Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Monday May 18 that are worth another look.The departure of the chief executive officer of Tata Steel Netherlands, Theo Henrar, will result in job losses at the company's operations in the country, trade union FNV Metaal said on May 18.How long it will take the global economy to recover from the Covid-19 pandemic is anyone's guess right now...Read More
How long it will take the global economy to recover from the Covid-19 pandemic is anyone's guess right now.Could the world's major economic regions be in for an "LUV" recovery similar to the one they saw after the global financial crisis of 2008-09?That was the format of recovery that was expected in 2009 by former Rio Tinto chief executive officer Tom Albanese, who was at the helm of the mining g...Read More
Donna Vareha-Walsh, director of sales and global supply chain for Indium Corp, has been elected to serve as vice chair of the Minor Metals Trade Association (MMTA) and take over as chair in April 2021.As vice chair, Vareha-Walsh will work closely with current chairman Simon Boon, and assume his position in April 2021 following the MMTA annual conference in Charleston, United States.Boon has been i...Read More
Market focus is on the annual sittings of the National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China and the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, or "twin sessions", later this week, with the fate of ferrous supply chain prices depending on its aftermath. The annual gatherings of China's national legislature and top political advisory board are the major risk events market par...Read More
Three-month base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange rallied at the close of trading on Monday May 18, with positive risk sentiment emerging from a continued easing of Covid-19 market concerns, while copper, nickel and zinc futures all breached nearby resistance levels.Copper's outright price on the LME closed at $5,317 per tonne on Monday afternoon, climbing by more than 2.6% from an intra...Read More
Copper stocks at Shanghai bonded warehouses continued to decline on Monday May 18, falling closer to Fastmarkets' all-time low of 250,000 tonnes, which was posted in October 2015. Fastmarkets assessed Shanghai bonded copper stocks at 250,000-260,000 tonnes on May 18, down by 13.9% from 291,000-301,000 tonnes on May 4.The opening of an arbitrage window between Shanghai and London boo...Read More
Seaborne iron ore prices continued to gain ground on Monday May 18, after a rise in steel prices over the preceding weekend.Fastmarkets iron ore indices62% Fe fines, cfr Qingdao: $96.84 per tonne, up by $3.19 per tonne.62% Fe low-alumina fines, cfr Qingdao: $99.53 per tonne, up by $3.20 per tonne.58% Fe fines high-grade premium, cfr Qingdao: $82.56 per tonne, up by $2.93 per tonne.65% Fe Brazil-or...Read More
Following initial research and consultation with market participants, Fastmarkets proposes to launch a weekly price assessment for tantalum concentrate.The introduction of a price assessment for tantalite, basis 25% Ta2O5, ex-works China, will expand Fastmarkets' current price coverage of raw materials.Tantalum prices have found support in the past two months from supply tightness and concerns abo...Read More
Weak end-user demand pushed European vanadium pentoxide (V2O5) prices lower again last week while supply worries have slowly started to ease with mines in South Africa gradually opening up, market sources said.Fastmarkets assessed the vanadium pentoxide 98% V2O5 min, in-warehouse Rotterdam price at $5.50-6.40 per lb on Friday May 15, down by 13.5% from the previous assessment of $6.50-7.25 per lb....Read More
Three-month base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange rallied at the close of trading on Monday May 18, with positive risk sentiment emerging from a continued easing of Covid-19 market concerns, while copper, nickel and zinc futures all breached nearby resistance levels.Copper's outright price on the LME closed at $5,317 per tonne on Monday afternoon, climbing by more than 2.6% from an intra...Read More
Copper stocks at Shanghai bonded warehouses continued to decline on Monday May 18, falling closer to Fastmarkets' all-time low of 250,000 tonnes, which was posted in October 2015. Fastmarkets assessed Shanghai bonded copper stocks at 250,000-260,000 tonnes on May 18, down by 13.9% from 291,000-301,000 tonnes on May 4.The opening of an arbitrage window between Shanghai and London boo...Read More
The LME three-month copper price was higher in morning trading on Monday May 18, steadily approaching $5,300 per tonne amid steady turnover, while a 17,500-tonne fresh cancelation in LME zinc bolstered that metal's underlying price.Copper's outright price on the London Metal Exchange was recently seen at $5,280.50 per tonne, up from Friday's closing price of $5,181.50 per tonne, while turnover was...Read More
Glencore have signed an offtake agreement with Netherlands-based aluminium producer Aldel for up to 180,000 tonnes of aluminium this year and next, Aldel confirmed to Fastmarkets on May 18.Aldel currently produces 80,000 tonnes per year of aluminium products but plans to increase significantly in the next 12 months, the company said. Aldel informed customers that they had concluded the offtake agr...Read More
While backward-looking economic data continues to show how deep the global contraction has been, markets seem focused on the recovery this morning, Monday May 18, as more economies open up and plan to reopen in the weeks ahead. The base metals on the London Metal Exchange are up across the board, all the base metals with the exception of July nickel are up on the Shanghai Futures Exchange and Asia...Read More
Lead-zinc producer Recylex Group filed for insolvency protection for its German subsidiaries and will consequently lose control of its German subgroup, the company said last week.Recylex, Europe's third-largest lead-smelting company through its 105,000-tonnes-per-year Weser-Metall smelter in Nordenham, Germany, cited the fall in zinc price caused by the disruptions of the Covid-19 pandemic as the...Read More
The departure of the chief executive officer of Tata Steel Netherlands, Theo Henrar, will result in job losses at the company's operations in the country, trade union FNV Metaal said on Monday May 18.Tata Steel Europe announced on Monday that Henrar will step down as chairman of the board of management of Tata Steel Nederlands on May 31 this year.His departure was agreed by mutual consent, a compa...Read More
German steelmaker Thyssenkrupp is seeking a partner to consolidate its loss-making steel business, sources told Fastmarkets on Monday May 18.The company was reported to have started negotiations with a number of companies over the sale of a share in its steel business.Thyssenkrupp neither confirmed nor denied this information."No further comment at this moment," a spokesperson for Thyssenkrupp sai...Read More
Domestic prices for hot-rolled coil in Northern Europe have moved down again due to limited trading activity, sources told Fastmarkets on Monday May 18.Fastmarkets' daily steel hot-rolled coil index, domestic, exw Northern Europe, was ?,?410.00 ($443.42) per tonne on Monday, down by ?,?1.88 per tonne from ?,?411.88 per tonne on May 15.Monday's index was calculated based on "workable" prices and bi...Read More
The price of steel rebar in Russia's Central Federal District around Moscow was stable to slightly lower week on week on Monday May 18 while buying started to recover slowly, sources told Fastmarkets.Trading activity in the steel rebar market in the region has started to improve slowly following the gradual restart of the key rebar consumption sector - the construction industry - last week."Some c...Read More
Domestic prices for hot-rolled coil in Northern and Southern Europe dropped again during the week to Friday May 15 due to limited trading activity.Fastmarkets' daily steel hot-rolled coil index, domestic, exw Northern Europe was ?,?411.88 ($445.45) per tonne on Friday May 15, down by ?,?8.95 per tonne week on week and down by ?,?51.45 per tonne month on month.Friday's index was calculated based on...Read More