea scrap markets after the latest downturn in prices, with activity in the long steel market still slow, market participants told Fastmarkets on Wednesday March 10.Three US cargoes had been booked by two Turkish steelmakers, on Saturday and late on Monday, at around $453-456 per tonne cfr on HMS 1&2 (80:20) basis, sending daily scrap indices down by almo...Read More

British steel scrap suppliers have mostly settled monthly delivery prices for steel scrap to domestic consumers at prices up by ?30 ($42) per tonne for March.This increase will recover all the losses made one month earlier, amid persistently tight local supplies and firm demand for exports to traditional deep-sea markets, industry sources told Fastmarkets on Wednesday March 10.The move was seen a...Read More

Lower prices were agreed in the most recent round of export steel billet sales from Iran amid the widespread decrease in raw materials costs, Fastmarkets learned on Wednesday March 10.A cargo of Iranian billet was heard sold on March 7 at $560 per tonne fob southern Iranian ports, in line with highest prices achieved a week earlier.At the beginning of this week, however, Iranian mills had to give...Read More

High bulk freight costs are causing severe challenges in shipping ferrous materials this week, sources told Fastmarkets.Bulk freight rates have increased since the start of the year, underpinned by expensive oil and a lack of available vessels in major global markets, such as China.Brent crude oil prices were at $67.20 per barrel at the end of trading on March 9, up from $65 per barrel on Feb...Read More

China's domestic rebar prices further decreased on Wednesday March 10 due to weak demand and futures loss.DomesticEastern China (Shanghai): 4,630-4,650 yuan ($711-714) per tonne, down by 70 yuan per tonne Sellers cut prices by 20-30 yuan per tonne in the morning to 4,680-4,690 yuan per tonne to attract buyers, but few deals were concluded.Buyers bid much lower at...Read More

As financial markets sold off this week, preciousmetals got dragged down in the selling. The culprit, once again, was risingbond yields.On Thursday, the 10-year Treasury climbed above 1.5%. While still low on ahistorical range, the upside momentum has investors concerned. Over the pastseven months, the 10-year yield has tripled from a low of just 52 basis points. The 10-year note serves as a bench...Read More

Several factors influence gold prices (mainly the US dollar, gold ETF inflows/ outflows, inflation rate, bond yields, safe haven demand, physical gold demand, gold supply) but none is more reliable than real interest rates.The demand for gold moves inversely to interest rates — the higher the rate of interest, the lower the demand for gold, the lower the rate of interest the higher the deman...Read More

The conclusion of various holiday seasons, the end of winter, the progress of Covid-19 vaccination programs, and the will to return to more normal ways of life were all strong positives for the global long steel products market, the International Rebar Producers & Exporters Association (Irepas) said last week.The current situation and sentiment were generally very good in the world's long steel ma...Read More

Gold has suffered unrelentingselling in the last couple months, hammering it and its miners’ stocks muchlower.  Those outsized anomalous losseshave left sentiment in tatters, with overpowering bearishness universal.  Gold’s thrashing had nothing to do withfundamentals, it was driven by cascading momentum selling in gold futures andgold-ETF shares.  But such dumping isfin...Read More

Meanwhile, eyes are fixed on interest rates for US Treasury bonds. During the same six-month period (August 2020 – February 2021) during which the price of gold fell by seventeen percent, the price of the 20-year US Treasury bond fell by twenty percent. That IS a huge deal, as it corresponds to sharply higher interest rates from less than 1% last August to as high as 2.26% just the other day...Read More

The Indian silico-manganese export market should cement recent price gains that have pushed up the high end of the range to a level last seen in April 2018 on firm domestic fundamentals that are influencing exporter offer prices, industry sources told Fastmarkets.Indian trade sources said firm domestic demand has encouraged higher export offer prices to customers in Southeast Asia, the Middle East...Read More

Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Wednesday March 10 that are worth another look.High bulk freight costs are causing severe challenges in shipping ferrous materials this week, sources told Fastmarkets.The majority of members of the Workers' Union at Minera Los Pelambres in...Read More

The majority of members of the Workers' Union at Minera Los Pelambres in Chile voted to go on strike after rejecting the latest labor offer from the unit's owner, Antofagasta, the union said on Wednesday March 10.According to the union, 389 members voted to walk out from the mine operations, while there were six votes to approve the offer and three abstentions. The previous labor deal will expire...Read More

Tin supply is extremely tight worldwide, resulting in a tin cash price near 10-year highs and peak premiums in all global regions in the fortnight to Tuesday March 9.After being relatively flat for a long time, European premiums made sudden jumpsTin from the government stockpile has offered no relief yet in the United StatesTaiwan's tin premium holds Premiums hit record high in 'extremely dif...Read More

Chinese nickel full-plate premiums rose to an 18-month high in the week to Tuesday March 9 after an opening of the arbitrage window between London and Shanghai led to a pick-up in spot activity.Premiums surge in China; nickel sulfate price down slightly European, US spot premiums flat China nickel premiums reach 18-month high; nickel sulfate narrows downwardChinese nickel full-plate premiums reach...Read More