Turkey's long steel export market continued to struggle this week, with virtually closed markets in Europe and the United States and falling prices stifling demand, sources told Fastmarkets on Thursday January 10.Turkish steel producers were generally offering rebar for exports at about $445-450 per tonne fob on an actual weight basis, with only a handful of mills still trying to keep their o...Read More
Turkish steel producers continued to book deep-sea scrap to replenish low stock levels on Thursday January 10, while the finished steel markets were still weak.A steel mill in the Izmir region booked a Baltic Sea cargo, comprising 28,000 tonnes of HMS 1&2 (80:20) at $280 per tonne, 5,000 tonnes of shredded at $285 per tonne and 3,000 tonnes of bonus at $290 per tonne...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets MB stories you might have missed on Thursday January 10 that are worth another look.Chinese central government regulators will begin a new round of environmental protection inspections in the country's metals and mining industry this year, which will take about four years to complete. The volatility in manganese ore prices should rise in 2019 while increases in...Read More
Investing.com - Gold prices edged up on Thursday in Asia after the U.S. dollar slipped amid growing expectations that the U.S. Federal Reserve would halt its rate tightening cycle in 2019.Gold futures for February delivery traded 0.4% higher to 1,296.55 by 1:45?EUR?AM ET (06:45?EUR?GMT) on the?EUR?Comex?EUR?exchange.Minutes from the Fed's Dec. 18-19 policy meeting revealed that several members sai...Read More
Base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange had mixed fortunes at the close of trading on Thursday January 10, with zinc's three-month price continuing its downtrend while positive US job data spurred a marginal uptick in the US dollar index.Zinc's three-month price continued to trade in a downtrend over the afternoon, closing 1.2% lower day on day and falling further from its support level of...Read More
The London Metal Exchange has altered its fee-cap structure to accommodate position transfers related to the United Kingdom's impending exit from the European Union (Brexit), in line with the requirements of its membership base, according to a note released to members on Tuesday January 8.Previously, the LME's position transfers, which are a common feature in exchange-traded derivatives markets an...Read More
Zinc came under pressure on the London Metal Exchange in morning trading on Thursday January 10, shrugging off continued market optimism about recent US-China trade talks.The three-month zinc price fell 1.2%, ignoring the continued drawdown of LME inventories - only 109,025 tonnes are now on-warrant. Additionally, the metal's cash/three-month spread remains in a backwardation of $21.50, narrowing...Read More
The Turkish domestic rebar and wire rod price have gone up slightly due to a weakening lira over the past week, sources said on Thursday January 10.Fastmarkets' price assessment for domestic rebar in Turkey was TRY2,880-2,930 ($525-534) per tonne ex-works, including 18% VAT, up from last week's TRY2,800-2,850 per tonne.The local price in the Izmir region was reported at TRY2,910-2,970 per tonne ex...Read More
The volatility in manganese ore prices should rise in 2019 while increases in alloy smelting production and rail transportation capacity in China filter into the market, however, prices are expected to soften short term due to pressure from alloy smelters, market participants said.Higher volatility in the manganese ore price would represent a return to normality, with the last six months of 2018 u...Read More
Resurgent demand in China for aluminium was expected to increase prices for the metal in 2019, coming against restricted growth in supply volumes, analysts at BMO Capital Markets said this week.The London Metal Exchange 3-month aluminium price started trading in 2019 at $1,858.50 per tonne, the lowest level since February 2018.But prices could be due to rebound, BMO analysts including Colin Hamilt...Read More
The London Metal Exchange has altered its fee-cap structure to accommodate position transfers related to the United Kingdom's impending exit from the European Union (Brexit), in line with the requirements of its membership base, according to a note released to members on Tuesday January 8.Previously, the LME's position transfers, which are a common feature in exchange-traded derivatives markets an...Read More
Zinc came under pressure on the London Metal Exchange in morning trading on Thursday January 10, shrugging off continued market optimism about recent US-China trade talks.The three-month zinc price fell 1.2%, ignoring the continued drawdown of LME inventories - only 109,025 tonnes are now on-warrant. Additionally, the metal's cash/three-month spread remains in a backwardation of $21.50, narrowing...Read More
From 2019, Chinese central government regulators will begin a new round of environmental protection inspections in the country's metals and mining industry, which will take about four years to complete.The affected regions include all 31 provinces - including districts and cities - in China that were included in an earlier round of environmental inspections that took place over the past three year...Read More
Three-month base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange were for the most part little changed this morning, Thursday January 10. The exceptions were nickel that was up by 0.4% and lead that was up by 0.6%. The three-month copper price was up by 0.1% at $5,972 per tonne, with the high so far on Thursday being $5,985.50 per tonne.Volume across the complex has been average with 5,342 lots traded...Read More
Arbitrage for copper, aluminium, zinc and nickel imported into China on Thursday January 10* Copper -$77.45 (-527.14 yuan) Aluminium -$344.77 (-2,346.49 yuan) Zinc $50.42 (343.19 yuan) Nickel -$222.29 (-1,512.88 yuan) *Fastmarkets MB calculates the physical arbitrage for import into China daily by using SHFE front-month and LME three-month...Read More
Trade log for nickel sulfate in China including transactions, bids and offers reported to Fastmarkets MB. Unless otherwise stated, all prices are yuan per tonne on an ex-works basis.Fastmarkets MB pricesClick here for Fastmarkets MB's price assessment for...Read More
Prices for imported flat-rolled steel into the United States are falling amid questions about whether the market has bottomed or might see further declines.Hot-rolledFastmarkets AMM's price assessment for imported hot-rolled coil slipped to $650-700 per short ton ($32.50-35 per hundredweight) on Wednesday January 9 from $660-720 per ton previously.That range represents offers for material fro...Read More
Turkish billet prices in the domestic and import markets have gone down over the past week due to limited demand and weakening finished-steel values in the country's export market, sources said on Thursday January 10.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for billet imported into Turkey was $400-413 per tonne cfr on January 10, down from $405-425 per tonne last week.There was...Read More
Steel billet import prices into Egypt fell this week with lower offers, while local rebar prices remained unchanged, sources said on Thursday January 10.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel billet imported into Egypt was $425-430 per tonne cfr on Thursday, falling from $435-440 per tonne cfr.Billet producers from the Commonwealth of Independent...Read More
The latest bids, offers and deals in the global markets for steel billet, slab and bloom. Latest transaction: billetBilletCIS, export, billet, offered...Read More