The price difference between lead and zinc on the London Metal Exchange has moved to its widest in over 10 years, with lead lagging significantly behind. At the close on Thursday February 22, the three-month zinc price closed $960.50 per tonne higher than lead. But when the spread - or switch - last moved to over $900 in early 2007, lead staged an incredible fightback and ended up overtaking its s...Read More
Lead prices on the London Metal Exchange continued to strengthen and closed 1.4% higher at 5pm London time on Monday February 26, with its cash/three-month spread moving into backwardation. "LME lead has rebounded well... So far, sellers have failed to take its below $2,500 per tonne; buyers now have the chance to push it higher," Metal Bulletin analyst Andy Farida said. "Since the base metals are...Read More
The price difference between lead and zinc on the London Metal Exchange has moved to its widest in over 10 years, with lead lagging significantly behind. At the close on Thursday February 22, the three-month zinc price closed $960.50 per tonne higher than lead. But when the spread - or switch - last moved to over $900 in early 2007, lead staged an incredible fightback and ended up overtaking its s...Read More
Comex copper prices softened in the US morning on Monday February 26 amid a dollar reversal, although market action should be more volatile this week with Chinese investors back from their Lunar New Year holidays. Copper for May settlement on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange fell 1.95 cents or 0.6% to $3.1930 per lb. "The bulls now have a platform...Read More
Peter KrauthThere's been no shortage of forces pushing and pulling on the price of gold over the past week.Federal Reserve minutes, stocks, the dollar, rising bond yields, budget deficits, inflation, sentiment, and even simple demand versus supply.Gold gave up most of the gains it managed to tack on in the previous week. The bulk of that weakness came on Tuesday, as traders were preparing for the...Read More
Export prices for hot-rolled coil (HRC) and cold-rolled coil (CRC) from Latin America have risen, with Brazilian producers seizing the opportunity presented to them by high global prices and a lack of offers from China.Metal Bulletin's weekly assessment of Latin America's HRC export price reached $630-635 per tonne fob on Friday February 23, up from $570-580 per tonne fob a week earlier, while the...Read More
Turkish domestic scrap prices have remained largely stable over the past week, because most of the steel producers in the country have kept their purchasing prices unchanged.Metal Bulletin's weekly price assessment for domestic auto bundle scrap (DKP grade) was TRY1,230-1,400 ($324-369) per tonne delivered on Monday February 26, widening slightly from last week's TRY1,260-1,390 per tonne.The sligh...Read More
The sale of Rio Tinto's stake in the giant Grasberg mine to the government of Indonesia would be an ideal outcome for Freeport-McMoRan, the company's top executive said.Such a sale would reduce the size of the stake in its PT-Freeport Indonesia subsidiary (PT-FI) that Freeport has to sell to the government - a separate negotiation that is currently being discussed, Richard Adkerson said, spea...Read More
Freeport-McMoRan is considering ways it could develop the Kisanfu cobalt project in the Democratic Republic of Congo following the sharp rise in prices of the raw material, the company's top executive said. Since Freeport opted to reassess its 2016 decision to sell Kisanfu, the miner started to consider alternatives - including taking a joint venture partner for the project, according to company p...Read More
Comex copper prices softened in the US morning on Monday February 26 amid a dollar reversal, although market action should be more volatile this week with Chinese investors back from their Lunar New Year holidays. Copper for May settlement on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange fell 1.95 cents or 0.6% to $3.1930 per lb. "The bulls now have a platform...Read More
The largest zinc smelter in Europe has sealed an offtake agreement with the operator of Century Zinc Mine for up to 600,000 tonnes of zinc concentrates over five and a half years, Nyrstar said on Monday February 26. Nyrstar, which has long been an offtaker of Century concentrate will receive 250,000 tonnes of zinc concentrates for the first three and a half years of the agreement, rising to 3...Read More
Good morning from Metal Bulletin's London office, bringing you the latest news and pricing stories on Monday February 26.Base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange were on strong footing at the start of the week - with prices trading higher across the board and being supported by a weaker dollar. Here's how base metals prices looked at 11:50 London time:Read our live futures report here. ...Read More
Base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange were higher across the board during morning trading on Monday February 26, with the dollar on weak footing once again. "Not unexpectedly, the markets have opened in positive territory as China returns from its New Year holidays and the metals will be taking encouragement from the Asian equity markets that are all in positive numbers," Malcolm Freeman...Read More
Prices for Asia-origin steel commodities could remain elevated for April- and May-shipment cargoes, although this will depend on further policy changes in China and the United States, market sources have told Metal Bulletin.Bullish sentiment on near-term spot prices is prevalent because production cuts in China could yet be extended all the way into May-June."Many market participants think that pr...Read More
PDAC season is in full flow, and lots of companies are pushing out press releases to telling us that they are great, everything is going super-well and please don't ignore us and sell our stock as we have no real news.One of my favorite pig in lipstick press releases was from Cordoba Minerals (link), not only announcing an updated resource for Alacran, but telling us that theyz got cobalt az well,...Read More
CIS export rebar and wire rod prices continued to rise in the week ended Monday February 26 amid reduced availability of the materials, although customers were refraining from bookings because they considered the offered prices to be too high.Metal Bulletin's weekly price assessment for CIS rebar exports narrowed upward to $570-580 per tonne fob Black Sea on February 26, from $565-580 per tonne fo...Read More
CIS export prices for steel billet products continued to climb in the week ended Monday February 26 with customers accepting the higher prices.In addition, the availability of the material was reduced because some mills were holding back volumes in expectation of another round of price increases after China's return from the week-long lunar new year celebration.Metal Bulletin's weekly export CIS B...Read More
United Brothers Holding of Iraq has ordered all the equipment for construction of a billet-making plant, equipment supplier Danieli said on Friday February 23.It will be installed within an existing building located in the industrial area of Khor Al Zubair, near Bassora, and will produce steel in a 70-tonne electric-arc furnace (EAF) and a 70-tonne ladle furnace.The...Read More
Chinese ferro-silicon prices were unchanged on Friday February 23, with suppliers awaiting the return of consumers after the Lunar New Year holiday, while the European and US markets are pausing for quarterly delivery talks to discover the state of availability and demand in the next few months. Chinese market awaits consumers' return Chinese trading reduced to inter-merchant activity ...Read More
China's ferro-chrome market was stable just after Lunar New Year, while market participants predicted prices will rise in the coming week as a result of the country's strengthening stainless sector. Ferro-chrome prices hold in China after Lunar New YearUG2 chrome ore prices edge higher in ChinaHigher ferro-chrome tender prices expected for MarchAlloy prices rise in all other regions Ferro-chrome...Read More