Alrosa, Russia’s largest diamond producer, ended some long-term deals with customers as sales in March collapsed to half the level of a year ago because of the coronavirus pandemic.“We would like to thank those of our customers who stick to our long-term contracts though with several companies we had to terminate such contracts and switch to spot sales,” Deputy CEO Evgeny Agureev...Read More
Markets are looking brighter this morning Tuesday April 14, on a combination of more mining production cuts, a deal on an oil supply cut, better Chinese trade data that showed imports were only down by 0.9% year on year in March and some reopening of businesses in Europe. There is light at the end of the tunnel but it is early days in the plateauing of the Covid-19 pandemic in Europe and the Unite...Read More
The Covid-19 pandemic has inevitably drawn comparison with the global financial crisis of 2008-09. But while there are similarities, the differences are greater, meaning the remedy needs to be different too.Perhaps the biggest uniting factor between the two events is uncertainty.Ask the head of a major commodities company in 2008, and they would have told you their biggest task was staying liquid,...Read More
US hot-rolled coil prices remain modestly below $25 per hundredweight as mills seek to keep them from falling into loss-making territory amid a steep drop in demand.Fastmarkets' daily steel hot-rolled coil index, fob mill US was calculated at $24.78 per hundredweight ($495.60 per ton) on Tuesday April 14, up 1.5% ($0.36 per cwt) from $24.42 per cwt on Monday April 13 and 0.4% ($0.10 per cwt) from...Read More
Steel output at ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih (AMKR) in Ukraine dropped by 7.14% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2020 on the negative effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.The steelmaker produced 1.3 million tonnes of crude steel in January-March 2020, against 1.3 million tonnes in the corresponding period last year.At the same time, the volume of finished products totaled 1.2 million tonnes in the fir...Read More
Special bar quality (SBQ) steel spot prices in the United States have dropped considerably due to reports of cold-finished bar base price cuts by domestic mills, widespread discounting and declining ferrous scrap prices, Fastmarkets has learned. Swift and significant price declinesAccording to multiple sources, a domestic mill this month reduced base prices by $60 per short ton ($3 per h...Read More
Steel plate prices held steady in the United States while service centers paused their buying in order to assess the next steps in the Covid-19 pandemic and its resultant impact on construction and energy demand.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel cut-to-length plate carbon grade, fob mill US was unchanged at $30 per hundredweight ($600 per short ton) on Monday April 13. The price,...Read More
Export sales of flat steel from the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) to Turkey and Asia continued at low prices during the week ended Tuesday April 14, sources have told Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel hot-rolled coil, export, fob Black Sea, CIS, was $360-370 per tonne on Tuesday, narrowing downward from $360-375 per tonne a week before.Russian producers sold lar...Read More
Editor's Note: Mining Journal is making some of its most important coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic freely available to readers. For more coverage, please see our COVID-19 hub. To subscribe to Mining Journal, click herePeru had earlier extended its initial 15-day period of emergency measures from March 26 to April 12, then last week pushed this out to April 26 as the global pandemic con...Read More
Turkish deep-sea scrap import prices increased again on Tuesday April 14 because of the limited supplies coming from Europe and the United States, sources told Fastmarkets.A steel mill in the Iskenderun region booked a US cargo, comprising 15,000 tonnes of HMS 1&2 (80:20) at $257 per tonne, 12,000 tonnes of shredded at $262 per tonne and 3,000 tonnes of bonus at $267 per tonne cfr.Another steel mi...Read More
Turkish domestic ferrous-scrap prices have continued to increase during the week to Monday April 13, in line with rising imported steel-scrap values, sources told Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel scrap, auto bundle scrap, domestic, delivered Turkey was 1,515-1,700 lira ($224-252) per tonne on Tuesday April 14, up from 1,380-1,515 lira per tonne last week.Steel producers a...Read More
India will extend the lockdown intended to control the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic until May 3, instead of the original end-date of April 15, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced on Tuesday April 14.In his address, Modi added that each district would be evaluated in a week's time to see if restrictions could be eased."Until April 20, every town, every police station, every district, every st...Read More
Seaborne iron ore prices inched upward on Tuesday April 14, during an active day of trading at Chinese ports amid persistent worries about supply and an improving steel demand outlook.Fastmarkets iron ore indices62% Fe fines, cfr Qingdao: $87.02 per tonne, up by $1.42 per tonne.62% Fe low-alumina fines, cfr Qingdao: $88.74 per tonne, up by $1.48 per tonne.58% Fe fines high-grade premium, cfr Qingd...Read More
Ferrous scrap prices rebounded in Turkey in the working week ended Thursday April 9 amid tight supply in the United States and Europe, but Asian buyers mostly refused to pay the higher prices. Turkey import scrap prices rocket. Tight supply raises US export prices but low local demand reduces domestic rates. Vietnam looks to Japanese market after US offer prices rise. Taiwan raise...Read More
Seaborne premium hard coking coal prices dropped on Tuesday April 14, with trading activity restricted to the Chinese market while key spot buyer - India - announced an extension to its nationwide lockdown to curb the spread of the Covid-19 virus.Fastmarkets indicesPremium hard coking coal, fob DBCT: $130.59 per tonne, down $2.70 per tonnePremium hard coking coal, cfr Jingtang: $138.63 per tonne,...Read More
Fastmarkets MB proposes to discontinue the publication of its ferrous trade logs. The publication of the following five trade logs will cease from April 24: Flat Steel Products Trade Log Long Steel Products Trade Log Semi-finished Steel Products Trade Log Steelmaking Raw Materials Trade Log Ferrous Scrap Trade Log There is no change to the publication of prices related to...Read More
U.S. equity index futures were higher this morning. S&P 500 futures were up 42 points in pre-opening trade.JP Morgan gained $1.69 to $99.88 after reporting higher than consensus first quarter Net Interest Income.Johnson & Johnson advanced $4.89 to $144.66 after reporting higher than consensus first quarter earnings. The company also raise its dividend.Wells Fargo advanced $0.47 to $31.90 a...Read More
China's domestic rebar prices edged up further on Tuesday April 14 amid what was described by market participants as "good and steady" demand. Eastern China (Shanghai): 3,470-3,500 yuan ($492-496) per tonne, up by 10 yuan per tonneNorthern China (Beijing): 3,410-3,440 yuan per tonne, up by 10 yuan per tonne Buyers actively procured cargoes during the day, which gave prices a slight upward pus...Read More
The uncertainties surrounding cobalt supply and demand in the near term amid the continuing Covid-19 pandemic has led more Chinese salts smelters to take on tolling business to mitigate risk.The virus has had an unprecedented effect on the global economy with manufacturing sectors around the world forced to slow in attempts to halt its spread, a dynamic which eventually dented buying interest for...Read More
Stainless steel prices in the United States fell in April while surcharges declined and market participants reported sharply lower demand. Fastmarkets' monthly assessment for stainless steel 304 cold-rolled sheet, fob mill US fell by 2.5% to $117 per hundredweight on Monday April 13 from $120 per cwt previously, while that for 304L cold-rolled sheet fell by 2.5% to $119 per cwt from...Read More