Russia has decided to increase the duty imposed on steel scrap exports to ?,?70 ($85.57) per tonne in a bid to keep enough material within the domestic market against a background of rising global prices, the country's ministry of economic development said on Wednesday May 26."The percentage [at which the duty is applied] is being kept at 5% of the customs value," the ministry said. "And in order...Read More

U.S. equity index futures were lower this morning. S&P 500 futures were down 8 points in pre-opening trade.U.S. equity index futures were quiet prior to release of economic news at 8:30 AM EDT. Consensus for April Durable Goods Orders was an increase of 0.7% versus a gain of 1.0% in March. Excluding Transportation Orders, consensus for April Durable Goods Orders was an increase of 0.7% versus...Read More

Iron ore prices went fell on Thursday May 27, due to limited demand in the seaborne market and at Chinese ports.Fastmarkets iron ore indices 62% Fe fines, cfr Qingdao: $189.73 per tonne, down $3.14 per tonne62% Fe low-alumina fines, cfr Qingdao: $190.90 per tonne, down $3.59 per tonne58% Fe fines high-grade premium, cfr Qingdao: $162.38 per tonne, down $2.64 per tonne65% Fe Brazil-origin fines, cf...Read More

Import prices for steel scrap in China weakened further on Thursday May 27 amid a continued lack of buying interest, sources told Fastmarkets.The continued price drop came despite the most-traded rebar and hot-rolled coil futures contracts on the Shanghai Futures Exchange inching up on May 27 after more than a week of consecutive losses.Fastmarkets' daily price assessment for steel scrap...Read More

China's relentless "suggestions" to industry that it wants to see stable commodity prices appear to have suppressed speculative behavior and are beginning to cool bullish market conditions, sources told Fastmarkets on Thursday May 27.Rising commodity prices were highlighted for the third time in 14 days, on Wednesday May 26, during the the weekly executive meeting of China's State Council, le...Read More

Seaborne premium hard coking coal prices climbed up in both the cfr and fob markets on Thursday May 27, with the supply of north American premium hard coking coal to China still limited and more buying activity in the fob market, source told Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets indicesPremium hard coking coal, fob DBCT: $152.76 per tonne, up $12.16 per tonnePremium hard coking coal, cfr Jingtang: $262.29 per t...Read More

London Metal Exchange prices rose on the morning of Thursday May 27, with copper and zinc climbing above their recently set psychological levels following year-to-date highs and nickel continuing its stride forward following a 1.5% rise on Wednesday.The LME three-month copper price was $10,038 per tonne at 9am London time, a 0.6% rise from Wednesday's close of $9,979 per tonne. The copper price ha...Read More

Base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange and Shanghai Futures Exchange were mixed during the morning of Thursday May 27, as were broader markets - are these pauses, or early signs of a stall?More US Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) members seem to be getting off the fence about talking about tapering Chinese yuan continues to strengthen, is China using the yuan to reduce inflationary pr...Read More

The European titanium market for alloy and scrap have dropped in price over the past week as an extended period of quiet prompted profit-taking from some domestic traders as well as cheaper export offer prices from Russia, according to industry sources.European ferro-titanium suppliers dropped their offer prices and concluded deals at lower numbers, both on a spot and longer-term basis, which, in...Read More

The Cobalt alloy grade, in-whs Rotterdam, $/lbtrade log including business, bids and offers reported to Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets publishes trades logs for its key price assessments and indices to bring more transparencyinto the markets it covers and the pricing process it applies.Fastmarkets assessed...Read More

The Cobalt standard grade, in-whs Rotterdam, $/lb trade log including business, bids and offers reported to Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets publishes trades logs for its key price assessments and indices to bring more transparencyinto the markets it covers and the pricing process it applies.Fastmarkets assessed Cobalt standard grade, in-whs...Read More

Four key takeaways from the 6th China International LiCoNi Summit in Changsha, China, on May 20-21, 2021.1. Weak nickel market sentiment now but long-term positive Sentiment remained weak among domestic market participants at the conference because they think both the mild hawkish stance evident in the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) minutes and the statement from China's State Council that...Read More

Chinese stainless steel sellers lowered their offer prices over the past week to reduce inventories against a bearish outlook for the market.Weakness in nickel prices on both the London Metal Exchange and Shanghai Futures Exchange led to growing pessimism.The three-month nickel contract on the LME ended the official trading session on Wednesday at $17,198 per tonne, down by $504 per tonne (2.8%) f...Read More

South America is home to rich deposits - not only of gold and silver, but of copper, zinc and lithium. Here are eight Canadian companies that are making the most of the potential.ALDEBARAN RESOURCESHigh in the Argentinian Andes Aldebaran Resources (TSXV: ALDE) has brought is Altar porphyry copper-gold project to the advanced exploration stage. The project has several deposits, but only two (Altar...Read More

79North (CSE: JQ; US-OTC: SVNTF) has made a new discovery at its 20,000 hectare Nassau gold project in Suriname, about 20 km south of Newmont's (TSX: NGT; NYSE: NEM) Merian gold mine and 60 km east of Iamgold's (TSX: IMG) Rosebel gold mine.The new discovery called the Carbonara gold zone - mostly concealed by jungle - is contained in a quartz vein-like body that is at least 1,600 metres long and s...Read More

Australia's Danakali (ASX: DNK; LSE:DNK) says filtered seawater is a reliable, unlimited and economic option to use in the sulphate of potash (SoP) production process at its Colluli project in Eritrea.The Perth-based miner said it will now rely on a combination of beach well intake, smaller pumping station and greater renewable energy to pump filtered seawater to the processing plant at the Coll...Read More

The European Commission (EC) has officially terminated its anti-subsidy case into hot-rolled coil from Turkey without imposing any duties, Fastmarkets understands.This decision was published in the Official Journal of the European Union on Thursday May 27.In April 2021,...Read More

Frontier Lithium (TSXV: FL; US-OTC: LITOF) said the Ontario government is injecting $363,000 (about US$300,000) into the company's pilot of a proprietary process that seeks to overcome certain risks linked to conventional lithium chemical processing used commercially outside North America.Frontier is developing the PAK lithium project in northwestern Ontario, said to host the province's largest a...Read More

Copper's price is trading at all-time highs - and now the countries where it is mined the most want a piece of the action.The London Metal Exchange's three-month copper contract recently hit an all-time high of $10,747 per tonne - industrial commodities have broadly rallied on the expectation that government investments in green energy schemes and infrastructure projects after the Covid-19 pandemi...Read More

When one of Dennis Buchanan's PhD candidates at Imperial College in London was recently stressed from exams and developed writer's block, he was able to unblock the student by pointing out that there has never been a better time to write a dissertation on metals and energy finance than now. As the world races to meet de-carbonisation deadlines and transitions to greener forms of energy, he told he...Read More