Steel slab export prices from Brazil inched up in the week ended Friday March 1 because of lower volumes available and an uptrend in steel prices in the United States.Fastmarkets' weekly assessment of Brazilian slab export prices reached $500-540 per tonne fob on March 1, up from $490-530 per tonne fob a week earlier.The assessment was at its highest level since September 7, 2018, when prices were...Read More

Import prices for steel billet in Southeast Asia were stable on Friday March 1 amid thin buying interest and the resulting lack of transactions.Fastmarkets' daily import price assessment for billet in Southeast Asia was $480-485 per tonne cfr Manila on Friday March 1, the same as the previous day. Southeast Asia's import prices have been largely steady since February 14 and last week rem...Read More

China's domestic rebar prices rebounded for a second time this week on Friday March 1 on gains in the futures market, while the export segment also received a small boost.Domestic Eastern China (Shanghai): 3,780-3,830 yuan ($565-572) per tonne, up 40 yuan per tonneNorthern China (Beijing): 3,780-3,830 yuan per tonne, up 50 yuan per tonneRebar futures posted gains for two consecutive days, which re...Read More

The transaction price for grade-304 stainless steel cold-rolled sheet products in Europe has increased this week following the announcement of a sharp rise in alloy surcharges by mills in the region.The March surcharges for grade-304 cold-rolled (CR) stainless sheets increased to ?,?1,308-1,351 ($1,489-1,538) per tonne on Friday March 1, according to data released by Outokumpu, Acerinox and Aperam...Read More

In contrast to the clear skies outside, a cloud hung over discussions among Indian scrap traders attending the opening session of the annual conference of the Material Recycling Association of India (MRAI) earlier this month in Kochi, southern India.Secretary-general Amar Singh praised the superior air quality in the host city, compared with the metropolises of New Delhi and Mumbai. But delegates...Read More

The Mexican government has decided to renew a 15% safeguarding duty on imports of steel from countries with which it does not have free trade agreements.The safeguard is expected to be signed this week, and it will be valid for another six months, according to the country's economy secretariat.It will apply also on imports of products...Read More

Major Vietnamese integrated steel producer Formosa Ha Tinh Steel has increased its new hot-rolled coil offers by $40 per tonne for April-delivery and shipment cargoes due to the recent increases in raw materials costs.The producer's SAE1006 HRC is now on offer at $535 per tonne on a cif basis, up $40 per tonne from $495 per tonne cif for iMarch-shipment materials. And its SS400 and pipemaking...Read More

Key data from the pricing sessions in Asia, Europe and the United States for the week ending Friday March 1. China The domestic ferro-chrome spot price rose to 6,850-7,100 yuan per tonne from 6,750-6,950 yuan per tonne a week before after domestic suppliers lifted their prices following Tsingshan's announcement that it had raised its tender price by 100 yuan per tonne on February 25. The news broa...Read More

Steel slab export prices from Brazil inched up in the week ended Friday March 1 because of lower volumes available and an uptrend in steel prices in the United States.Fastmarkets' weekly assessment of Brazilian slab export prices reached $500-540 per tonne fob on March 1, up from $490-530 per tonne fob a week earlier.The assessment was at its highest level since September 7, 2018, when prices were...Read More

Domestic prices for rebar in Poland have been supported by strong demand this week, sources told Fastmarkets on Friday March 1.Fastmarkets' price assessment for domestic 12mm B500B-grade rebar in Poland was 2,200-2,320 zloty ($581-613) per tonne ex-works on March 1, compared with 2,220-2,320 zloty per tonne ex-works a week earlier.The assessment reflected deals and offers heard in the market. Alth...Read More

Global steel scrap prices began to edge up in Turkey this week while other key markets continued to lose ground, Fastmarkets heard during the week ended Friday March 1.Turkey succeeded in recovering some of its recent losses in new bookings, but these remained sparse and mills were still reluctant to enter the market. The US market continued to stagnate while prices in Asia edged down further due...Read More

Ahead of Fastmarkets' Battery Materials 2019 conference in Shanghai, Fastmarkets looks at use of lithium in next-generation vehicles and other battery uses, as well as soaring prices, which have spurred interest in lithium and boosted its importance in recent years as a battery material. In June 2016, the spot price in China peaked at $27 per kg, more than three times the global contract price, ac...Read More

Section 232 tariffs on aluminium and steel raised $3.6 billion in their first nine months, and revenues for the last two months are likely to push that figure up by around another $1 billion, US government data shows.That figure would be enough to cover the shortfall in funding sought by United States President Donald Trump for border security. In other words, aluminium and steel tariffs could fun...Read More

Copper-starved LME warehouses could receive a long-awaited influx of metal from an unexpected source, Fastmarkets has learned.Smelters in China, the world's largest copper consuming country, are said to have been exporting tens of thousands of tonnes of cathodes into Shanghai's bonded warehouses over the past two weeks before shipping further afield.Three individual plants have exported at least 7...Read More

Copper premiums basis cif Shanghai could fall further even after a recent collapse, Shanghai market participants told Fastmarkets. Copper cathode premiums are being pressured lower due to a steep backwardation in the London Metal Exchange cash/three-month forward spread of more than $40 per tonne as well as sluggish end-user demand in China. Fastmarkets assessed the grade A copper cathode pre...Read More

Base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange were mixed at the close of trading on Friday March 1, with a continued trend of record-low inventories failing to spur persistent price rallies amid broad strength in the US dollar index. Both copper and nickel futures remain well supported, while volumes were moderate over the afternoon, with copper leading the complex at 19,890 lots changing hands...Read More

The London Metal Exchange has released its pricing procedures and methodologies for the scheduled release of its cash-settled futures contracts on March 11, highlighting methods in which the bourse will determine daily settlement prices. In its note to members on Friday March 1, the LME lists select specifications for each of the contracts inclusive of currency, lot size and trading time, while it...Read More

Copper-starved LME warehouses could receive a long-awaited influx of metal from an unexpected source, Fastmarkets has learned.Smelters in China, the world's largest copper consuming country, are said to have been exporting tens of thousands of tonnes of cathodes into Shanghai's bonded warehouses over the past two weeks before shipping further afield.Three individual plants have exported at least 7...Read More

The Indian government's plans of hitting 300 million tonnes of steel capacity by 2030 sounds overambitious in the current scenario given that output only managed to reach the 101 million tonne mark in 2017 - indicating three-fold (Read More

After suffering for some seven years through to 2015, the world's steelmakers have had cause for cheer over the past couple of years. After some heavy losses and write-downs, they finally appear to have emerged from the wreckage of the global financial crisis. An economic upswing has taken root in most regions of the world, Chinese steel output and export growth has slowed noticeably, and steel pr...Read More