The government of South Africa has eased the country's lockdown, yet the continued threat of Covid-19 will dampen the recovery in chrome and manganese ore supply.The government of South Africa hopes its miners will ramp up production and bolster the flagging South African economy following the lowering of the nationwide alert on Monday June 1, easing restrictions to combat the Covid-19 virus. "Und...Read More

How long it will take the global economy to recover from the Covid-19 pandemic is anyone's guess right now.Could the world's major economic regions be in for an "LUV" recovery similar to the one they saw after the global financial crisis of 2008-09?That was the format of recovery that was expected in 2009 by former Rio Tinto chief executive officer Tom Albanese, who was at the helm of the mining g...Read More

The Covid-19 pandemic is likely to lead to another casualty: the mega mine. The volatility created by crises like Covid-19 is adding a layer of uncertainty to the development of large-scale projects that take a decade or more to progress and are highly capital intensive, according to Tom Albanese, the former chief executive officer of Rio Tinto.This means that mining projects are likely to be deve...Read More

New Day Aluminum Holdings, the parent company of Noranda Bauxite, Noranda Alumina, and Niche Industrial Chemicals, on June 2 announced the appointment of John Habisreitinger as chief operating officer.New Day produces bauxite for metallurgical and non-metallurgical applications in Jamaica, and...Read More

Chinese steelmakers' changing appetites for high-quality iron-ore blast furnace pellets prompted further developments in the transparency and maturity of the pellet segment, Fastmarkets understands.The iron ore pellet segment has long been touted as the hardest to commoditize, primarily due to differences in product valuations between different global steelmaking hubs, sources said. Most term cont...Read More

Import prices of steel billet in China have risen to the $400-per-tonne-cfr mark this week on steady demand amid a domestic market strengthened by restrictions imposed on blast furnaces in the country's steelmaking hub of Tangshan.Local authorities in Tangshan, in northern China's Hebei province, have instructed mills to cut their blast furnace production rates by 20-50% in June to improve air qua...Read More

The uptake of batteries for energy storage is expected to soar between 2020 and 2030 in Europe, supporting the growth of flexible electricity assets while new renewable capacity ramps up in its key economies.Investments in green mobility and renewable sources of electricity are high on the agenda of the EU member states, to comply with energy transition targets.With sales of electric vehicles (EV)...Read More

The three-month copper price on the London Metal Exchange rose by 2.3% day-on-day to close at $5,690 per tonne on Friday June 5, after a strong day of trading with a turnover of more than 23,300 lots.LME three-month copper had its best week since September 2018 in the week ended June 5, reaching a high of $5,698 per tonne on Friday. On Monday, it had opened at $5,400 per tonne, but on Friday it op...Read More

Seaborne premium hard coking coal prices rose by more than $2 per tonne on Friday June 5 due to recent active trading. Fastmarkets indicesPremium hard coking coal, fob DBCT: $109.99 per tonne, up $2.24 per tonne Premium hard coking coal, cfr Jingtang: $116.52 per tonne, up $2.14 per tonneHard coking coal, fob DBCT: $87.58 per tonne, up $0.50 per tonneHard coking coal, cfr Jingtang:&...Read More

The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.Aluminium: Consolidation needed after technical gainsDespite structural oversupply, the London Metal Exchange aluminium price has enjoyed a technical rebound since the mid-May lows, which was in line with our short-term forecasts. But technical indicators now look overbought and the price must consolidate its recent gai...Read More

The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.Aluminium: Early signs of post-lockdown demand recoveryWith major economies outside China reopening after the easing of their Covid-19-related restrictions on movement and industrial activity, last week's jump in the number of cancelled aluminium warrants on the London Metal Exchange may be an early sign that the post-lockdo...Read More

The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts is ready to view.US demand shrinksDemand projections call for a continued retreat in US electric-resistance welded (ERW) line pipe and oil country tubular goods (OCTG) consumption as drill rigs and the number of wells drilled per rig are cut. Project demand in the large-diameter line pipe market is also shrinking with deferred or canceled pro...Read More

The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts is ready to view.A couple of months into the global Covid-19 pandemic, the sell-off in steel markets appears to be abating.In parts of Asia, where the outbreak first occurred, steel prices - including those for coated steels - have rebounded since late April. The same is true of the US market as well. As we detail in our Americas analysis thi...Read More

The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.US flat product prices outperformed our expectations over the past month. In an attempt to lend the market confidence that sheet prices had reached a floor, US steel mills announced price increases of $50-60 per ton at the end of April. In the announcement, mills cited the expectation of higher scrap prices, tight domestic s...Read More

The financial crisis has already hit the US and the World, as evidenced by Fed & central bank monetary policies, but INVESTOR PSYCHOLOGY hasn't... by Steve St Angelo of SRSrocco ReportIf investors are waiting for much lower premiums to purchase silver bullion products, they may be waiting for quite some time. Due to the global contagion, investors have bought a record amount of silver bullion....Read More

The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.The Covid-19 pandemic and the associated impacts on steel production, mining and manufacturing activity, end-use consumption, and trade and transportation continue to dominate ferro-alloy markets. US steel mills are operating at around 50% of capacity, with similarly low operating rates evident in Europe as well. Chinese ste...Read More

The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.Iron oreSentiment in the iron ore market continues to be dominated by concerns about supply disruptions in Brazil. Prices spiked above $100 per tonne after reports that there had been a recent surge of Covid-19 cases at Vale's three mines in Itabira. A...Read More

The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.Ferrous scrap consumption rates of Chinese integrated mills appear to have declined this year on a per-tonne basis. This year has seen the ratio of pig iron to steel output tighten, leaving increasingly less room for scrap consumption. Over the first four months of 2020, the pig iron-to-steel ratio has been above the pr...Read More

The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.Lockdowns and restrictions of movement in several cities in Brazil have increased worries about the potential impact on iron ore export volumes. The situation has already had an impact on the market sentiment. These concerns, combined with strong demand from China, have boosted iron ore prices. The fall in shipments from Bra...Read More

The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.Activity in China has picked up, and although the impact from the Covid-19 did not spare the country with its gross domestic product contracting at its largest rate since recording began in the 1990s, the latest crude steel output figures for April from China's National Bureau of Statistics show a strong recovery, albeit sti...Read More