After five months of roaring demand for pig iron in China, market sources have started to doubt whether buying activity there will continue. In March, when the steel industry in Europe and the United States had only started to face the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, China began to recover, resuming normal operating rates and starting to absorb almost all available spot pig iron volumes from the...Read More

Lead stocks in Shanghai Futures Exchange-registered warehouses fell the most in percentage terms in the week to Friday August 28, dropping by 14.9% or 4,823 tonnes to 27,580 tonnes. The outflows mainly came from warehouses operated by Nanchu in Guangdong, with a decline of 2,766 tonnes to 25,963 tonnes. This follows a decline of 4.5% in lead stocks the previous week. "In China, vehicle productio...Read More

We've got 100% PAIN for the big shorts!by Bix Weir of Road to RootaWe got a "half-&-half" result for the last day of Aug COMEX Silver but 100% PAIN for the big shorts! Since the shorts don't have the metal they had to close out over 74M oz of shorts yesterday with losses over $350M and STILL will need to deliver over 70M oz in physical silver in September!Read More

The London Metal Exchange three-month nickel price continued to gain during the morning session on Friday August 28, trading up 1.2% from the previous day's close at $15,340 per tonne, its highest since November 2019.Often considered a proxy for the Asian markets, nickel has continued to trend higher of late on near-term demand from China's industrial sector and ongoing speculative rhetoric from t...Read More

Slab export prices from Brazil increased in the week ended Friday August 28 amid low volumes available and a continued recovery in demand.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel slab, export, fob main port Brazil was $430-435 per tonne on Friday, up by $10 from $420-430 per tonne a week earlier.There were reports of offers from Brazil made near $440 per tonne fob, after...Read More

Indian steel mills were likely to increase their domestic hot-rolled coil prices by about 2,000-3,000 rupees ($27-41) per tonne in September, with local demand for the commodity continuing to grow, Fastmarkets heard on Friday August 28.Officials from two Indian private-sector mills have confirmed that they have already given guidance to their dealers to impose a 2,000-3,000 rupees per tonne price...Read More

Three-month prices for all base metals on the London Metal Exchange except lead rose on Friday August 28, with nickel leading the rally.Fastmarkets analyst Andy Farida attributed Friday's rally to market reaction to a speech by US Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell on Thursday August 27. Powell signaled to the market that the US Federal Reserve will relax its inflation target of 2% in a bid to...Read More

Fastmarkets copper concentrates treatment charges and refining charges (TC/RC) index stayed largely flat at its multi-year low level from a week ago.The spot market has been relatively quiet this week with smelters buying a handful of clean concentrates parcels in the high $40s, while some deals, with tonnages extending into the fourth quarter this year and first quarter next year, are said to be...Read More

An overview of the battery raw materials markets and their latest price moves.Read More

Lead stocks in Shanghai Futures Exchange-registered warehouses fell the most in percentage terms in the week to Friday August 28, dropping by 14.9% or 4,823 tonnes to 27,580 tonnes. The outflows mainly came from warehouses operated by Nanchu in Guangdong, with a decline of 2,766 tonnes to 25,963 tonnes. This follows a decline of 4.5% in lead stocks the previous week. "In China, vehicle productio...Read More

The first deal for the supply of aluminium to main Japanese ports (MJP) for the fourth quarter has concluded at a premium of $83 per tonne cif MJP, sources told Fastmarkets on Friday August 28.The deal was for up to 1,500 tonnes of aluminium ingot in total for October-December delivery, with 500 tonnes to be delivered each month, and is on top of the London Metal Exchange cash price...Read More

Sanjeev Gupta, Executive Chairman of steel and aluminium investment company GFG Alliance, will head the roster at the London Metal Exchange's virtual seminar this year, the LME announced on August 28.The virtual seminar will start on Monday October 19, 2020 and replaces the annual LME week gathering of metal market participants in London, which has been canceled amid the Covid-19 pandemic.Gupta ha...Read More

Daily PDFs will be downloadable until Monday August 31. After that, because of the UK's Summer bank holiday, the next daily PDF will be downloadable on Wednesday September 2.Read More

Hot-rolled coil prices in the United States have risen above $25 per hundredweight ($500 per short ton) for the first time since mid-June thanks to a recent round of price increases bolstered by healthy demand. Fastmarkets' daily steel hot-rolled coil index, fob mill US was calculated at $25.03 per cwt ($500.60 per ton) on Friday August 28, up by 0.5% from $24.90 per cwt on Thursday August 27 and...Read More

Prices for domestic steel beams in the United States were flat on Thursday August 27, while prices for imported products fell for a second month in a row on weakening demand, sources said.Fastmarkets' assessment for steel beams 8 x 8-inch, fob mill US held at $35.25 per hundredweight ($705 per short ton) on Thursday, unchanged for a fourth consecutive month.Most sources reported that demand was st...Read More

Artemis all set thanks to unique approachSPONSOREDartemis resourcesMTV's senior lenders, shareholders and unsecured creditors participated in finding a solution creating a path towards profitability and sustainability.Read More

European distributors of flat steel products reported a 16.50% year-on-year drop in shipment volumes in June, regional steel industry association Eurometal said on Friday August 28.The decrease was less than an earlier fall in May of this year, when shipments dropped by 38.50%.In the first half of 2020, shipment volumes of flat steel products from European steel service centers dropped by 21.8% ye...Read More

Export billet prices from the Commonwealth of Independent States region strengthened week on week, supported by rising prices in the scrap segment and the revival of customer interest, particularly in North Africa.A cargo of CIS-origin billet was reported sold to Tunisia in the middle of the week at $425 per tonne cfr, which would net back to $400-402 per tonne fob Black Sea, according to market s...Read More

Domestic prices for hot-rolled coil in Northern Europe have been fairly stable day on day on Friday August 28, although the region's steelmakers continue to push for further price increases, sources told FastmarketsFastmarkets' daily steel hot-rolled coil index, domestic, exw Northern Europe was calculated at ?,?450.45 ($532.53) per tonne on Friday August 28, up by just ?,?0.56 per tonne day on da...Read More

U.S. equity index futures were higher this morning. S&P 500 futures were up 12 points in pre-opening tradeU.S. equity indices were virtually unchanged following release of economic news at 8:30 AM. Consensus for July Personal Income was an ease of 0.2% versus a decline of 1.1% in June. Actual was a gain of 0.4% Consensus for July Personal Spending was an increase of 1.5% versus an increase of...Read More