India's steel industry will double its capacity by the end of this decade and will emerge with a larger and greener role in the global steel industry, Sajjan Jindal, chairman and manager director of JSW Group, said on Wednesday June 23 at Fastmarkets' 2021 Steel Success Strategies Industry Briefing.JSW, India's largest producer, expects to lead the way with its own goal of increasing steel output...Read More

Italy's Council of State has overruled a decision by the Court of Lecce, which means that flat steel producer Acciaierie d'Italia, formerly known as ArcelorMittal Italia, will be allowed to continue its flat steel production operations, the steelmaker said on Wednesday June 23."As a result, any suggestions of a possible shutdown of the hot area of Acciaierie d'Italia's Taranto plant, and the closu...Read More

U.S. equity index futures were higher this morning. S&P 500 futures were up 4 points in pre-opening trade.The Canadian Dollar was virtually unchanged at US81.46 cents following release of Canada's April Retail Sales at 8:30 AM EDT. Consensus was a drop of 4.9% versus a gain of 3.5% in March. Actual was a drop of 5.7%. Excluding auto sales consensus was an increase of 2.2% versus a gain of 4.3%...Read More

Swedish special steel producer Ovako is to collaborate with carmaker Volvo Group, Hitachi ABB Power Grids, H2 Green Steel and Nel Hydrogen to invest in hydrogen production at Hofors in Sweden, it has been announced.The project will look to enable climate-neutral steel production and to build hydrogen-powered heavy vehicles. It is building Sweden's largest fossil-fuel-free hydrogen facility, it sai...Read More

The Federal Reserve has pursued its 2% inflation grail with a monomaniacal determination, like madmen chasing phantoms or mad dogs chasing tails.It has largely been a juiceless pursuit... "as elusive as sheet lightning playing among June clouds."Inflation has bubbled a bit here, gurgled a bit there - but to no lasting effect.Experts dispute the causes. Among these are:Depressed worker wages result...Read More

I try to keep politics out of my economic analyses, and my approach is non-partisan. But sometimes I can't avoid it because political policies can have significant economic impacts. Today is one of those times.One of Joe Biden’s first acts as President was to kill construction of the Keystone XL pipeline. This is a pipeline that would bring oil from the tar sands of Alberta, Canada to the Mi...Read More

Bangladeshi mills have returned to the United States' deep-sea scrap export market to secure two West Coast cargoes at higher prices.A West Coast exporter sold a 35,000-tonne cargo comprising 7,000 tonnes of an 80:20 mix of No1 and No2 heavy melting scrap priced at $535 per tonne cfr, 18,000 tonnes of shredded scrap at $545 per tonne cfr and 10,000 tonnes of bonus-grade material at $555 per tonne...Read More

Turkish steel producers have extended their absence in the deep-sea scrap market due to weak rebar sales, market participants told Fastmarkets on Wednesday June 23.Steelmakers have now been absent from the market since June 15, when two cargoes were sold into Turkey from the United States.A mill in the Marmara region bought both cargoes, comprising HMS 1&2 (80:20) at $500 and $501 per tonne, plus...Read More

Iron ore prices rose on Wednesday June 23 amid improved sentiment because of the possible easing of blast furnace restrictions in China's Tangshan province and the sharp rise in coal prices, sources said.Fastmarkets iron ore indices62% Fe fines, cfr Qingdao: $216.01 per tonne, up by $1.69 per tonne62% Fe low-alumina fines, cfr Qingdao: $219.34 per tonne, up by $3.34 per tonne58% Fe fines high-grad...Read More

Buyers in South Korea have been willing to pay higher prices for Japanese scrap recently, outbidding Chinese buyers, sources told Fastmarkets on Wednesday June 23.The South Korean market has been highly interested in higher-quality scrap from Japan in recent months amid high special steel demand and rising scrap intake at some basic oxygen furnaces (BOFs) due to carbon neutrality policie...Read More

Coking coal prices maintained the upward trend in the cfr China market on Wednesday June 23 amid further supply tightness of mainstream domestic coking coal and increased buying interest, while the fob market surged amid firm demand. Fastmarkets indices Premium hard coking coal, fob DBCT: $183.67 per tonne, up $5.80 per tonne Premium hard coking coal, cfr Jingtang: $296.86 per tonne, up...Read More

China imported 3.41 million tonnes of coking coal in May 2021, down 30% from the corresponding period last year and down 2% month on month, the latest data from China Customs showed. This followed a 44% year-on-year drop and a 29% month-on-month decline in imports in April. Over January-May 2021, China imported 18 million tonnes of coking coal, down 43% from the same period in 2020. Russia was the...Read More

Hot-rolled coil prices in China's domestic market cruised higher on Wednesday June 23, with coking coal supply concerns actin as support and helping to stem the decline in steel futures prices.DomesticEastern China (Shanghai): 5,280-5,380 yuan ($814-830) per tonne, up by 10-70 yuan per tonne. The most-traded HRC contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange climbed more than 1% to an intraday high of...Read More

China's domestic rebar prices stopped falling on Wednesday June 23 on gains in the futures market following news that the country is one step closer toward a national scheme for the trading of carbon emission permits.DomesticEastern China (Shanghai): 4,800-4,840 yuan ($741-747) per tonne, unchanged The Shanghai Environment & Energy Exchange, China's first trading platform for environmental and ene...Read More

Base metal prices on the London Metal Exchange continued to edge up on the morning of Wednesday June 22, with comments by the United States Federal Reserve chairman on future actions by the central back easing tapering concerns."To reassure the markets, US Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell said: 'We will not raise interest rates pre-emptively because we think employment is too high [or] becau...Read More

The aluminium price on the Shanghai Futures Exchange rose for a second consecutive day on Wednesday June 23 even as the Chinese government announced further details of the sell-off of aluminium reserves on its website on June 22. China's National Food and Strategic Reserves Administration on June 22 said it will sell 50,000 tonnes of aluminium to the market through tenders in an initial batch...Read More

Rebounds were under way in the base metals in London and Shanghai this morning, Wednesday June 23, but we will have to wait to see how the metalsreact to today's manufacturing purchasing managers index (PMI) data.To reassure the markets, United States Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell said: "We will not raise interest rates pre-emptively because we think employment is too high [or] because we...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 Rotterdam, $/lb at 21.00-21.90 on Wednesday...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 hydroxide payable indicator, min 30% Co, cif China, % payable of Fastmarkets' standard-grade cobalt price (low-end) 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 hydroxide p...Read More