Adam HamiltonArchivesOct 02, 2020 Silver's dazzling parabolic surge this summer was overwhelmingly driven by enormous silver-ETF-share buying. Led by momentum-chasing millennial traders, unprecedentedly-huge amounts of stock-market capital deluged into the dominant SLV iShares Silver Trust silver ETF. But since silver's resulting lofty peak, silver-ETF-share selling has been mounting. An accelerat...Read More

An overview of the battery raw materials markets and their latest price moves. Read More

Prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, 2020 was expected to be an important year for the rollout of 5G networks, with more operator launches globally and declining prices for smartphones and other 5G devices.While the rollout has been disrupted in the short term, the increase in remote working caused by lockdown measures has underscored the need for greater bandwidth capacity along with fast and reliable...Read More

Steel producers in Turkey returned to the deep-sea scrap markets on achieving lower prices in the week ended Friday October 2, while the Asian markets were largely stable amid reduced availability and holiday absences in the territory.Turkish steel mills resume deep-sea bookings, prices downSentiment in US export market negative, with falling pricesVietnamese import prices stable on reduced supply...Read More

The market for inter-merchant light iron scrap in the UK was steady for the third consecutive week on Friday October 2, with tighter supplies meeting firm demand from major shredders, industry sources told Fastmarkets.The supply issues were due to lower volumes being generated from heavy industry while the demand was for material to be used as feedstock in the steelmaking sector, they added.Fastma...Read More

Turkish steel mills continued booking deep-sea scrap at the end of the week after achieving lower deal prices, sources said on Friday October 2.A steel mill in the Marmara region paid $289 per tonne cfr for a Baltic Sea cargo of HMS 1&2 (80:20), while another mill in the same region booked two European cargoes at $284 per tonne cfr on an HMS 1&2 (80:20) basis. ...Read More

Chile expects investment of $74.05 billion in 49 new mining projects during the 2020-29 period, mainly in the copper sector, the country's mining ministry and the Chilean copper commission, Cochilco, said on Wednesday September 30.The latest list of investments in the Chilean mining industry represents an increase of $1.54 billion from $72.5 billion in the previous report, published last year. Som...Read More

Base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange were for the most part weaker this morning, Friday October 2, but our focus is on the broader markets because US President Donald Trump has tested positive for Covid-19, which in itself is a major development, but is also going to have ramifications on the run-up to the presidential election on November 3.Pre-market major western equity index futures...Read More

Nornickel, which had three industrial accidents within seven weeks in the middle of this year and gave up most of its profit for the first half due to a record environmental fine, announced this week that it would invest $1.3 billion in safety improvements in Siberia.Despite a 7% increase in revenues in the first half, Nornickel saw its profit drop by 98.5% compared with the first six months of 20...Read More

An overview of the battery raw materials markets and their latest price moves. Read More

European and United States' lithium battery-grade spot prices held steady over the week to Thursday October 1, with the market cautious amid continued Covid-19 uncertainty while lithium technical-grade hydroxide spot prices fell again on subdued demand. Europe and US battery-grade lithium spot prices held steady in the seven days to Thursday October 1 after posting losses the previous week. Fastma...Read More

U.S. Gold Corp. (NASDAQ: USAU) is a U.S. focused, gold exploration and development company, advancing high potential projects, in mining friendly jurisdictions of Wyoming, Nevada and Idaho. We learned from Ed Karr, who is CEO of U.S. Gold Corp., that in Mid-August of 2020, they acquired Northern Panther Resource Corporation, a private company, owned by leading people in the mining industry, which...Read More

In an after-midnight tweet last night, President Trump announced that he and the first lady have contracted the coronavirus. And oh boy, get ready to hear about it over and over and over ad nauseam.Get ready for a landslide of questions:When exactly did President Trump learn he had coronavirus? How long did he wait to tell the public? What responsibility does the president have in reporting person...Read More

Hot-rolled coil prices in the United States have hit a year-to-date high, thanks mostly to tight supply, Fastmarkets understands. Fastmarkets' daily steel hot-rolled coil index, fob mill US was calculated at $30.99 per hundredweight ($619.80 per short ton) on Friday October 2, up by 1.3% from $30.59 per cwt on Thursday October 1 and 3.3% higher than $30 per cwt a week ago on September 25. US hot b...Read More

South American import prices for flat-rolled steel were mostly down in the week ended Friday October 2, with new offers from China being slightly lower before that country's Golden Week national holiday, amid reports of short-selling in the region.Fastmarkets assessed the price of steel hot-rolled coil, import, cfr main ports South America, at $540-565 per tonne on Friday, falling by $5 per tonne...Read More

Turkish prices in the domestic market for hot-dipped galvanized coil (HDG) and color-coated coil (pre-painted galvanized iron or PPGI) decreased in the week to October 2 while demand was moderate, sources told Fastmarkets.Some market participants told Fastmarkets they expect a decrease in flat steel prices in Turkey because of weakening steel scrap prices.Fastmarkets' daily index for steel scrap,...Read More

Fastmarkets' Ferrous Analytics report helps subscribers keep track of hot metal costs and steel production spreads in China, along with key pricing components of the steelmaking raw materials supply chain in Asia.Read More

Domestic steel rebar prices in Poland have kept increasing in the past week, pushed by strong buying activity and short supply, sources told Fastmarkets on Friday October 2.Fastmarkets' latest price assessment for steel reinforcing bar (rebar), domestic, exw Poland, narrowed upward to 2,000-2,050 zloty ($521-535) per tonne on October 2, from 1,960-2,050 zloty per tonne one week earlier.The price w...Read More

As competition in the global steel markets remains fierce, Fastmarkets provides an update on the new, progressing and closed trade cases from around the world in September 2020.The case list below includes only updates. For other continuing cases this year, see the updates for August, July, June, May, April, March,...Read More

Steel producers in Turkey returned to the deep-sea scrap markets on achieving lower prices in the week ended Friday October 2, while the Asian markets were largely stable amid reduced availability and holiday absences in the territory.Turkish steel mills resume deep-sea bookings, prices downSentiment in US export market negative, with falling pricesVietnamese import prices stable on reduced supply...Read More