The London Metal Exchange will keep its open outcry trading ring in London closed despite the United Kingdom easing its lockdown restrictions, it announced on Wednesday July 8. "Following detailed discussions with our ring-dealing members and User Committee, and having fully assessed the updated UK government guidance that came into effect on 4 July, our position remains not to reopen the ring unt...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

JP Morgan has a dilemma...Craig Hemke interviewed on USA Watchdog by Greg HunterDemand for gold delivery is exploding, and that is a big reason for the upward price pressure. What about silver? Why is it lagging behind gold? It takes nearly 100 ounces of silver to equal 1 ounce of gold. That ratio is going to start coming down dramatically. Financial writer and precious metals expert Craig Hemke e...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.US prices continue to hold Seamless oil country tubular goods (OCTG) and line pipe prices remained unchanged for the third straight month in June, and we expect them to remain stable through the summer before edging higher on the back of a measured rise in drilling rates.The lack of price movement in recent months does not i...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.Judging by a recent webinar we conducted on Asian ferroalloys last week, many market participants believe the steel and steelmaking raw materials' world - outside of China - will record an 'L' shaped recovery, effectively failing to recover. With crude steel production outside of China falling close to a third in April and o...Read More

The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.The recent price fall in the iron ore market signals the start of a downturn, after prices averaged at the highest level in almost a year in June. A combination of both supply-related events in Brazil and demand factors in China have put pressure on prices. Vale has received permit to resume mining operations in Itabira, whi...Read More

The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.The recent announcement about Vale's resumption of operations in Brazil, along with new concerns about a slump in demand because of heavy rainfall in China, has resulted in the end of the iron ore price rally. There has also been pressure from tight steel spreads, with the operating margins for Chinese steel mills shrinking...Read More

The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.Iron ore prices climbed further last week and we expect the elevated levels to remain into the next month. In particular, further upside will come from blast furnace (BF) capacity, which was reduced in Europe, Japan and the United States and has now come back online after restrictions started to be removed. With Covid-19 spr...Read More

The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts is ready to view.Stainless steel prices are relatively stable this month, showing little change since our previous tracker. Such stability masks growing issues for stainless steelmakers, however, who are increasingly unable to pass on rising costs to consumers and are, thus, facing cuts to their margins.In general, this is due to an excess of...Read More

A summary of London Metal Exchange warrant premiums from across the globe for the week to Wednesday July 8.Please click...Read More

Italian re-rollers have raised their offer prices for heavy steel plate this week to reflect higher steel slab costs, sources told Fastmarkets on Wednesday July 8.At the end of last week, Italian re-rollers were offering plate at ?,?405-415 ($457-469) per tonne ex-works, but they have increased their prices to ?,?430-440 per tonne ex-works for August-delivery plate, market sources said.Fastmarkets...Read More

Russian miner and smelter Nornickel has challenged a $2.1 billion bill issued by the country's environmental watchdog on July 6 after a huge oil spill in May.Nornickel faces at least $2.4 billion in costs arising from the spill, with the biggest of these being the $2.1 billion bill that it challenged on Wednesday July 8.The company questioned the imposition of punitive damages, as well as alleging...Read More

RAPAPORT... India's diamond sector has asked the government to reduce import duty for polished and allow direct sales of rough at the country's special notified zones (SNZs), arguing that the measures would boost the local industry.The Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC) wants import tax to drop to 2.5% from its current rate of 7.5%, thereby strengthening India's role as a hu...Read More

RAPAPORT... Diamonds Do Good will host a virtual gathering in which key leaders from the diamond and retail sectors will offer insights and perspectives on the future of the natural-diamond industry."The world has undergone a seismic change over the last few months," Diamonds Do Good president Anna Martin said recently. "Learning how global companies in our industry are adapting will bring pe...Read More