Spot trading interest in copper intermediate products has surged among Chinese smelters who are eager to make up for copper output lost during the coronavirus (2019-nCoV)-led logistics lockdown in February. Logistics operations are resuming across Chinese provinces and copper production has picked up, leading to several thousand tonnes of blister copper reported as being sold into the country. Fas...Read More

Seaborne prices for both high- and-low grade manganese ore fell in the week ended Friday February 28 amid falling portside ore and alloy prices and a weakening of sentiment.Fastmarkets' manganese ore index, 37% Mn, cif Tianjin, was $4.32 per dry metric tonne unit (dmtu) on Friday, down by $0.14 per dmtu or 3.1% week on week.The corresponding index for manganese ore 37% Mn, fob Port Elizabeth, fell...Read More

Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Monday March 2 that are worth another look.The China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT) has issued 1,615 force majeure certificates to businesses in China affected by the novel coronavirus (2019-nCOV) outbreak.The price of European aluminium ingot 226 continued to climb on Friday February 28 due to strong domesti...Read More

Copper futures on the London Metal Exchange rose by more than 1% on Monday March 2 as part of a global rally across asset classes.LME 3-month copper was trading at $5,700 per tonne at the exchange's 5pm close, up by $65 per tonne from the close on the preceding Friday.Gains across the base-metals complex came as other asset classes made big gains after a broad collapse toward the end of last week....Read More

Seaborne coking coal prices were stable on Monday March 2, as most market participants in China adopted a wait-and-see approach on seaborne coking coal buying.Fastmarkets indicesPremium hard coking coal, fob DBCT: $162.39 per tonne, up $0.34 per tonnePremium hard coking coal, cfr Jingtang: $168.54 per tonne, up by $0.01 per tonneHard coking coal, fob DBCT:...Read More

Seaborne iron ore prices surged on Monday March 2, boosted by expectations that stimulus measures from the Chinese government, following weak manufacturing data, will lend much-needed support to the country's economic growth and specifically the commodities sector.Fastmarkets iron ore indices62% Fe fines, cfr Qingdao: $88.93 per tonne, up $4.97 per tonne.62% Fe low-alumina fines, cfr Qingdao: $90....Read More

CIS export slab export prices fell in the week to Monday March 2, with deals being done at lower prices and the size of the discount varying depending on the final destination, sources told Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel slab, export, fob Black Sea, CIS, was $405-420 per tonne on March 2, down by $5-10 per tonne week on week.A 50,000 cargo of Ukraine-origin slab was rep...Read More

Copper futures on the London Metal Exchange rose by more than 1% on Monday March 2 as part of a global rally across asset classes.LME 3-month copper was trading at $5,700 per tonne at the exchange's 5pm close, up by $65 per tonne from the close on the preceding Friday.Gains across the base-metals complex came as other asset classes made big gains after a broad collapse toward the end of last week....Read More

China's metals inventories could more than double in the first quarter of 2020, according to a JP Morgan research note published on Thursday February 27.The note also said that stockpiles of copper were expected to build up to about 2.5 times the average seasonal first-quarter volume seen over the past five years, because of sustained production and a lack of downstream demand."In metals, Chinese...Read More

The China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT) has issued 1,615 force majeure certificates to businesses in China affected by the novel coronavirus (2019-nCOV) outbreak.Local exporters that applied for the force majeure "legal shield" cover over 30 different sectors, according to a CCPIT announcement on its website on February 26. The legal provision is traditionally used...Read More

Cesco Santiago, one of the biggest annual events for the copper industry, has been canceled, organisers confirmed to Fastmarkets. "Both the World Copper Conference organized by CRU and Cesco Dinner will not take place this year," the organization said in a press release dated Monday March 2 after confirming by phone. The organization had been under pressure to at least delay the event because many...Read More

China's official manufacturing purchasing managers index (PMI) slumped to 35.7 in February from 50 previously, but despite this the base metals are up across the board this morning, Monday March 2, and Asian equity indices are for the most part firmer too. The buoyancy seems to stem from expectations that central banks will continue to pump liquidity into their economies to cushion the economic bl...Read More

Domestic prices for hot-rolled coil in Europe were fairly stable day on day on Monday March 2, buoyed by a continued lack of competitive import offers, sources told Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets' daily steel hot-rolled coil index, domestic, ex-works Northern Europe, was ?,?484.55 ($534.22) per tonne on Monday March 2, down by ?,?0.35 per tonne day on day from ?,?484.90 per tonne on February 28.The index...Read More

Access our research platformsSign-in to our platforms to access our extensive research, our latest insight, data and analytics and to connect to our industry experts.The coronavirus is casting a shadow across commodity markets. It has undermined China’s economic sentiment, putting the country's growth outlook at risk. The full scale and impact of the outbreak remain to be seen, but it is cer...Read More

(IDEX Online) - India's diamond exports are expected to drop by a fifth this year, say forecasters. Coronavirus combined with sluggish global demands, have badly hit the second biggest cutting and polishing country in the world. Total diamond exports in the first nine months of the fiscal year were down 18 per cent year-on-year, according to a report published today by Crisil Ratings, the Mum...Read More

Steel billet prices in some global markets rose in the week to Friday February 28, supported by firm demand, sources told Fastmarkets.But the spread of the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) across the world, including rising infection numbers in other parts of Asia, such as South Korea and Japan, dampened market sentiment, sources said.Scrap prices declined during the week, with Fastmarkets' dail...Read More

Russian miner Alrosa’s investment committee has approved financing for preliminary engineering studies at the Jubilee diamond mine, to provide up-to-date information to decide on the construction of an underground mine.The Jubilee pipe of the Aikhal division is currently being mined by openpit methods.AdvertisementIn 2019, the company considered technical specifications and decided to start...Read More

With competition in the global steel markets remaining fierce, Fastmarkets provides an update on the new, progressing and closed trade cases from around the world in February 2020.The case list below includes only updates. For other continuing cases this year, see the...Read More

Angola sold just over 9.44-million carats of diamonds last year, earning $1.299-billion, the National Diamond Commercialisation Company of Angola (Empresa Nacional de Comercialização de Angola) – better known as Sodiam – has reported. This represented a year-on-year increase of 12.3% in production and 6.2% in revenues. At the presentation of these figures, in Luanda, Ango...Read More

Domestic prices for hot-rolled coil in Northern Europe were fairly stable over the week ended Friday February 28, supported by a combination of the positive effects of long lead times from the region's mills and a lack of competitive import offers.In the second half of the week, Italians steelmakers made higher offers and achieved small price rises in transactions.Fastmarkets' daily steel hot-roll...Read More