Skorpion Zinc's refinery in Namibia has to suspend its operations for five weeks on a lack of raw material feed following a mine strike, while the delivery of certain exports will have to be delayed, Fastmarkets has learned.The Namibian operation, Africa's largest integrated zinc operation, has run out of zinc oxide ore as a result of a strike at its mine that started on February 22, parent compan...Read More

Market participants are confident of an increase in the monthly ferro-chrome tender prices offered by major Chinese stainless steel mills for April but warned of a possible downswing thereafter, Fastmarkets heard at its 20th Asian Ferro-alloys Conference in Hong Kong on March 10-12."Chinese mills will certainly raise their April tender prices [for ferro-chrome], and the only question is by how muc...Read More

The nickel market will hold a marginal deficit until 2021 after which the deficit is expected to expand again, Alex Khodov, principle nickel market analyst from Norilsk Nickel, said at Fastmarkets' 20th Asian Ferro-alloys conference in Hong Kong this week. In the near term, the global nickel deficit will narrow due to nickel pig iron (NPI) production ramp-ups in China and Indonesia and the resumed...Read More

After the ferro-alloys industry gathered in Hong Kong this week for Fastmarkets' Asian Ferro-alloys conference, our reporters present 10 of the key things we learned. 1. Vanadium is likely to regain momentum in 2019... Many market participants at the conference were bullish about ferro-vanadium in 2019, citing robust demand as a result of the revised rebar standard in China, which mandated an incr...Read More

The manganese ore market is likely to remain stable over 2019 after the previous two years of volatility, though profitability is liable to shrink, according to panelists at Fastmarkets' Asian Ferro-alloys conference in Hong Kong on Monday March 11."The market is less volatile compared to the last two years because while supply has gone up, demand has gone up too," Lei Fei, China Minmetals Corpora...Read More

Key data from the Wednesday March 13 pricing session in Europe. Key drivers  The recent rally in the European ferro-titanium price shows no sign of ending, with buying inquiries reported from within Europe and beyond, such as the United States. Renewed consumer demand for second-quarter delivery settlements has combined with short covering for both prompt and longer term demand amid a potenti...Read More

The Turkish steel mills hve taken a break from deep-sea scrap purchasing activity because of the increasing offer prices they are getting, sources said on Wednesday March 13.The producers in the country have been buying deep-sea scrap from various sources at a slow pace for a while, but were still cautious due to the weakness of finished steel demand.Only two UK cargoes have been sold so far this...Read More

The advent of blockchain and other digital ledger technologies cannot be ignored, and they will play a much greater role in the financial markets in the next five years, according to the heads of several of the world's commodities exchanges.Matthew Chamberlain, chief executive officer of the London Metal Exchange, told Fastmarkets that the blockchain route for the LME would probably be pursued thr...Read More

The Comex copper price continued to push higher in the midweek session on Wednesday March 12 with potential supply disruptions supporting the market. The copper price for May settlement on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange inched up 0.55 cents to $2.9340 per lb. Codelco faces further delays in bringing back refined copper smelting at its Chuquicamata plant, which is now...Read More

Three-month base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange were mixed this morning, Wednesday March 13, with copper, aluminium, nickel and zinc down by an average of 0.2%, while lead was up by 0.6% and tin was little changed. Three-month copper was recently quoted at $6,451 per tonne, off by 0.3% compared with Tuesday's close at $6,468 per tonne.Volume was slightly below average with 6,482 lots t...Read More

The Wednesday Market Minute Wall Street futures suggest modest gains in cautious Wednesday trading as Brexit uncertainty continues to cast a pall over global financial markets.UK Prime Minister Theresa May will bring yet another make-or-break vote to parliament later today as lawmakers look to vote down the risk of a "no deal" Brexit.Boeing shares look to extend their biggest two-day decline in...Read More

China's domestic hot-rolled coil prices stopped rising on Wednesday March 13 after trading activity thinned.DomesticEastern China (Shanghai): 3,840-3,860 yuan ($572-575) per tonne, unchangedNorthern China (Tianjin): 3,760-3,780 yuan per tonne, unchanged Buyers, especially stockists, cut their procurement rates on seeing the weakening futures market, sources said.End-user demand for HRC has not inc...Read More

Brazilian imports of flat steel products increased year on year in February 2019, mainly due to an improved performance by the flat steel sector, while long steel imports increased slightly in the same comparison.The country imported 91,208 tonnes of flat steel products in February, up by 62.73% from 56,049 tonnes a year before, according to figures recently released by the country's foreign trade...Read More

Prices for hollow steel sections in the domestic Northern European market were stable on Wednesday March 13, while prices in Southern Europe edged up for the second consecutive week, market sources have told Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets' domestic price assessment for commodity-size, grade-S235 square hollow sections made in Northern Europe was unchanged week on week on Wednesday at ?,?630-650 ($710-733...Read More

The European price of mesh-quality wire rod narrowed at the low end of the range on Wednesday March 13, reflecting the market's sound fundamentals starting to re-emerge in a murky political environment.Fastmarkets MB's weekly domestic price assessment of mesh-quality wire rod for both Northern and Southern Europe edged up to ?,?535-550 ($603-620) per tonne delivered on Wednesday from ?,?530-550 pe...Read More

The Turkish steel mills hve taken a break from deep-sea scrap purchasing activity because of the increasing offer prices they are getting, sources said on Wednesday March 13.The producers in the country have been buying deep-sea scrap from various sources at a slow pace for a while, but were still cautious due to the weakness of finished steel demand.Only two UK cargoes have been sold so far this...Read More

Iron ore prices experienced some fluctuation on Wednesday March 13 following ups and downs in the futures markets.MB 62% Fe Iron Ore Index: $84.78 per tonne cfr Qingdao, down $0.47 per tonne. MB 62% Fe Pilbara Blend Fines Index: $83.90 per tonne cfr Qingdao, down $0.47 per tonne. MB 62% Fe Iron Ore Index-Low Alumina: $86.70 per tonne cfr Qingdao, down $0.65 per tonne. MB 58% Fe Premium Index: $74....Read More

The Singapore Exchange (SGX) has seen a "tremendous uptick" in iron ore futures trading activity due to supply concerns following the deadly breach at one of Vale's tailings dams earlier this year."There is suddenly a big squeeze on high-quality iron ore," the exchange's head of derivatives, Michael Syn, said in response to a question from Fastmarkets at an SGX press briefing at the 44th Annual In...Read More

Iranian billet exporters increased prices for foreign customers in the week ended Wednesday March 13, following improved demand in the major outlets.Several cargoes of billet scheduled for shipment in April were reported sold to Asia around $395 per tonne fob.But there were also several cargoes on the same delivery terms sold to North Africa and Asia within the range of $400-405 per tonne fob.In s...Read More

China's domestic rebar prices sustained some upward momentum on Wednesday March 13 on steady demand and gains in the billet market.Domestic Eastern China (Shanghai): 3,810-3,850 yuan ($567-573) per tonne, up 10 yuan per tonneNorthern China (Beijing): 3,790-3,830 yuan per tonne, up 10 yuan per tonneRebar futures dropped in the afternoon, which slowed down trading activity in the spot market. But bu...Read More