Despite environmental issues being on the agenda, including the announced switch from the basic oxygen furnace (BOF)- to electric arc furnace (EAF)-based steelmaking process, profitability has been and will likely remain the key driver for Chinese steelmakers when it comes to choosing steelmaking raw materials, Fastmarkets analysts forecast. This has been evident in the decoupling of 62% Fe and 65...Read More
UG2 chrome ore producers achieve higher sales prices amid improved sentiment.Chrome ore prices up on higher offersAlloy downtrend capped amid stronger upstream marketJapanese, South Korean markets flat during holidaysEuropean alloy prices riseUS prices slightly firmer on thin trader inventories.Prices for UG2 chrome ore rose on Friday January 3 after South African producers increased their offers...Read More
Strengths? The top performing precious metal for 2019 was palladium, gaining 54.20 percent. In a weekly Bloomberg survey of analysts and traders, gold sentiment remained marginally bullish the first days of the New Year. The survey showed eight bullish, two bearish and seven neutral. At week-end, gold advanced toward a six-year high, climbing 1.5 percent to $1,551 an ounce in Lon...Read More
Dear Friend of GATA and Gold:Our friend B.A. tonight challenges optimism among gold and silver investors that the latest crisis in the Middle East will explode Western central banking's longstanding gold price suppression policy.Ordinarily your secretary/treasurer would agree with him and change the channel from news to anything promising comic relief. After all, these geopolitical crises never...Read More
The three-month aluminium price on the London Metal Exchange led gains at the close of trading on Monday January 6, closing firmly above the $1,800-per-tonne support level despite just under 30,000 tonnes of rewarranting this morning, while the light metal's forward spreads widened over the day. Aluminium's outright price on the LME closed at $1,833 per tonne, topping daily gains across the comple...Read More
Gold faces big resistance between $1590-$1610 zone. Only a break of this zone will result in $1707.50 and $1822 in the near term. Short term hot money will flow into gold if it rises this week. Gold could be a Las Vegas if it rises this week. The quicker the pace of rise, the more will be short term volatility in gold. I will be closely watching the pace of rise and not the actual rise. Silver i...Read More
In the first week of January the mood in some of the world's major steel billet markets turned bearish because of a lack of demand and weakening prices for finished long steel products.TurkeyIn Turkey, both import and export billet prices have softened over the past week, in line with falling offers for rebar and wire rod as well as poor demand.Offers of CIS-origin billet from traders were reporte...Read More
The domestic price for hot-rolled coil in Northern Europe was stable on Monday January 6, due to limited trading activity after the holidays across Europe, sources told Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets' daily steel hot-rolled coil index domestic, ex-works Northern Europe, was stable day on day at ?,?439.38 ($490.13) per tonne on Monday January 6.The index was calculated based...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets MB stories you might have missed on Monday January 6 that are worth another look.The global finished steel market in 2020 is set to be weighed down by a continuation of last year's weaker end-consumption rates, but there are bright spots coming in the longer term, Fastmarkets analysts forecast.Fastmarkets copper concentrates treatment and refining charges (TC/RC) index wa...Read More
Consumers are committing to lower volumes in long-term ferro-alloys contracts for 2020 compared with last year, according to market sources, creating the conditions for a busier spot market.But tightening ferro-chrome supply has also sparked concerns about over-reliance on the spot market, market sources said. Long-term contracts for ferro-alloys are usually settled against Fastmarkets' European b...Read More
The three-month aluminium price on the London Metal Exchange led gains at the close of trading on Monday January 6, closing firmly above the $1,800-per-tonne support level despite just under 30,000 tonnes of rewarranting this morning, while the light metal's forward spreads widened over the day. Aluminium's outright price on the LME closed at $1,833 per tonne, topping daily gains across the comple...Read More
Seaborne coking coal prices moved up on Monday January 6 with sentiment among steel mills in China and the rest of Asia reported to be positive.Fastmarkets indicesPremium hard coking coal, fob DBCT: $143.16 per tonne, up $3.10 per tonnePremium hard coking coal, cfr Jingtang: $152.12 per tonne, up $0.27 per tonneHard coking coal, fob DBCT: $122.33 per tonne, unchanged Hard coking coal, cfr Jingtang...Read More
The three-month nickel price on the London Metal Exchange moved lower during morning trading on Monday January 6 despite low turnover, with price action pressured by a fresh inflow of more than 3,000 tonnes, while the LME zinc price was the most resilient over the morning period. Nickel's outright price was recently seen at $13,665 per tonne, topping morning losses with a downturn of just under 1%...Read More
AG ThorsonJan 03, 2020 07:38 AM GMTIn my article – Gold Prices Close to A Decisive Break, I described how gold was at a critical juncture. The trend broke higher a few days later and confirmed a cycle breakout. The next advance is underway, and I see significant potential in platinum as prices play catchup.Dollar BreakdownThe US dollar has rolled over and broken vital support. This sho...Read More
Seaborne manganese ore prices in China rose in the week ended Friday January 3 on support from reduced availability of material and improved sentiment after Hebei Steel increased its silico-manganese tender price by more than expected. The markets for higher and lower grades of manganese ore on a cif China and fob Port Elizabeth basis increased for the fifth consecutive week after some miners limi...Read More
Fastmarkets copper concentrates treatment and refining charges (TC/RC) index was largely stable week on week due to quiet trading ahead of Lunar New Year on January 25. The copper concentrates TC/RC index was at $54.30 per tonne / 5.43 cents per lb on Friday January 3, compared little changed from $54.80 per tonne / 5.48 cents per lb a week ago. The index rose above $54 per tonne at the...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets MB stories you might have missed on Monday January 6 that are worth another look.The global finished steel market in 2020 is set to be weighed down by a continuation of last year's weaker end-consumption rates, but there are bright spots coming in the longer term, Fastmarkets analysts forecast.Fastmarkets copper concentrates treatment and refining charges (TC/RC) index wa...Read More
Atlantic Nickel and Appian Capital Advisory have sold the first nickel concentrate from nickel sulfide restart project Santa Rita in Brazil to trading company Trafigura, the Brazilian miner said on Monday January 6.The sale forms part of a three-year offtake agreement and financing facility worth $40.8 million with Trafigura, and comes following the recommencement of mining operations at Bahia-bas...Read More
Shandong-located smelter Dongying Fangyuan is still smelting copper concentrates for cathodes despite the financial difficulties it must overcome to secure raw materials in the face of lawsuits, Fastmarkets has learned.The smelter managed to obtain letters of credit (LCs) from a few domestic agents so it could purchase concentrates with its remaining balance, various sources have confirmed.The age...Read More
Primary aluminium stocks at the three main Japanese ports (MJP) of Osaka, Nagoya and Yokohama rose by 0.9% month on month in November 2019, according to data released by major Japanese trading house Marubeni Corp. Aluminium stocks at the three ports totaled 321,200 tonnes on November 30, up 3,000 tonnes from the end of October, figures released on Monday January 6 showed. This follows a 2.6% month...Read More