An overview of the battery raw materials markets and their price moves from the past week.Read More
In China, the domestic spot battery-grade lithium carbonate price fell by 2.3% with battery-grade hydroxide prices down by 2.9% on Thursday May 14 while weak downstream demand pressured more producers to lower prices to boost sales and the Asian seaborne lithium carbonate market fell.China's battery-grade lithium carbonate price edged down on unimproved downstream demand.China's lithium hydroxide...Read More
Brazilian steelmaker Companhia Sider??rgica Nacional (CSN) will try to apply price increases to flat steel products next month, to compensate for the recent loss of value of the local currency."With the current value of the dollar [versus the Brazilian Real], a price increase is unavoidable; it is a matter of survival," commercial director Luis Martinez said during the company's first-quarter earn...Read More
Import prices for flat-rolled steel were either stable or higher in South America during the week to Friday May 15, with Chinese mills presenting more expensive offers while customer interest remained lackluster amid lockdowns due to Covid-19."There were no consultations for potential imports in the past few weeks in Brazil," a trader source said. "I call clients and they don't even want to listen...Read More
Domestic prices for hot-rolled coil in Northern Europe have been under downward pressure from limited demand, sources told Fastmarkets on Friday May 15.Fastmarkets' daily steel hot-rolled coil index, domestic, exw Northern Europe, was ?,?411.88 ($444.86) per tonne on Friday, down by ?,?1.45 per tonne from ?,?413.33 per tonne on Thursday.Friday's index was calculated based on "workable" prices and...Read More
Domestic prices for ferrous scrap in Italy have jumped over the past month due to low scrap collection in Europe, sources told Fastmarkets on Friday May 15.Fastmarkets' monthly price assessment for steel scrap, No E8 (thin new production steel scrap), domestic, delivered mill Italy was ?,?240-250 ($259-270) per tonne on May 15, up from ?,?210-230 per tonne in the middle of April. The assessment is...Read More
Domestic steel rebar prices in Poland declined again this week on slower market demand, sources told Fasmarkets on Friday May 15.Buying activity in the Polish rebar market was reported to be slow this week, with trading companies shunning purchases due to payment issues, sources said."Insurance companies are reducing credit lines, which could cause additional big problems to everybody. May seems t...Read More
Domestic demand for rebar in China increased on Friday May 15, but prices remained unchanged with sellers being under pressure to destock. Domestic Eastern China (Shanghai): 3,460-3,490 yuan ($487-492) per tonne, unchangedNorthern China (Beijing) - weekly assessment: 3,420-3,460 yuan per tonne, down by 30-40 yuan per tonneEnd users raised their procurement rates ahead of the weekend, but the heigh...Read More
A diversified portfolio may well prove to be a winning ticket for metals and mining companies during the Covid-19 pandemic, according to the former chief executive officer of Rio Tinto. This is in stark contrast to the global financial crisis of 2008-09, when an across-the-board hit to demand broadly left diversified miners in the same position as pure-play operators, Tom Albanese said. "When the...Read More
The Covid-19 pandemic is likely to lead to another casualty: the mega mine. The volatility created by crises like Covid-19 is adding a layer of uncertainty to the development of large-scale projects that take a decade or more to progress and are highly capital intensive, according to Tom Albanese, the former chief executive officer of Rio Tinto.This means that mining projects are likely to be deve...Read More
Domestic prices for ferrous scrap in Italy have jumped over the past month due to low scrap collection in Europe, sources told Fastmarkets on Friday May 15.Fastmarkets' monthly price assessment for steel scrap, No E8 (thin new production steel scrap), domestic, delivered mill Italy was ?,?240-250 ($259-270) per tonne on May 15, up from ?,?210-230 per tonne in the middle of April. The assessment is...Read More
Export prices of Brazil-origin slab increased week on week amid recent deals and offers to China as well as increased raw material costs.Fastmarkets assessed the price for steel slab export, fob main port Brazil at $335-350 per tonne on Friday May 15, up by $5 from $330-345 per tonne the week previous.Chinese customers recently purchased material, sources said, with deals being heard at a minimum...Read More
Domestic demand for rebar in China increased on Friday May 15, but prices remained unchanged with sellers being under pressure to destock. Domestic Eastern China (Shanghai): 3,460-3,490 yuan ($487-492) per tonne, unchangedNorthern China (Beijing) - weekly assessment: 3,420-3,460 yuan per tonne, down by 30-40 yuan per tonneEnd users raised their procurement rates ahead of the weekend, but the heigh...Read More
Steady demand from China continued to prop up prices in Southeast Asia's steel billet market over the past week, sources told Fastmarkets on Friday May 15. Market participants said China remained the preferred destination for suppliers due to their ability to pay higher prices and book larger cargoes than Southeast Asian re-rollers. Demand in Southeast Asia remained sluggish due to restrictions im...Read More
Key data from the pricing sessions in Asia, Europe and the United States for the session ended Friday May 15.China The UG2 chrome ore market rose once again after Chinese alloy producers with low stocks accepted higher offers. Import charge chrome prices moved up on supply tightness affecting availability. Domestic ferro-chrome spot prices climbed up on bullish sentiment following increases in...Read More
Key data from the pricing sessions in Asia, Europe and the United States for the session ended Friday May 15.China Domestic prices remained stable in an active spot market, with sentiment strengthening after the majority of steel mills raised their tender prices for May deliveries. Hesteel, China's second-largest...Read More
China's crude steel output was largely flat in April, but finished steel production significantly increased to exceed 100 million tonnes, according to data released by the country's National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Friday May 15.Steel outputAprilCrude steel: 85.03 million tonnes, up by 0.2% from a year earlier and up by 7.7% month on monthHot metal: 72.02 million tonnes, down 1.2%...Read More
Prices for cold-rolled and galvanized steel sheet in the United States held steady while market participants gauged the impact of North American automakers resuming production and the pace of rebound in other steel-dependent manufacturing.Two sheet mill sources said the recent round of price increases has mostly been accepted even though some distributors were slow to restock. For that reason, Jun...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.Falling demand, cheaper imports to put pressure on US domestic prices Prices at the start of May were essentially unchanged from April in the seamless OCTG and linepipe markets in the United States, amid minimal market activity. Mills were cutting output rather than prices. Demand, however, was deteriorating faster than supp...Read More
Brazilian steelmaker Companhia Sider??rgica Nacional (CSN) will try to apply price increases to flat steel products next month, to compensate for the recent loss of value of the local currency."With the current value of the dollar [versus the Brazilian Real], a price increase is unavoidable; it is a matter of survival," commercial director Luis Martinez said during the company's first-quarter earn...Read More