The domestic price for hot-rolled coil in Northern Europe was fairly stable day on day on Tuesday March 3, sources told Fastmarkets.But in the south of the region, Italian mills were targeting price increases which were likely to get support from a pickup in demand.Fastmarkets' daily steel hot-rolled coil index, domestic, ex-works Northern Europe, was ?,?484.53 ($537.97) per tonne on Tuesday, down...Read More

The export market for flat steel exporters from the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) was quiet during the week ended Monday March 2 because of the limited volumes that suppliers could offer for exports.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel hot-rolled coil, export, fob Black Sea, CIS, was $465-475 per tonne on Monday, unchanged week on week."MMK [Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works] sa...Read More

Most flat steel import prices in the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia have decreased this week, with the market being slow because buyers wanted to see prices reach a bottom before placing any orders, sources told Fastmarkets on Tuesday March 3.Stock levels were low in the region, but buyers did not want to place orders when prices were falling.UAEOffer prices for hot-rolled coil (HRC) from C...Read More

Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Tuesday March 3 that are worth another look.Chinese steel company Hebei Jingye Group will complete the acquisition of British Steel on Monday March 9, the UK steel trade union Community said on March 3.Copper concentrate treatment and refining charges (TC/RCs) rose at the end of February, having stalled in the previous week.Brazil's iron o...Read More

Stewart Thomson, Graceland Updates 1. "He will lose the election, that's for sure...Ford lost to Carter after the 1973 oil shock, Carter lost to Reagan due to the second oil crisis in 1979, and Bush lost to Clinton after the Kuwait invasion. The Democratic field is poor, but Trump is dead." - Legendary economist Nouriel Roubini, March 2, 2020.2. Corona is the kind of crisis...Read More

StrengthsThe best performing metal this week was gold, down 3.51 percent. As of Wednesday, gold-backed ETFs saw 25 consecutive days of inflows and rose to the highest level ever of 2,624.7 tons. Bloomberg reports that after rising 18 percent last year, gold extended its rally into 2020. Turkey's gold reserves rose $1.1 billion from the previous week to now total $29.7 billion as of February 21...Read More

By Ira EpsteinGold update, key technical supports and what to come from the corona virus:Read More

Prices in the CIS export market for rebar and wire rod slipped in the week to Monday March 2 on a lack of trading activity or supportive market factors.Fastmarkets' price assessment for steel reinforcing bar (rebar), export, fob Black Sea, CIS, was $420-425 per tonne on March 2, narrowing downward by $20 per tonne week on week.Offers of Ukraine-origin rebar were reported within the range of $420-4...Read More

Chinese steel company Hebei Jingye Group will complete the acquisition of British Steel on Monday March 9, the UK steel trade union Community said on Tuesday March 3.The deal is expected to be done at ?50 million ($55.51 million), the union said."We look forward to working with Jingye as they bring forward the ?1.2...Read More

Ferrous scrap prices in Mexico edged down for five grades, while five other grades were stable, amid adjustments applied by some buyers in the week ended Friday February 28.At least one buyer in Mexico was heard applying a 200-pesos ($10.18) price cut late last week, because of a comfortable level of inventories, sources told Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets' weekly assessment for steel scrap No1 heavy mel...Read More

Turkish steel mills continued to stay away from the deep-sea scrap market on Tuesday March 3, amid firm offer prices (especially from the United States), sources told Fastmarkets.After buying at least 25 cargoes of about 750,000 tonnes in February, the mills halted purchasing activity at the beginning of last week.The most recent deep-sea transactions had put the price of Baltic Sea- and...Read More

Brazil's iron ore exports plunged year on year in February, while heavy rains in the southeastern region adversely affected production and transportation, higher average prices also partly offset the drop, the country's ministry of economy said on Monday March 2.Iron ore shipments from Brazil totaled 22.1 million tonnes over February, falling by 23.6% in comparison with 28.93 million tonnes in Feb...Read More

MAG Silver's two recent announcements about its project in Mexico are relayed and commented on in a ROTH Capital Partners report. In a Feb. 27 research note, ROTH Capital Partners analyst Joe Reagor noted that MAG Silver Corp. (MAG:TSX; MAG:NYSE A) and joint venture partner Fresnillo Plc (FRES:LSE) moved up the production start for Juanicipio and raised preproduction capex estimates. "These resul...Read More

Maurice Jackson of Proven and Probably sits down with Andy Schectman, president of Miles Franklin Precious Metals Investments, to talk about ways to invest in precious metals. Maurice Jackson: Today we will discuss the merits of owning government minted coins versus private minted coins. Joining us for conversation is Andy Schectman, the president of Miles Franklin Precious Metals Investments. Gl...Read More

While silver has thus far lagged the gains of gold, a number of trends underlying the metal should pave the way for a new leg up very soon, according to McAlinden Research Partners. Summary: Amid the precious metals rally that was set off by the rapid spread of coronavirus and uncertainty around the ability to contain it, gold prices had ratcheted up to a seven-year high. While silver lagged the...Read More

Import prices for steel slab in Southeast Asia and East Asia were stable over the week to Monday March 2 amid concerns about the rapid spread of the coronavirus (2019-nCoV) outside of China. Fastmarkets' price assessment for steel slab imports, cfr Southeast Asia and East Asia was $425-435 per tonne on Monday March 2, unchanged week on week.During the week, steel slab produced in the Commonwealth...Read More

X Terra Resources notes alteration and mineralization in all of its targets. In a news release, X Terra Resources Inc. (XTT:TSX; XTR:FSE) announced it completed its drill program at its Grog and Northwest properties in New Brunswick, and results exceeded management's expectations. "All geological targets have revealed very encouraging visual indicators of significant alteration and mineralization...Read More

Black Tusk Resources chooses 18 sites on its Quebec property for further follow-up. Black Tusk Resources Inc. (TUSK:CSE; BTKRF:OTCMKTS; 0NB:FSE) announced in a news release "the company's professional geoscientist and consultants have been reviewing the results of the magnetometer survey, as well as all other available data for the project, in order to plan future exploration on the property." Th...Read More

China's rebar prices bounced back on Tuesday March 3 in both the domestic and export markets amid optimism for a strengthening of demand in the local market.Eastern China (Shanghai): 3,400-3,440 yuan ($488-494) per tonne, up 40-50 yuan per tonne Northern China (Beijing): 3,300-3,330 yuan per tonne, up 40 yuan per tonneRebar futures had a bullish start to the day, rising to as high as 3,466 yuan pe...Read More

A buildup of manganese ore at Chinese ports is set to escalate in the coming weeks when a jump in fresh imports adds to a spillover of material into minor ports, manganese market sources predict. Manganese ore stocks in main Chinese ports stand at 4.64-4.85 million tonnes according to Fastmarkets' latest assessment on Monday March 2, compared with 4.52-4.64 million tonnes at the end of 2019....Read More