Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Wednesday December 23 that are worth another look.World crude steel production increased by 6.6% year on year in November, with China, Germany and Ukraine posting the largest increases.Chilean state copper producer Codelco has increased the...Read More
Hot-rolled coil prices in the United States have moved above $50 per hundredweight ($1,000 per short ton) for the first time since early September 2008 thanks to a continuing supply shortage. Fastmarkets' daily steel hot-rolled coil index, fob mill US rose to $50.06 per cwt ($1,001.20 per ton) on Wednesday December 23, up by 0.64% from $49.74 per cwt on Tuesday December 22 and 2.29% higher than $4...Read More
Domestic European prices for hot-dipped galvanized coil rose in the week to Wednesday December 23, with market sources wary of further rises into the new year on material shortages. Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel HDG, domestic, exw Northern Europe was ?,?720-760 ($879-928) per tonne on December 23, compared with ?,?730-750 per tonne a week earlier. The assessment was based on...Read More
There were slight rises across the London Metals Exchange base metals complex on Wednesday December 23, led by a 1.5% uptick in nickel, after they dropped collectively earlier in the week following news of the rapid spread of a new strain of the Covid-19 virus in the United Kingdom. The three-month nickel price rose to $16,874 per tonne on Wednesday at the 5pm close from $16,614 per tonne on Tuesd...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Wednesday December 23 that are worth another look.World crude steel production increased by 6.6% year on year in November, with China, Germany and Ukraine posting the largest increases.Chilean state copper producer Codelco has increased the...Read More
Now is not the time for Freeport-McMoRan to be thinking about mergers and acquisitions, the mining company's chief executive officer says.According to Richard Adkerson, the company - which is just over half-way through a mega-project to transform its giant Grasberg copper-gold mine in Indonesia from an open-pit to an underground operation - is on the verge of creating huge shareholder value."I jus...Read More
Plans for a London Metal Exchange spot trading platform have sparked intense debate within the aluminium industry. But opponents and supporters don't necessarily fall into the camps that one might expect. For starters, a decision by the LME not to change its futures contract, establish a new green aluminium contract or set thresholds to define what constitutes low-carbon metal is proving key in st...Read More
Sometimes it is better to let a situation speak for itself. Alcoa, Rio Tinto Aluminium, Novelis, Constellium, Arconic, Kaiser Aluminum, Tri-Arrows Aluminum, American Metal Chemical Corp, Hydro Extrusion North America, JW Aluminum, Real Alloy, Reynolds Consumer Products, Scepter, Silberline Manufacturing Co, Smelter Service Corp and Wagstaff. The US Aluminum Association, which represents more than...Read More
Both spot and futures silico-manganese prices in China have risen significantly over the past month, helped by comparatively limited availability of spot cargoes at Chinese smelters' warehouses and steady demand from steel mills, market sources told Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment of silico-manganese 65% Mn min, max 17% Si, in-whs China was 6,100-6,200 yuan ($932-947) per tonne on...Read More
A pause now is expected and normal; the Christmas & New Year holidays are upon us, but any resistance zone deserves to be respected even when...by Stewart Thomson of Graceland UpdatesDec 22, 2020 1. Will the precious metals stage another rally in the Chinese New Year "traditional buying season" of January-February?2. The charts suggest that is very likely. Please click here now....Read More
There were slight rises across the London Metals Exchange base metals complex on Wednesday December 23, led by a 1.5% uptick in nickel, after they dropped collectively earlier in the week following news of the rapid spread of a new strain of the Covid-19 virus in the United Kingdom. The three-month nickel price rose to $16,874 per tonne on Wednesday at the 5pm close from $16,614 per tonne on Tuesd...Read More
Seaborne iron prices fell further on Wednesday December 23, in response to the downtrend in futures and rising rebar inventories in northern China.Fastmarkets iron ore indices 62% Fe fines, cfr Qingdao: $162.03 per tonne, down $2.50 per tonne62% Fe low-alumina fines, cfr Qingdao: $162.36 per tonne, down $2.71 per tonne58% Fe fines high-grade premium, cfr Qingdao: $151.54 per tonne,...Read More
Base metals prices on the Shanghai Futures Exchange were mainly lower this morning, Wednesday December 23, while those on the London Metal Exchange were mixed.Metals and broader markets seem to be settling down and oscillating sideways ahead of the Christmas and New Year holidays, suggesting markets are content to consolidate while many cross currents muddy the waters. US President Donald Trump re...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of base metals analysts are ready to view.Aluminium: SHFE tailwind for LME pricesAs we are entering the traditional strong demand season, we expect Chinese aluminium demand to show further recovery, and we expect demand from existing end-user sectors, new infrastructure projects and the export sector to show some increases. As a result, we believe that S...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of base metals analysts are ready to view, including an upgrade to our aluminium price forecasts.Aluminium: Price forecasts raisedWe correctly expected the macro reflationary theme to raise the prices for all base metals but, with it being the base metal with by far the weakest fundamentals, we had expected the price of aluminium to underperform relative...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.These include an increase in our copper mine disruption estimates, upgrades to our production outlook for Indonesian nickel pig iron (NPI), a smaller refined zinc surplus, and an upgrade to our zinc price forecasts.Aluminium: Big disconnect between price and fundamentalsAluminium has extended its uptrend on the London Metal...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view. We also review our price forecasting accuracy for the second quarter 2020.Q2 2020 price forecast performance review According to the results of Fastmarkets' Apex for the second quarter of 2020 published this week, Fastmarkets' base metals research team was the second most accurate price forecaster for nickel (99.06%), lead...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.This month's key North American steel forecast highlights:US flat product prices maintained momentum through November, with increases accelerating in early December in response to supply shortfalls, rising scrap prices, and improving demand.While we correctly forecast further pricing gains in November, actual prices surpasse...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.Chinese domestic and export flat steel prices surged in November 2020, with the export hot-rolled coil index rising to $592 per tonne during the month from $519 per tonne previously, and the monthly average increasing by 7.5% over October.Economic activity in China continued to expand, with manufacturing output rising by 7.5...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.This month's key North American steel forecast highlights:?EUR? Flat steel product prices in the United States moved largely in line with our expectations in October, although the increases slightly outpaced our projections. US hot-rolled coil prices averaged $655 per ton in October, exceeding our forecast price of $640 per...Read More