Turkey's reinforcing bar and wire rod export prices have continued to fall over the past week amid sluggish demand, supported by softening scrap costs, market participants told Fastmarkets on Thursday August 26.The country's steelmakers have reduced their rebar offers for exports to $670-675 per tonne fob on actual-weight basis from $680-695 per tonne fob last week. But no significant bo...Read More

Iranian export prices for steel billet continued to decrease in the week to Wednesday August 25 amid the general global downtrend, Fastmarkets heard.Steel output from the country's mills was expected to improve in September, when the weather will be less hot and mills will be allowed a more generous allocation of electricity to be used for steelmaking.For the moment, Iranian producers had to cut p...Read More

Since the company raised US$45 million in debt at the end of 2019, the development has been hit with a succession of challenges, starting with the COVID-19 pandemic, which has tested companyRead More

The workers' union at BHP's Cerro Colorado has called on its members to reject a final contract offer by the company, paving the way for a strike at the small deposit, Reuters reported.It's another potential setback for the mine, after the Supreme Court ruled in favour of indigenous communities in a complaint related to water use earlier this year.Union leader Marcelo Franco said BHP had used the...Read More

The Turkish steel mills have gone quiet in the deep-sea scrap markets once again after booking a single cargo earlier in the week, market sources said on Thursday August 26.A steel mill in the Iskenderun region booked a Belgium-origin cargo on Wednesday, comprising 22,500 tonnes of HMS 1&2 (80:20) and 12,500 tonnes of bonus at an average price of $450 per tonne cfr. The HMS 1&2 (80:20) price of th...Read More

Seaborne iron ore prices were up on Thursday August 26 amid an uptrend in Chinese futures and for front-month swap contracts, sources said.Fastmarkets iron ore indices 62% Fe fines, cfr Qingdao: $152.92 per tonne, up $4.26 per tonne62% Fe low-alumina fines, cfr Qingdao: $153.80 per tonne, up $4.85 per tonne58% Fe fines high-grade premium, cfr Qingdao: $122.88 per tonne, up $5.92 per tonne65% Fe Br...Read More

Japanese lower-grade scrap prices are facing renewed pressure, and Shindachi busheling prices have continued to be propped up in recent weeks by reduced generation at automaker Toyota, sources told Fastmarkets.Key Japanese mills reduce some scrap bid pricesGaps between bids and offers narrow downward with lower cost scrap emerging in the Chinese marketTaiwan imported containerized scrap prices edg...Read More

U.S. equity index futures were lower this morning. S&P 500 futures were down 3 points in pre-opening trade.U.S. index futures were quiet prior to release of next estimate of second quarter annualized GDP at 8:30 AM EDT. Consensus is that the U.S. economy grew at a 6.6% rate versus a 6.5% rate in the first quarter. Salesforce.com advanced $6.78 to $267.63 after the company reported higher than...Read More

Seaborne premium hard coking coal and hard coking coal prices in the cfr market both increased by over $16 per tonne on Thursday August 26, with rising offer prices and market expectations.Fastmarkets indicesPremium hard coking coal, cfr Jingtang: $408.93 per tonne, up $17.09 per tonneHard coking coal, cfr Jingtang: $385.67 per tonne, up $20.36 per tonnePremium hard coking coal fob DBCT: $243.98 p...Read More

Fastmarkets has plotted the locations of the continuing and proposed projects for the decarbonization of the European steel sector.This includes projects and targets for green steel, carbon capture, carbon neutral, net zero, low-carbon emissions and fossil-free steel. Hotspots appear in Germany, France and Sweden, where steelmaking is already well established. Policy, funding and sharing of infras...Read More

Fastmarkets on Thursday August 26 launches a fortnightly assessment of the China pig iron import price, reported on a US-dollar-per-tonne-cfr-China basis. After a consultation period that ended on August 9, Fastmarkets has launched its pig iron, import, cfr China, $ per tonne assessment, effective on Thursday August 26. Market sources expect China to import pig iron in increasing volumes due to it...Read More

China imported 3.77 million tonnes of coking coal in July, down by 49% year on year and 9% lower month on month, according to the latest Chinese customs data.Russia remained China's largest supplier of coking coal for a third month in July, accounting for 33% of total imports.Canada (23%), the United States (17%), and Mongolia (13%) were China's second-, third- and fourth-largest suppliers last mo...Read More

Spot hot-rolled coil prices in China's domestic market moved lower on Thursday August 26, with positive industry data failing to offset concerns over continued weakness in demand.DomesticEastern China (Shanghai): 5,650-5,700 yuan ($872-880) per tonne, down by 20-40 yuan per tonneThe most-traded HRC contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange saw losses accelerate during afternoon trading Thursday af...Read More

China's domestic rebar prices decreased on Thursday August 26 due to weaker restocking demand among trading companies, though end users' buying appetite remained steady. DomesticEastern China (Shanghai): 5,150-5,180 yuan ($794-799) per tonne, down by 50 yuan per tonneTrading houses have almost completed their restocking for sale in the first half month of September, a trader in Shanghai said. As s...Read More

China's domestic stainless steel prices were down on Wednesday August 25 compared with a week earlier, but the market had picked up after experiencing losses earlier this week.DomesticStainless steel cold-rolled coil 2mm grade 304 domestic (Wuxi): 18,200-18,600 ($2,810-2,871) per tonne, down by 600-700 yuan per tonne from a week earlierThe three-month nickel contract on the London Metal Exchange e...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 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,...Read More

An overview of the specialty steel raw materials markets in Europe and their latest price movesDalila Ouerghi and...Read More

A summary of Chinese battery materials producer GEM's financial and production results for the six months ended June 30, 2021, as released by the company on Thursday August 26.In brief GEM's annual capacity of ternary precursor materials totaled 130,000 tonnes at the end of June, unchanged from the end of last year. The company has shifted production focus to nickel-rich ternary precursor material...Read More

Norwegian ferro-silicon producer Finnfjord Smelteverk will stop ferro-silicon production for two weeks in October because of planned maintenance to its three furnaces, a source told Fastmarkets.The company is stopping output as part of its usual annual overhaul at its operations, although that usually happens in September or earlier in the third quarter. The move comes at a time of record peak pri...Read More