MMG's Dugald River zinc mine in Australia achieved commercial production on May 1, the company said on Monday May 7.Dugald River has been online since November 8, 2017, with its first shipment of approximately 10,500 wet metric tonnes (wmt) of zinc concentrate to China on December 16.MMG produced 47,138 tonnes of zinc in concentrate in this year's first quarter, up 45% from the previous quarter, i...Read More

South Korea's Public Procurement Service has floated a tender to procure 1,000 tonnes of special-high-grade zinc, the state agency announced in a tender on Friday May 4.The tender is for London Metal Exchange-registered brands with purity of more than 99.995% for delivery to Incheon port on a cif basis by August 3. The most recent zinc tender by...Read More

Good morning from Metal Bulletin's offices in Asia as we bring you the latest news and pricing stories on Monday May 7. Base metals prices on the Shanghai Futures Exchange were broadly up during Asian morning trading on Monday, with the complex benefiting from a slightly easier dollar. The London Metal Exchange is closed today due to national holidays.Check Metal Bulletin's live futures report her...Read More

Base metals prices on the Shanghai Futures Exchange were broadly up during Asian morning trading on Monday May 7, with the complex benefiting from a slightly easier dollar. The dollar index was down by 0.1% at 92.47 as at 11am Shanghai time, this after it had spiked to a high of 92.91 last Friday despite disappointing US employment data for April - see data section below.Aluminium prices have foun...Read More

ED&F Man Capital Markets Ltd has appointed Fred Demler as the company's executive vice president and global head of metals, the first time the international financial brokerage firm has created such a role. Demler, who will be based in New York, will be responsible for ED&F Man's global sales and trading staff, working with them to help service and develop the firm's growing client base. It marks...Read More

Saudi Arabian flat steel re-roller and coater Unicoil has started to produce colored thin organic coating gold (CTOC-Gold), which is hot-dipped galvanized (HDG) coil tinted with gold-colored film, the company told Metal Bulletin on Monday May 7. CTOC-Gold is a special layer of coating that combines polymers and organic compounds tinted with gold color, thereby providing steel with clear advantages...Read More

Brazilian flat steel imports grew by 74.19% year on year in April, mostly due to an increase in shipments from China.Imports reached 131,265 tonnes against 75,358 tonnes in April 2017, according to figures released by foreign trade ministry MDIC on Friday May 4.China was the largest provider...Read More

Demand for flat steel in Turkey will remain moderate through May, and prices are expected to fall due to weak end-user demand, market participants told Metal Bulletin."Demand is very, very low, and there is no sign of improvement. Summer is coming, and things will get worse, I'm afraid," one market participant said on Friday May 4. "Prices [have] started to fall [and] will fall [further] for July...Read More

Import prices for rebar in Singapore were up over the past week due to higher offers for China-origin materials.There were mainly only China-origin mill cargoes in the spot market, with about three Chinese mills offering export materials. This included a major Chinese mill offering rebar at $570 per tonne fob China, and two others which followed its lead.Singapore buyers said they were getting off...Read More

Import prices for re-rolling-grade hot-rolled coil sold into Vietnam increased over the past week, with support coming from higher offers for China-origin material.Metal Bulletin's assessment of HRC import prices in Southeast Asia - which mainly looks at Chinese 2-3mm SAE1006 HRC and equivalent grades sold into Vietnam - was $600-625 per tonne cfr for the week ended Friday May 4, up by $10-20 per...Read More

Chrome alloy prices in China weakened over the past week, taking ore lower with them, following monthly reductions in mills' tender prices. Alloy spot prices drop in line with tendersOre prices start to weaken Alloy prices in South Korea follow China lowerEuropean alloy prices edge higher Japan and US alloy markets hold Ferro-chrome prices dropped further in China on Friday May 4 after s...Read More

Glencore produced 409,000 tonnes of ferro-chrome in the first quarter of 2018, a drop of 7% year on year, attributed to furnace downtime and challenges with its subsequent restart. First-quarter output fell by 30,000 tonnes compared with levels reported in the corresponding period of 2017, Glencore said, based on its 79.5% share in the Glencore-Merafe Chrome Venture in South Africa. On a quarterly...Read More

Afarak has warned it expects to report a loss for the first quarter of 2018, citing a 30% drop in the benchmark price for ferro-chrome, higher raw materials costs and the appreciation of the South African rand.The London and Helsinki-listed mining and metallurgical group, which operates the Mogale Alloys chrome operation in South Africa, expects to report negative earnings before interest, taxes,...Read More

Peru's iron ore production rose 8% year on year in March, led by a positive performance by Shougang Hierro Per??, according to figures released by the country's mining ministry, MEM, on Monday May 7.Production totaled 900,047 tonnes compared with 833,369 tonnes a year earlier.The rise was due to increased output at Shougang Hierro Per??, a subsidiary of China-based Shougang Group - to...Read More

Exports of Brazilian pig iron grew by 65.12% year on year in April, mostly due to increased demand from Mexico and the Netherlands.Shipments totaled 246,432 tonnes, up from 149,245 tonnes a year earlier, according to figures released by Brazilian foreign trade ministry MDIC late on Friday May 4.Brazil exported 66,906 tonnes of pig iron to the Netherlands last month, up from 25,015 tonnes...Read More

Turkish domestic scrap prices remained stable over the past week, in line with the steady imported scrap values for the country, sources said on Monday May 7.The steel producers in the country, along with the major scrapyard Kili??lar Hurda, kept their buy prices for auto bundle scrap unchanged from the week previous.As a result,...Read More

Brazilian iron ore exports to China inched up 1.76% year on year in April as prices fell.Shipments totaled 13.26 million tonnes compared with 13.03 million tonnes a year earlier according to figures released by Brazilian foreign trade ministry MDIC late on Friday May 4.Over the same period,...Read More

Russia's Metalloinvest, the largest producer of hot-briquetted iron (HBI) in the world, increased shipments of the product in the January-March quarter, the company said in its operational report. Metalloinvest shipped 1.189 million tonnes of HBI in the first quarter, a nearly 11% increase from 1.072 million tonnes in the preceding three months and up 73% from 687,000 tonnes in...Read More

The latest bids, offers and deals in the global markets for iron ore, pig iron, direct-reduced iron and other steelmaking raw materials. Latest transactions: iron oreIron oreRio Tinto, tender, 170,000 tonnes of 61% Fe Pilbara Blend fines, sold at $65.67 per tonne cfr China, laycan June...Read More

China's domestic hot-rolled coil prices were mixed on Monday May 7, with the market in the east of the country in positive territory and that in the north, down.DomesticEastern China (Shanghai): 4,200-4,220 yuan ($660-663) per tonne, up 20 yuan per tonneNorthern China (Tianjin): 4,050-4,070 yuan per tonne, down 30 yuan per tonneSpot prices edged up in the eastern market following the earlier gains...Read More