Brazil's Usiminas believes its steel prices could increase by 4-5% until the second quarter of 2019 given the global uptrend in place, the company's commercial vice president, Miguel Homes, said during a conference call on Friday February 15.The steelmaker is assessing the landscape before taking any steps regarding new prices. Usiminas' internal target is to maintain domestic prices no more than...Read More

The number of new passenger car registrations in the EU decreased by 4.62% year-on-year in January 2019, making it the fifth consecutive month of decline, the European Automotive Manufacturers Assn (ACEA) said on Friday February 15.New car sales in Europe totaled 1,195,665 units in January 2019, compared with 1,253,596 vehicles sold in the corresponding month of 2018."The European passenger car ma...Read More

Coated-steel prices in Turkey continued to increase in the week ending Friday February 15, despite demand being weak in both the domestic and export markets.High offer prices were stifling export activity, sources told Fastmarkets.Steel prices have been increasing globally because of rises in raw materials costs, which have been pushed up due to supply concerns after Vale'...Read More

Steel coil prices in Turkey increased again this week because of the rising cost of raw materials, alongside other global price increases.Local demand was also weaker than it was seven days earlier, sources told Fastmarkets on Friday February 15.Buyers placed orders last week because they had low stock levels, market participants said. However, they added that end-user demand was still not strong...Read More

Merchant slab output at Ukraininan steelmaker Metinvest in the December-February period was below the production target due to repairs at the blast furnaces of Azovstal Iron & Steel Works and Illych Iron & Steel works, the company told Fastmarkets."The company's merchant slab output was 190,000 tonnes below the target because blast furnace repairs were rescheduled for these months," a company sour...Read More

Export prices for pig iron from Brazil increased further during the week ended Friday February 15 on higher iron ore costs, sources told Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for pig iron exports from the southeastern Minas Gerais region jumped to $340 per tonne fob on February 15 from $316-325 per tonne fob a week earlier.A deal to the United States was done during the week at $34...Read More

German steelmakers have settled their monthly scrap contracts for February with an average price increase of ?,?15-20 ($17-23) per tonne, reflecting the rise in the international market, sources told Fastmarkets on Friday February 15.Fastmarkets' monthly price assessment for domestic grade-E3 scrap in Germany was ?,?265-285 ($299-321) per tonne delivered on February 15, up from ?,?250-265 per tonn...Read More

Global scrap prices were likely to fall soon in the wake of a recent surge across many markets, with concern among market participants about whether higher priced deals were sustainable, Fastmarkets heard during the week ended Friday February 15.Turkish mills stepped back from purchasing deep sea cargoes this week, with prices remaining stable throughout the week as a result.This withdrawal knocke...Read More

The price of shredded ferrous scrap imported into India went up on higher deals and offers heard this week but a correction is expected soon, market participants said on Friday February 15.Fastmarkets MB's weekly index for containerized imports of shredded scrap into India was $345.50 per tonne cfr on February 15, up from $342.67 per tonne cfr on February 8.Deals for shredded material into India w...Read More

Miner Vale has announced a fire has caused damage to its iron ore distribution center in Malaysia on Friday February 15. The fire caused material damage and took place in the one of the transfer houses of the conveyor belt system of the center,...Read More

The seaborne coking coal market remains insulated from the severe supply disruption affecting the other steelmaking raw material, iron ore, sources said on Friday February 15 amid a softening of prices for the former.A May-laycan cargo of premium hard coking coal in the branded segment was traded on trading platform Global Coal at $205 per tonne fob Australia during the day. This is the same price...Read More

A fire at Korea Zinc's Onsan smelter has been contained and deliveries are set to continue as usual, two sources at the company told Fastmarkets.The fire, which lasted for around half an hour, took place in the plant's power transformer, according to local daily newspaper JoongAng Ilbo.London Metal Exchange three-month zinc futures have risen 1.4% from yesterday's close to $2,591 per tonne as of 9...Read More

Arbitrage for copper, aluminium, zinc and nickel imported into China on Friday February 15* Copper -$164.8 (-1,119.32 yuan) Aluminium -$327.88 (-2,226.91 yuan) Zinc -$77.01 (-523.04 yuan) Nickel -$115.55 (-784.78 yuan) *Fastmarkets calculates the physical arbitrage for import into China daily by using SHFE front-month and LME three-month...Read More

An overview of the minor metals markets and the reasons for any price moves.Read More

Due to an input error, Fastmarkets' price book entry for European grade-553 silicon briefly showed an incorrect value on Friday February 15.The correct price, as assessed on February 15, for silicon, grade 553, min 98.5% Si, in-warehouse Rotterdam, is ?,?1,800-1,860 ($2,030-2,098) per tonne.Fastmarkets' price book and database have been updated accordingly.The weekly assessments for this price hav...Read More

The following Fastmarkets minor metals prices changed on Friday February 15:Chromium MB free market alumino-thermic, $/tonne: $8,800-9,650 per tonne from $9,000-9,950Cobalt MB free market alloy grade, $/lb: $15.90-17.95 per lb from $16.60-18.85Cobalt MB free market standard grade, $/lb: $17.00-19.30 per lb from $17.30-19.45Cobalt...Read More

An overview of the Chinese minor metals markets and the reasons for any price moves. Read More

Fastmarkets proposes to launch a monthly Italy domestic grade E40 shredded steel scrap ?,? per tonne delivered to Italian mill price assessment. The introduction of the price will expand Fastmarkets' Italian scrap market coverage, complementing its monthly assessments for domestic E3 and E8 grade scrap in Italy. The launch of the new price will allow Fastmarkets to cover all main grades of the mat...Read More

The following Fastmarkets non-ferrous European free market scrap prices changed on Friday February 15:Aluminium ingotDuty paid delivered works pressure diecasting ingot...Read More

Turkish scrap import prices have started to show some negative signals, with slightly lower offers from Baltic Sea suppliers, while demand from Turkish producers was very sluggish, sources said on Friday February 15.But there was news heard on Friday of a fresh Baltic Sea cargo, which was the only transaction this week. A steel mill in the Izmir region booked the cargo, which comprised 25,000 tonn...Read More