Nickel's price was up by more than 5% on the London Metal Exchange and tin's was up by 4.3% since the start of the week, with bullish momentum returning to the base-metals complex on Friday May 28 and all metal prices finishing higher than at the start of the week.Prices bounced back following a period of weakness and correction seen at the beginning of the week, after the Chinese government calle...Read More

Iron ore prices rose on Friday May 28 amid strong semi-finished and finished steel prices, driven by firmer demand from end users, sources told Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets iron ore indices 62% Fe fines, cfr Qingdao: $190.51 per tonne, up $0.78 per tonne62% Fe low-alumina fines, cfr Qingdao: $192.67 per tonne, up $1.77 per tonne58% Fe fines high-grade premium, cfr Qingdao: $162.80 per tonne, up $0.42 p...Read More

China's domestic rebar price rebounded on Friday May 28 following futures gains, encouraging buyers to return to the market. Spot market sellers followed suit.Domestic Eastern China (Shanghai): 4,830-4,860 yuan ($758-763) per tonne, up by 120 yuan per tonne Northern China (Beijing) weekly assessment: 5,000-5,030 yuan per tonne, down by 400-420 yuan per tonne Some buyers increased their pro...Read More

An overview of the new energy materials markets and their price moves from the past week.Susan Zou, Yingchi Yang, and Sybil...Read More

Nickel's price was up by more than 5% on the London Metal Exchange and tin's was up by 4.3% since the start of the week, with bullish momentum returning to the base-metals complex on Friday May 28 and all metal prices finishing higher than at the start of the week.Prices bounced back following a period of weakness and correction seen at the beginning of the week, after the Chinese government calle...Read More

Spot interest in overseas blister copper remained low this month in China, with importers continuing to show a preference for top-grade copper scrap while the outright price of the metal remained high. Fastmarkets assessed the blister copper 98-99% RC spot, cif China at $220-240 per tonne for May, up from $185-200 per tonne a month earlier and at its highest since April 2018.Trading remained limit...Read More

Ivanhoe Mines - the developer of the Kamoa Kakula copper mine in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) - is in talks with that country's government about securing a permit to export concentrate, it said.The talks between Canada-listed Ivanhoe Mines and Kinshasa follow news - broken by Fastmarkets this week - of the DRC introducing a ban on the export of copper...Read More

Customs officials in the Democratic Republic of Congo have backtracked on a decree made just 24 hours earlier and re-approved the export of copper concentrate and cobalt from the country.In an official letter to extractive companies in Katanga province, the center of cobalt mining in the country if not the world, Bernard Bosele Pilipilithe, provincial director of Customs and Excise for the provinc...Read More

Base metals, with the exception of lead, registered declining inventories in Shanghai Futures Exchange-registered warehouses in the week to Friday May 28, with tin the biggest faller - down 13%.in stocks totalled 5,241 tonnes on Friday, down by 783 tonnes from 6,024 tonnes a week ago.The largest outflow was from Nanchu warehouse in Guangdong province, where volumes were down by...Read More

Tin was the standout performer on the morning of Friday May 28, reaching a new year-to-date peak of $30,800 per tonne, while other LME futures prices had a more up-and-down start, with some having ended the Thursday session with increases of more than 3%. After reaching $30,800 per tonne during early trading - its highest level since April 2011 - tin was down slightly to $30,605 per tonne at 9am,...Read More

Canadian steelmaker Stelco has agreed with a German battery recycling specialist, Primobius, to work toward creating a lithium-ion battery recycling venture, initially hoped to recycle 20,000 tonnes per year of batteries.The pair "would actively plan for an expanded capacity operation," under a memorandum of understanding (MoU) announced on Thursday May 27 by Primobius's Australian co-owner, Neome...Read More

Steel billet suppliers in the Commonwealth of Independent States expect China to resume booking material, albeit at a lower rate than earlier in May, Fastmarkets learned on Friday May 28."It's hard to say, but I think they will resume bookings because no-one cancelled the plan to reduce steel output by the end of the year," one trader said.In northern China's Tangshan city, the country's steelmaki...Read More

Look beyond market approach to project valuations: van ZylLeadershipGreat Panther Mining is a precious metals miner in the AmericasSPONSOREDgreat pantherStellar metrics just the start for near-term developer Theta GoldSPONSOREDtheta gold minesPAM puts itself in the middle of Thailand 4.0SPONSOREDThe company first lodged an application to list on the ASX back in December. The company formally liste...Read More

Base metals prices on the Shanghai Futures Exchange were up across the board while those on the London Metal Exchange were mixed during the morning of Friday May 28. This followed surging prices on Thursday.* Falling initial jobless claims in the United States boosted sentiment* An indefinite strike has started at BHP’s Santiago copper-mining operations center* Asia-Pacific equities upbeat as...Read More

Activity in the European hot-rolled coil market has been slow this week while buyers have preferred to hold back from new deals and proved reluctant to accept any further price increases.Buyers - already struggling to open credit lines due to the high prices of flat steel - chose to pause their purchases while monitoring China's coil market.Prices for coil in China have been decreasing over the pa...Read More

Indian domestic secondary billet prices edged up in the week to Friday May 28, even as finished steel prices began to fall.Fastmarkets' price assessment for steel billet domestic, ex-works India was 41,400-41,600 rupees ($565-572) per tonne on Friday, up 300 rupees from last week's 41,100-41,300 rupees per tonne ex-works. "Billet prices have only increased because...Read More

Flat steel buyers and sellers in Turkey are questioning what will happen in global markets in the coming week, after the country's imported flat steel prices decreased in the week to Friday May 28 but local producers were firm on prices.Price changes in China were behind the uncertainty.Hot-rolled coil prices from China started decreasing on May 12 due to the government's call for stable comm...Read More

Turkey's hot-dipped and pre-painted (color-coated) galvanized coil market was mostly stable in the week to Friday May 28 because of uncertainty about flat steel prices globally, sources told Fastmarkets.While demand was strong to moderate in the domestic and export markets, prices were barely changed.Market uncertainty stemmed from a fall in Chinese prices - hot-rolled coil prices from China start...Read More

Liberty Steel Group has finalized the purchase of Polish plate producer Huta Czestochowa, a company spokesperson told Fastmarkets on Friday May 28.According to sources, the purchase price was 190 million zloty ($51.5 million)"Liberty Steel Group has fulfilled its commitment to the Polish administrative court for the completion of the acquisition of the Huta Czestochowa, Europe's only producer of g...Read More

Next Tech Talk report is released on Monday despite the U.S. holiday. Pre-opening Comments for Friday May 28thU.S. equity index futures were higher this morning. S&P 500 futures were up 12 points In pre-opening trade.Equity index futures were virtually unchanged following release of economic news at 8:30 AM EDT. Consensus for April Personal Income was a drop of 14.0% versus a revised gain...Read More