The spot market for copper concentrate remained quiet in the week ended Friday June 26 due to Chinese market participants away for the national Dragon Boat Festival holiday. Fastmarkets' benchmark copper concentrate treatment and refining charge (TC/RC) index fell to $46.80 per tonne / 4.68 cents per lb on Friday from $47.30 per tonne / 4.73 cents per lb a week earlier. ...Read More

En+ Group is working to develop technology that will fundamentally change the aluminium smelting process with the goal of further reducing emissions and potentially becoming carbon negative, the company's chairman said in a digital interview with Fastmarkets. According to Lord Gregory Barker, the move is part of a drive to not just produce aluminium using clean energy sources but to find innovativ...Read More

The closure of the Chuquicamata copper smelter in Chile could last up to two weeks, Fastmarkets learned on Friday June 26. The exact duration of the closure will "depend on the number of [Covid-19] cases found," with tests being carried out on staff, a source with direct knowledge of the matter told Fastmarkets. Meanwhile, the refinery continues to operate at one third of capacity to process exist...Read More

A growth in investing based on environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues is rapidly advancing a widespread market appreciation of low-carbon products, including aluminium, the chairman of En+ Group said. Lord Gregory Barker said that while mainstream investors previously did not turn their attention to so-called "green investing," there is now an increasing recognition that a large, geopol...Read More

Carbon pricing will be a key driver in the transition to a decarbonized economy and will form a central part of the cost of aluminium in the future, according to the chairman of En+ Group.Gregory, Lord Barker, told Fastmarkets during a webinar interview this week that levying a tax on the carbon content of fuels would make it more expensive to produce or consume fossil fuels and products with a hi...Read More

The three-month nickel price on the London Metal Exchange was higher during morning trading on Friday June 26, topping gains across the complex despite thin turnover, while the ongoing drawdown of LME lead stocks saw the heavy metal's underlying price stay elevated.Nickel's outright price on the LME was recently seen at $12,665 per tonne, more than 1.5% higher than Thursday's closing price of $12,...Read More

Prices for hot-rolled coil in the United States ended the week mostly steady, but more sources expressed concerns over surging Covid-19 cases across the country, saying the rising number of infections may further hurt the steel industry and the economy as a whole.Fastmarkets' daily steel hot-rolled coil index, fob mill US was calculated at $24 per hundredweight ($480 per short ton) on Fr...Read More

European producers of hot-rolled coil have been pushing for higher prices even as demand remains poor, sources told Fastmarkets on Friday June 26.Fastmarkets' daily steel HRC index, domestic, exw Northern Europe was ?,?393.75 ($442.11) per tonne on Friday, down by ?,?0.63 per tonne from ?,?394.38 per tonne on June 25.Friday's index was based on workable...Read More

Brazilian steel slab prices continued to climb in the week to Friday June 26 with consumers in the United States buying the last available volumes from the fourth-quarter import quota, but sellers are looking elsewhere for the remainder of 2020.Fastmarkets assessed the price of steel slab export, fob main port Brazil at $375-400 per tonne on Friday, up $10 on the high end of the range from $375-39...Read More

The price for flat-rolled steel imported into South American main destinations has edged downward week on week, with Chinese offers remaining steady, while material from other origins was presented at lower prices.Demand was recovering at a slower pace than expected after the restrictions imposed to prevent the Covid-19 pandemic from spreading, according to market participants.While some Peruvian...Read More

Billet producers in the Commonwealth of Independent States have turned their attention to the Middle East region due to a slowdown in trading activity in Asia, particularly China, market sources said.The move had been expected as buying by China has declined sharply over the past fortnight, with some sources citing heavy rains and jitters about another wave of Covid-19 infections as the cause. As...Read More

Turkish domestic hot-rolled and cold-rolled coil prices weakened during the week to Friday June 26 on lower raw material prices, while demand was moderate, sources told Fastmarkets.Flat steel producers in the country are accepting orders for September.Scrap prices have fallen over the past week, with Fastmarkets' daily index for steel scrap, HMS 1&2 (80:20 mix), North Europe origin, cfr Turkey at...Read More

Markets were mainly firmer this morning, Friday June 26, with the base metals up across the board and most Asian-Pacific equities indices showing gains, while gold prices were consolidating - all of which suggesting a light risk-on sentiment.* Pre-market major European equity index futures were up by around 0.7%, following gains in the United States on Thursday.* Global trade dropped by 12.1% in A...Read More

Indian steel exports to China are continuing unabated despiteincreased tensions between the two countries following a deadly military confrontation on the border, sources told Fastmarkets on Friday June 26.Following a lethal clash between Indian and Chinese soldiers at a disputed Himalayan border post on June 15-16, which left 20 Indian soldiers dead, politicians in India have...Read More

U.S. equity index futures were higher this morning. S&P 500 futures were up 4 points in pre-opening trade.Index futures moved slightly higher following release of economic news at 8:30 AM EDT. Consensus for May Personal Income was a drop of 6.0% versus a gain of 10.5% in April. Actual was a drop of 4.2%. Consensus for May Personal Spending was an increase of 9.3% versus a drop of 12.6% in Apri...Read More

Activity in the pig iron market in the United States remained muted in the week to Friday June 26, because of wide gap between the "workable" levels of buyers and suppliers.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for pig iron, import, cfr Gulf of Mexico, US, was unchanged at $325-330 per tonne on Friday.Most buyers continued to stick with $320-325 per tonne cfr as a workable&...Read More

Pig iron export prices from Brazil were stable during the week to Friday June 26 with trading activity slowing down and no new deals reported.Fastmarkets' price assessment for pig iron, export, fob port of Vitoria/Rio, Brazil was $310-320 per tonne on Friday, unchanged from the previous week.Offers remained at $320 per tonne fob and the most recent deal from the south...Read More

The price of austenitic stainless steel scrap in the European domestic market moved slightly higher this week because of tight supply, despite low demand from mills and lower nickel costs, Fastmarkets heard on Friday June 26.Traders had by this week settled their terms with stainless steel mills for July, and in some cases had secured slightly lower nickel discounts - when traders sell to mills, t...Read More

The inter-merchant spot price for light iron scrap in the UK was unchanged in the week to Friday June 26, continuing the stability seen last week amid low-key but steady trading and little change in export prices, trade sources said.There was also some market expectation that monthly delivery settlement prices would be rolled over after the conclusion of negotiations due to start next week.Trade s...Read More

Steel scrap prices in the major regions started to weaken during the working week from Monday June 22 to Friday June 26, amid softening demand.Turkish mills booked only two deep-sea cargoes this weekUS export prices down $6 per tonneSteady demand could not prevent prices weakening in VietnamImport prices down in Taiwan ahead of festival periodLower prices entice buyers in India.TurkeyTurkish steel...Read More