Domestic and imported steel beam prices rose in the United States on Thursday July 29 after remaining flat the prior month.Fastmarkets' monthly assessment for steel beams 8- x 8-in, fob mill US rose to $63 per hundredweight ($1,260 per short ton) on July 29, up by 5% from $60 per per cwt in May and June and up by 20% from $52.50 per cwt on April 29.Fastmarkets' assessment for steel beams medium se...Read More

Hot-rolled coil prices in the United States topped $93 per hundredweight ($1,800 per short ton) for a third consecutive day, with the rally expected to reach new highs in coming weeks, market participants said. Fastmarkets' daily steel hot-rolled coil index, fob mill US was calculated at $93.70 per cwt ($1,874 per ton) on Friday July 30, down by 0.35% from $94.03 per cwt on Thursday July 29, but u...Read More

Prices for cold-rolled and galvanized steel sheet in the United States surged to record highs - capping an unprecedented 12 months of gains - with market participants watching the timing of automotive production resumptions for clues as to availability for the remainder of 2021.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel cold-rolled coil, fob mill US achieved a new all-time high of $103.50 per...Read More

A change in China's tax rebates for several steel products brought trade to a halt in the South American coil import market, while prices continued to rise.China's announcement of a cut in existing tax rebates on several steel products brought an already slow import market to a stop.The cut in rebates will affect flat steel products classified under Harmonized System codes 7209, 7210, 7225, 7226,...Read More

Some 835 members of the Industrial Union of Labor Integration and the Unified Workers' Union voted by 97.1% to reject Codelco's contract offer, reported Reuters.Read More

Domestic prices for rebar in Poland were stable in week to Friday July 30 amid the seasonal slowdown, sources told Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets' price assessment for steel reinforcing bar (rebar), domestic, exw Poland was 4,000-4,150 zloty ($1,036-1,075) per tonne on Friday, unchanged week on...Read More

Hot-dipped galvanized and pre-painted galvanized coil prices were mostly stable in Turkey during the week to Friday July 30, amid moderate demand, sources told Fastmarkets.Most export destinations were in holiday season, when demand for exports typically slows, while local buying continued, producers said.Turkish producers held prices stable because they are fully booked for more than two months a...Read More

Copper production was up 0.7% year-on-year to 297,000 tonnes, a 5% miss versus consensus estimates. Cobalt productions was down 2.4% to 8,000t, a 16% miss, while nickel volumes fell 14.Read More

A surge in raw material prices, principally for direct-reduced iron (DRI), over the week ended Friday July 30 has led to Indian secondary billet prices rising by about 800 rupees ($11) per tonne.Fastmarkets assessed the price of steel billet, domestic, ex-works India, at 43,000-43,200 rupees ($579-582) per tonne on Friday, up by 800 rupees per tonne from last week's assessment at 42,200-42,400 rup...Read More

When Sydney went into lockdown in late June, it was clear that the chance of delegates from New South Wales being able to make it to Kalgoorlie was diminished.Perth followed days later - just a month out from Diggers - though the four-day snap lockdown proved to be effective and life returned to normal on July 12.There was a glimmer of hope for Victorian delegates when the hard border was dropped...Read More

An overview of the new energy materials markets and their price moves from the past week.Susan Zou, Yingchi Yang and...Read More

Fastmarkets is launching a one-month consultation on several proposed updates to the wording of its assessment methodology. The proposed wording refinements do not materially alter the way Fastmarkets Metals & Mining assesses prices but are instead intended to describe the process more clearly to increase market participants' understanding of how editorial judgment is applied. The changes are not...Read More

The light iron scrap market in the UK was unchanged on Friday July 30, but a change in direction was likely due to a recent drop on the export markets, sources have told Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel scrap 5C, loose old light, domestic, delivered inter-merchant, UK, was ?180-195 ($251-272) per tonne on Friday, unchanged at a multi-year high.Market participants expecte...Read More

U.S. equity index futures were lower this morning. S&P 500 futures were down 31 points in pre-opening trade.Index futures were virtually unchanged following release of economic news at 8:30 AM EDT. Consensus for June Personal Income was a drop of 0.2% versus a decline of 2.0% in May. Actual was an increase of 0.1%. Consensus for June Personal Spending was an increase of 0.7% versus a gain of 0...Read More

The prices of shredded steel scrap imports into Pakistan and India weakened on Friday July 30 following a drop in Turkish scrap prices, sources told Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets calculated its weekly steel scrap, shredded, index, import, cfr Port Qasim, Pakistan at $544.77 per tonne on Friday, down from $546.46 per tonne a week earlier.Deals were reported at $543-545 per tonne this week, down from deal...Read More

A summary of Brazilian flat steel and iron ore producer Usiminas' results for the first quarter of its financial year to the end of June.Adjusted earnings at Usiminas reached a record high of 5.07 billion Reais ($996 million) in the second quarter, an increase from 192 million Reais a year earlier, mainly because of higher volumes and prices in the company's main segments, it said.In briefHigher p...Read More

Turkish steel mills continued to book deep-sea scrap cargoes at a slow pace on Friday July 30, sources told Fastmarkets.A steel mill in the Marmara region booked a European cargo, comprising 25,000 tonnes of HMS 1&2 (80:20) at $465 per tonne, 15,000 tonnes of shredded and 5,000 tonnes of a mixture of HMS 1 and plate and structural (P&S) at $480 per tonne cfr....Read More

Chinese aluminium producer Yunnan Shenhuo will cut its output by 50,000 tonnes because of the latest round of power restrictions announced by local power supplier Yunnan Power Grid on July 27.The reduction in output was announced on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange website on Friday July 30, in a notice from the producer's parent company, Shenhuo Group, an aluminium and aluminium products fabricator li...Read More

Seaborne coking coal prices increased in the cfr market on Friday July 30 with more buying interest and fewer tradable resources, sources told Fastmarkets. The fob market was broadly stable on the last workday of the week.Prices for seaborne pulverized coal injection (PCI) rose in the cfr market in the week to July 30 following a strong domestic market. The fob market stayed largely stable during...Read More

Iron ore prices drop drastically on Friday July 30 with market sentiment depressed by worsening demand.Fastmarkets iron ore indices62% Fe fines, cfr Qingdao: $181.57 per tonne, down by $14.49 per tonne62% Fe low-alumina fines, cfr Qingdao: $182.80 per tonne, down by $14.66 per tonne58% Fe fines high-grade premium, cfr Qingdao: $146.61 per tonne, down by $14.26 per tonne65% Fe Brazil-origin fines,...Read More