Lead outperformed the other base metals on the London Metal Exchange on Thursday January 24, closing 2.2% higher, while both zinc and tin also gained amid continued falls in LME stocks. For lead, on-warrant metal remains at its lowest since 2009 at just above 41,000 tonnes. And in tin, persistent outflows and fresh cancelations are propelling the price higher; the exchange's total tin inventory is...Read More

Comex copper prices sank once again on Thursday morning in the United States, with persistent bearish overtones and short-covering hampering the red metal.The copper price for March settlement on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange dipped 0.60 cents to $2.6485 per lb. "Although we acknowledge that market participants prefer to adopt a cautious stance toward copper for now,...Read More

Privately-owned Sigma Broking Ltd has approached members of the London Metal Exchange to acquire B shares as it moves forward with a plan to become the first new Category I ring-trading entity since 2007, well-informed sources told Fastmarkets. "There have been conversations between Sigma and LME members - it is well known who is long B shares and happy to sell them," one source close to the matte...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

Comex copper prices sank once again on Thursday morning in the United States, with persistent bearish overtones and short-covering hampering the red metal.The copper price for March settlement on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange dipped 0.60 cents to $2.6485 per lb. "Although we acknowledge that market participants prefer to adopt a cautious stance toward copper for now,...Read More

Strategic & Precious Metals Processing (SPMP) expects the initial production of pure antimony metal to take place in the next week at its antimony-gold project in Oman, SPMP parent company Tri-Star Resources said on Thursday January 24. Tri-Star has a 40% equity interest in SPMP, which is constructing the antimony and gold processing facility in Sohar, Oman. The project was initially expected to c...Read More

Here are five Fastmarkets MB stories you might have missed on Thursday January 24 that are worth another look.An ad hoc coalition of more than 45 groups from various industries in the United States has called on President Donald Trump's administration to end the Section 232 tariffs on steel and aluminium imports from Canada and Mexico.Chinese steelmakers' narrowing margins and improvemen...Read More

The uncertainty caused by the current geopolitical climate may only be temporary, but it could affect activity in mergers and acquisitions (M&A) in metals and mining into 2019, according to a report by consultancy firm PwC.Geopolitical instability and trade tensions may have played a role in depressing the number of deals in 2018 compared with the previous two years, and the sector faces uncertain...Read More

Australian miner New Century Resources is delivering 14,000 tonnes of zinc concentrates on spot-market terms to Europe, the tailing reprocessing project operator said on Monday January 21.The parcel is now en route to Europe, after being sold to an existing offtake partner, according to a company statement.New Century Resources' project is the first of its kind to generate significant output from...Read More

A summary of MMG's production results for the year ended December 31, 2018. IN BRIEF:  Ramp-up of Dugald River mine drove significantly-increased zinc and lead concentrate production.  Las Bambas wall instability impeded mine access and...Read More

Kazakhstan-based Kaz Minerals plans to increase its copper production by developing the Baimskaya copper project in Siberia, having taken control of the asset in January 2019.The company announced its acquisition of Baimskaya at a cost of $900 million in August 2018, and finalized the acquisition this year.Kaz forecasts that, once production at the mine begins, it will average 250,000 tonnes per y...Read More