High demand for bulk vessel space for mineral raw materials exported from China is driving costs for this transport option higher, with market participants reporting an array of factors that are affecting trading conditions and delivery timelines.Container freight costs for China's seaborne route have remained high well into March, with ongoing disruptions reported by participants active in m...Read More

"Given their deteriorating bilateral relations and China's imports restriction on Australian coal in recent years, we believe Beijing has identified its dependence on Australian resources as one ofRead More

Brazil-headquartered Nexa Resources has suspended operations at its Extremo Norte underground mine in the Vazante unit, due to the identification of ground displacements on the site, the base metals producer said on Friday March 19.The downtime is not expected to significantly affect production in the first quarter, however, Nexa said. Throughput of the second mine in the division, also called Vaz...Read More

Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Monday March 22 that are worth another look.Crude steel output in Germany dropped by 10.4% year on year in February 2021 after four consecutive months of recovery, German steel federation WV Stahl said on March 22.The process at...Read More

The supply-driven rally in antimony prices that was buoyed by an ore shortage and shipping delays has now stalled, and the upward momentum has probably ended, market participants told Fastmarkets on Monday March 22, with some of them now expecting prices to fall."It does appear that antimony has 'done' its upside, from what we can see, and - if anything - [the uptrend] is now running out of steam,...Read More

The process at the heart of proposals to overhaul the London Metal Exchange's market structure is problematic and suggests the exchange is not putting its users first, the president of the International Wrought Copper Council (IWCC) said. In an interview with Fastmarkets, Mark Loveitt said that it was not clear to the IWCC and its members why the exchange was revisiting plans to change its margin...Read More

Steelmakers in Turkey stepped back from the deep-sea scrap market after the unexpected sacking of the head of the country's central bank sent the Turkish currency into freefall, sources told Fastmarkets on Monday March 22.The Turkish steel mills have been away from the deep-sea scrap markets since March 12, when two cargoes from the Baltic Sea were booked at $435-437 per tonne cfr on HMS 1&2 (80:2...Read More

The proposals included in the London Metal Exchange's discussion paper would not serve the needs of the physical market and could have a negative impact on copper and copper alloy semis-fabricators, the International Wrought Copper Council (IWCC) said.Mark Loveitt, IWCC president and director, said the association is not opposed to change but believed the proposals would not achieve the LME's stat...Read More

Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Monday March 22 that are worth another look.Crude steel output in Germany dropped by 10.4% year on year in February 2021 after four consecutive months of recovery, German steel federation WV Stahl said on March 22.The process at...Read More

Brazil-headquartered Nexa Resources has suspended operations at its Extremo Norte underground mine in the Vazante unit, due to the identification of ground displacements on the site, the base metals producer said on Friday March 19.The downtime is not expected to significantly affect production in the first quarter, however, Nexa said. Throughput of the second mine in the division, also called Vaz...Read More

Base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange were mixed on Monday March 22, while those on the Shanghai Futures Exchange were up across the board. United States 10-year treasuries yields have eased to 1.67%, from recent highs of 1.75%Base metals LME three-month base metals prices were mixed, with copper, aluminium and lead down by an average of 0.5%, while the rest of the metals were up by an a...Read More

Australia-based graphite miner Syrah Resources has completed the installation of a furnace at its active anode material (AAM) project in US city of Vidalia, Louisiana, a significant milestone on its path to becoming a vertically integrated producer of natural graphite AAM outside of China, the company announced on Monday March 22.Syrah Resources produced and coated purified spherical graphite, whi...Read More

The downtrend in China's cobalt sulfate market accelerated in the week to Friday March 19 on weak buying interest and a widening gap between offers for material produced from cobalt hydroxide and that produced from scrap.Fastmarkets' price assessment for cobalt sulfate 20.5% Co basis, exw China fell to 81,000-83,000 yuan ($12,434-12,741) per tonne on Friday March 19, down by 4,000 yuan per tonne (...Read More

Stocks are off to the races to kick off the trading week. The action today could set us up for another round of new all-time highs.Source: Yahoo FinanceThat's quite astonishing considering everything the markets have endured over the past 12 months.Just like things were prepandemic, "new record highs" is a phrase we're going to hear often. In fact, the S&P 500 has hit new highs (according to daily...Read More

We spoke with Peter Steenkamp, who is CEO and Executive Director of Harmony Gold Mining Company Limited (JSE: HAR) - a world-class gold mining and exploration company, with more than 70 years' experience in the industry. Harmony Gold has operations and assets in South Africa and Papua New Guinea. These assets include one open pit mine and several exploration tenements, in Papua New Guinea, as well...Read More

The emerging geopolitical competition between China and the United States will likely drive opportunity and its timing in the mining industry over the next decade. This week, we also try to find an answer to where uranium fits in to all of this.Situation critical To read this week's Insight update on the factors impacting our core investment themes, click here. Read More

Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Monday March 22 that are worth another look.Crude steel output in Germany dropped by 10.4% year on year in February 2021 after four consecutive months of recovery, German steel federation WV Stahl said on March 22.The process at...Read More

Crude steel output in Germany dropped by 10.4% year on year in February 2021 after four consecutive months of recovery, German steel federation WV Stahl said on Monday March 22.German crude steel production totaled more than 3.09 million tonnes in February, down from 3.46 million tonnes in the corresponding period of 2020."The cautious upward trend of the past few months has ended. The recove...Read More

Domestic prices for steel hot-rolled coil substantially increased across Europe over the week to Friday March 19, driven by a material shortage and strong demand.At the end of last week, ArcelorMittal increased its offer prices further, up by ?,?50 per tonne in Northern Europe to ?,?850 ($1,012) per tonne ex-works, and up by about ?,?30-40 per tonne to ?,?820 per tonne ex-works in Italy.Fastmarket...Read More

Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Monday March 22 that are worth another look.Crude steel output in Germany dropped by 10.4% year on year in February 2021 after four consecutive months of recovery, German steel federation WV Stahl said on March 22.The process at...Read More