The price for rebar produced and delivered in Northern Europe stayed flat on Wednesday January 9, although the European Commission's recent proposal for 2019 steel import tariffs has removed some of the uncertainty in the market. Fastmarkets MB's weekly price assessment for domestic rebar in Northern Europe remained at $540-560 ($618-641) per tonne delivered on Wednesday, with no new deals reporte...Read More
Asian steel markets are in for another tumultuous year judging by the rate at which new developments are expected to spring up in 2019.China remains the center of interest, and rightly so, because its economic and governmental policies have cascading effects on the international steel market.While its progressive economic policies have served it well in sustaining its domestic steel sector in the...Read More
The Chinese ferro-silicon market fell for the third week in a row in the week ended Friday January 11, extending losses amid persistently high volumes on offer from smaller producers, Fastmarkets has learned.Elsewhere, the European market has been quiet in January, but held steady despite subdued trading. China market sees further losses More Chinese losses expected ahead of lunar new year holiday...Read More
Base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange were mostly lower day-on-day at the close of trading on Monday January 14, with investors continuing to limit commodity investment after weak Chinese export data fueled concerns of a slowdown in global economic growth.The three-month lead price fell furthest over the afternoon and remained in negative territory, trading at less than $2,000 per tonne...Read More
KGHM Polska Miedz's Rudna copper mine, Europe's largest copper ore mine, has suspended part of its operations following a fatal earthquake in the southwest of Poland last weekend, Fastmarkets learned.One of the branches, called G-7, has been closed while the rest of the operation continues with production, KGHM spokeswoman Anna Osadczuk said on Monday, without disclosing an estimate on the affecte...Read More
Buying activity started to revive gradually in the CIS export steel billet market after the new year holidays, Fastmarkets has heard. Several large sales were reported from Ukraine to Asia, helping to keep prices stable.Billet offers from the CIS region were mainly heard within the range of $405-410 per tonne fob Black Sea. Some mills gave higher offers, but these were rejected by market participa...Read More
Commodity derivatives trader Jo Harmendjian has left his role in the base metals team at Societe Generale and has joined Switzerland-based investment management firm, Tiberius Group, Fastmarkets has learned. Harmendjian began his career in financial derivatives for Groupe Credit Agricole, working closely with fixed income as a sales and portfolio analyst, before moving to Paris to join...Read More
Much has been said of a potential increase in tellurium prices after concerns about a tellurium deficit in 2020 were raised in recent months; but despite firm demand from the solar industry, there are no clear indicators that prices will peak anytime soon due to current market dynamics. Robust solar demand The main driver of increased tellurium consumption is the growth in the cadmium telluride ph...Read More
Participants in the Japanese market are deciding whether to change the benchmark price for long-term ferro-chrome contracts to China's monthly steel mill ferro-chrome tenders price from the quarterly European benchmark price, market participants told Fastmarkets.Traditionally, Japanese buyers use the European benchmark as a point of reference for their long-term contract negotiations, but ultimate...Read More
Base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange were mostly lower day-on-day at the close of trading on Monday January 14, with investors continuing to limit commodity investment after weak Chinese export data fueled concerns of a slowdown in global economic growth.The three-month lead price fell furthest over the afternoon and remained in negative territory, trading at less than $2,000 per tonne...Read More
The seaborne coking coal spot market tumbled on Monday January 14 with supply pressures weighing on transaction prices for cargoes sold to China.A February-laycan cargo of a top Australian brand was traded around $198-199 per tonne cfr China while a shipment of premium mid-vol materials, also scheduled for loading in February, changed hands at $185 per tonne cfr China."The market is still spiralin...Read More
Base metals on the London Metal Exchange were collectively lower during morning trading on Monday January 14, weakened by poor economic data from China at a time when global trade uncertainty continues to dampen risk appetite. Worst affected, zinc's three-month price was down by just over 1% this morning, falling to an intraday low of $2,455.50 per tonne despite a continued drawdown in LME stocks,...Read More
The Turkish steel producers skipped the first day of the week without any deep-sea bookings, while prices were little changed, sources said on Monday January 14.Turkish mills have booked some deep-sea cargoes in the past week from US and Baltic Sea suppliers at around $280 per tonne cfr for HMS 1&2 (80:20) to replenish their stock levels. However, the weakness in finished steel markets w...Read More
Comex copper prices softened Monday morning in the United States amid new evidence that the trade war is hurting the Chinese economy.The copper price for March settlement on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange declined 3.10 cents to $2.6310 per lb. In December, Chinese trading activity declined as part of the ongoing trade war with the US. The trade balance rose to $395 bil...Read More
Commodity derivatives trader Jo Harmendjian has left his role in the base metals team at Societe Generale and has joined Switzerland-based investment management firm, Tiberius Group, Fastmarkets has learned. Harmendjian began his career in financial derivatives for Groupe Credit Agricole, working closely with fixed income as a sales and portfolio analyst, before moving to Paris to join...Read More
Base metals on the London Metal Exchange were collectively lower during morning trading on Monday January 14, weakened by poor economic data from China at a time when global trade uncertainty continues to dampen risk appetite. Worst affected, zinc's three-month price was down by just over 1% this morning, falling to an intraday low of $2,455.50 per tonne despite a continued drawdown in LME stocks,...Read More
The arbitrage for copper, aluminium, zinc and nickel imported into China on Monday January 14*Copper -$49.20 (-333.53 yuan) Aluminium -$325.72 (-2,208.06 yuan) Zinc $166.48 (1,128.58 yuan) Nickel -$169.76 (-1,150.80 yuan) *Metal Bulletin calculates the physical arbitrage for import into China daily by using SHFE front-month and LME...Read More
Three-month base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange were for the most part weaker this morning, Monday January 14, following the release of weak Chinese trade data.Three-month tin was the only LME base metal in positive territory with a 0.4% gain, while aluminium was little changed and the rest were down between 0.7% for nickel and 1% for zinc - with copper off by 0.8% at $5,911 per tonne....Read More
Base metals prices on the Shanghai Futures Exchange were broadly down during Asian morning trading on Monday January 14, with weakness in US equity markets last Friday denting investors' risk appetite.Tin and nickel shrugged off the weakness experienced by their peers in the early session on Monday, rising by 0.5% and 0.6% respectively. Nickel has found support against a backdrop of tightening sup...Read More
While decreasing raw material costs have driven special bar quality (SBQ) prices down by $1.50 per hundredweight ($30 per short ton) across all grades, most sources offered an optimistic forecast for the year ahead.Fastmarkets AMM's assessment for 1-inch round 1000 series (carbon) hot-rolled bar was $43.50 per cwt ($870 per ton) fob mill on Friday January 11, down 3.3% from $45 per cwt previously...Read More