China has released the 12th batch of solid import licenses approving an additional 2,610 tonnes of ferrous scrap, according to a notice reported by China Solid Waste & Chemical Management (CSWCM) on Thursday September 17. China has approved 23,100 tonnes of ferrous scrap imports to date this year, the data at CSWCM shows. Major buyers in this round include casting plants and trading houses in east...Read More

Export prices for Brazil-origin steel slab increased in the week ended Friday September 18 because of new deals and offers at the higher end of the assessment range.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel slab, export, fob main port Brazil increased to $450-490 per tonne on Friday, up from $440-460 per tonne fob a week before.Deals had been reported at $450-460 per tonne fob...Read More

Hot-rolled coil prices in the United States have risen for the fourth day in a row, with buyers divided on whether prices will remain at relatively elevated levels through the end of the year.Fastmarkets' daily steel hot-rolled coil index, fob mill US was calculated at $28.62 per hundredweight ($572.40 per short ton) on Friday September 18, up by 0.4% from $28.50 per cwt a day earlier on September...Read More

Prices for cold-rolled and galvanized steel sheet in the United States climbed for the sixth straight week after mills filled order books well into November, with some unable to promise shipment until December. Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel cold-rolled coil, fob mill US rose to $36 per hundredweight ($720 per short ton) on Thursday September 17, up by 2.9% from $35 per c...Read More

South American steel import prices rose during the week to Friday September 18 with deals reported at higher levels. But new offers, particularly from China, were lower, indicating that the recent price uptrend was slowing down, market participants have told Fastmarkets.Chinese steel products went from being the most competitive to the most expensive sold to South America through most of the perio...Read More

The three-month zinc price on the London Metal Exchange was trading firmly above nearby resistance levels during morning trading on Friday September 18 after 1,500 tonnes were freshly booked out of LME-registered warehouses in Vlissingen, while a steady dip in the dollar index helped LME copper break above the $6,800-per-tonne threshold. The LME zinc price was recently trading at $2,542 per tonne,...Read More

This time yesterday base metals prices were down across the board, but with the exception of Shanghai Futures Exchange tin, they were all up during morning trading on Friday September 18 - showing sentiment remains bullish overall with dips being bought.This suggests prospects for increased demand for metals from infrastructure projects is driving sentiment and the market is not so concerned by th...Read More

We are just in the beginning stages of the MASSIVE SILVER BULLION DEMAND to come... by Steve St Angelo of SRSrocco ReportThe top three official mints sold a great deal of retail silver bullion products in the first half of 2020. However, the sales figure could have been a great deal higher if the various government mints weren't forced to shut down production. The top three official mints in...Read More

Key data from the pricing sessions in Europe, Asia and the United States for the week ended Friday September 18.China Domestic prices stayed firm amid positive sentiment, with market stability consolidated by continuing tightness in materials and a recent increase in raw material costs. The supply of silica ore in Qinghai province was affected when ore producers suspended their...Read More

Fastmarkets proposes to launch two new European high-carbon ferro-chrome price assessments and to eventually discontinue the existing assessment. Fastmarkets proposes to launch a ferro-chrome high carbon 6-8.5% C, basis 60-64.9% Cr, max 3% Si, cif Europe, $/lb Cr price assessment that will allow for the inclusion of seaborne high-carbon ferro-chrome excluded from the curre...Read More

Prices for secondary aluminium alloys in the United States rose across the board on Thursday September 17, but producers - who have seen their margins erode due to output constraints and higher freight and scrap costs - said the climb has been too slow.Fastmarkets assessed the price for aluminium alloy A380.1, delivered Midwest at 75-77 cents per lb on September 17, widening upward from 74-75 cent...Read More

The London Metal Exchange three-month copper price hit a new 2020 high on Friday September 18, providing a welcome boost for the base metals complex.All LME three-month base metals prices, with the exception of nickel, saw gains on Friday, with copper reaching a new high of $6,875 per tonne before eventually closing at $6,861 per tonne after trading a little more than 15,720 lots.Th...Read More

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

Fastmarkets' copper concentrate treatment and refining charge (TC/RC) index rose to its highest level in one and a half months on Friday September 18 after miners sold additional tonnes at slightly higher levels this week. The spot market was active with Chinese smelter purchases still mostly settled at a narrow range of the high $40s / 4 cents to the low $50s / 5 cents. An increasing amount of De...Read More

Finnish nickel producer Terrafame continues to lead the charge in the quest for responsible battery chemical production, announcing on Friday September 18 that its long-awaited European battery plant will be operational in early 2021. Upon completion, the plant will be the largest global nickel sulfate producing facility in the world with a production capacity of 170,000 tonnes per year, equivalen...Read More

The operator of India's biggest copper smelter, Birla, has entered an agreement to source copper concentrate locally at a time of global mined copper tightness. Hindalco Industries said on Thursday September 17 that it has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the state-owned Hindustan Copper to procure copper concentrates from the latter's local mines. Under the MoU, Hindustan Copper wi...Read More

China has issued its 12th batch of non-ferrous scrap metal import quotas for 2020, with a much larger volume of copper scrap being approved to enter the country than in the previous two rounds of quotas.The latest batch permits 136,335 tonnes of copper scrap to be imported into China, the China Solid Waste & Chemicals Management Bureau said on Thursday September 17. This compares with the 14,530 t...Read More

The three-month zinc price on the London Metal Exchange was trading firmly above nearby resistance levels during morning trading on Friday September 18 after 1,500 tonnes were freshly booked out of LME-registered warehouses in Vlissingen, while a steady dip in the dollar index helped LME copper break above the $6,800-per-tonne threshold. The LME zinc price was recently trading at $2,542 per tonne,...Read More

US steel exports have rebounded from the lows seen in the months following the Covid-19 outbreak.But they remain well below the highwater mark from late in the first quarter - before the virus crisis hammered North American steel demand, US Commerce Department figures indicate.The United States exported 433,800 tonnes of steel in July, the last month for which figures are available. That is up 13....Read More

Domestic hot- and cold-rolled coil prices remained stable in Turkey in the week to Friday September 18 amid strong demand, sources told Fastmarkets.The situation confounds some market participants, who had expected to see a decrease in prices because of weakening demand and low prices from China.Fastmarkets' steel hot-rolled coil index export, fob main port China was $511.75 per ton...Read More