Steel billet prices in most of the world's major markets maintained their upward momentum during the week ended Friday February 15 while iron ore and scrap costs continued to go up.The rise in scrap prices followed on from increasing raw materials prices after the fatal accident at an iron ore tailings dam at Vale's Feij??o mine near the city of Brumadinho, in the state of Minas Gerais in Brazil.T...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

Detailed data for Chinese trade is still not available, but there are indications that the East Asian country may have become the biggest importer of pig iron in Asia last year, according to Fastmarkets' research team.We pointed out in June last year that the Chinese import pig iron market might revive to fill the widening gap between iron and steel production in China, alongside ferrous scrap.Hon...Read More

The process to exclude steel and aluminium from the Section 232 import tariffs applied by the United States is having some interesting consequences.Notably, in the event of a national security issue - which Section 232 was designed to address - the United States would theoretically rely on Japan for its steel and Saudi Arabia for its aluminium.Those countries have been granted the highest volume o...Read More

Steel billet prices in most of the world's major markets maintained their upward momentum during the week ended Friday February 15 while iron ore and scrap costs continued to go up.The rise in scrap prices followed on from increasing raw materials prices after the fatal accident at an iron ore tailings dam at Vale's Feij??o mine near the city of Brumadinho, in the state of Minas Gerais in Brazil.T...Read More

Here are five Fastmarkets MB stories you might have missed on Friday February 15 that are worth another look.The London Metal Exchange's linked load-in/load-out (LILO) warehouse rule thus far has not been activated at Istim's warehouses in Port Klang, Malaysia, despite a large aluminium queue building at the warehouse, sources confirmed to Fastmarkets MB.Section 232 tariffs on aluminium...Read More

Although base metals are under pressure in the short term, we have a bullish bias to our 2018 price forecasts given the supportive background of solid global economic growth and the fact that all six base metal markets look set to be in fundamental deficit this year. But each has a slightly different supply-side story and this aspect should be the main differentiator. For example, zinc's narrative...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

For a number of years problems at Ilva, the largest steelworks in Europe, have been casting shadow over the performance of the whole Italian steel industry. Will an acquisition of Ilva by a consortium led by ArcelorMittal, now in its final stage, be a game changer for the market?Following multiple reports of environmental and health problems caused by the Taranto plant, in 2013 Ilva was placed und...Read More

China ended steel production in all of the country's illegal induction furnaces by the end of June last year, it ha claimed.Most operators in China are primarily small private mills that use low-quality scrap to produce substandard rebar. This is mixed with grade III (HRB400) rebar and sold at a discount to construction contractors.For a long period, the government had neither a record of nor cont...Read More

China's month-on-month new electric vehicles (NEV) sales rebounded in August after month-on-month declines in June and July. The drop in sales between May and June was the first drop since September 2016, but Fastmarkets MB had expected Chinese NEV sales to dip temporarily after the June subsidy changes came into effect because consumers and NEV manufacturers would have to adjust to the new subsid...Read More

Iron ore prices fell sharply in the second half of November after climbing through October, with prices for higher-grade material pioneering the decline.Fastmarkets MB daily benchmark for 65% Fe fines dropped by 22% by Monday November 26 after peaking on October 29. The 62% Fe iron ore index declined by 16% over the period, as some Chinese steelmakers started to seek larger volumes of cheaper ores...Read More

The steel scrap sector in the United States still depends on exports to Turkey, a member of the Fastmarkets research team said during the ferrous session at the Bureau of International Recycling (BIR) conference in London.This dependence persists despite the changes in the international markets created by the US' imposition of its Section 232 tariffs on imports of steel products, metals analyst Le...Read More

Seaborne pig iron has become relatively competitive versus ferrous scrap over the past year in most regions, and China is no exception. As the first chart below illustrates, the gap between the MBR's proxy for imported pig iron price in China and the Metal Bulletin's Chinese domestic heavy melt scrap price assessment had shrunk by late 2017. The premium averaged $17 per tonne this year to date, co...Read More

The closure of some induction furnaces in China in 2016 followed by the government's crackdown on all unlicensed IFs in mid-2017 freed up some scrap volumes, albeit arguably of low-quality material. Chinese domestic scrap prices came under pressure from the increased supply, which prevented them from keeping pace with the rise in steel and other raw material markets in the fourth quarter of 2016;...Read More

Here are five Fastmarkets MB stories you might have missed on Friday February 15 that are worth another look.The London Metal Exchange's linked load-in/load-out (LILO) warehouse rule thus far has not been activated at Istim's warehouses in Port Klang, Malaysia, despite a large aluminium queue building at the warehouse, sources confirmed to Fastmarkets MB.Section 232 tariffs on aluminium...Read More

A rebound in the oil sector in recent weeks has investors wondering which energy stocks might offer some attractive upside potential on an extended recovery.Let's take a look at Cenovus Energy (TSX:CVE)(NYSE:CVE) to see if it deserves to be on your buy list.Tough runFalling oil prices, pipeline bottlenecks, and some ill-timed management decisions have hammered Cenovus in recent years, resulting in...Read More

After overpromising and failing to deliver for almost a decade, intermediate gold miner Gran Colombia Gold Corp. (TSX:GCM) appears to finally have found its footing. Not only has it made substantial improvements to the operations of its flagship Segovia properties, but it has also bolstered its balance sheet and simplified its capital structure. Those positive developments saw Gran Colombia gain 4...Read More

Gold has been on a tear since late 2018, gaining over 3% for the year to date and buoying gold miners. The growing optimism surrounding the outlook for the yellow metal makes now the time for investors to bolster their exposure to gold. One intermediate gold miner that, according to some pundits, appears attractively valued is Yamana Gold (TSX:YRI)(NYSE:AUY).Intermediate miner focused on South Ame...Read More