An overview of the battery raw materials markets and their price moves from the past week.Read More

With the exception of that for zinc and nickel, deliverable base metals stocks at Shanghai Futures Exchange-approved warehouses all fell in the week ended Friday May 8.Copper registered the largest decline in inventories in percentage terms, with total SHFE stocks declining to 204,219 tonnes on Friday; this marks a decrease of 26,737 tonnes (11.6%) from the 230,956 tonnes recorded on April 30. ...Read More

Chile saw a 4.5% year-on-year increase in copper production during March despite some difficulties faced by the industry due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Chilean copper commission Cochilco said on Thursday May 7.The country produced 494,700 tonnes of copper content in March compared with 473,300 tonnes in the corresponding month of 2019. Most of the major local mines increased output during the afore...Read More

Adam HamiltonArchivesMay 08, 2020 With the stock markets near a critical juncture during the most-extreme economic dislocations of our lifetimes, big US stocks' fundamentals have never been more important. After plummeting in a brutal stock panic on the catastrophic economic damage caused by governments' draconian lockdowns to fight COVID-19, stocks have skyrocketed in a monster rally. Are these g...Read More

An overview of the battery raw materials markets and their price moves from the past week.Read More

An overview of the Chinese minor metals markets and the reasons for their latest price moves.Read More

Import prices for containerized scrap in Bangladesh continued to drop over the past week, while most major mills stayed out of the market for bulk cargoes amid high stock levels.No transactions for bulk cargoes were heard during the week but containerized scrap from Australia and Brazil changed hands at lower prices than previous weeks."There are mostly container sales of both shredded and [heavy...Read More

Demand for imported ferrous scrap remained elevated in South Korea over the past week with domestic prices rising due to the restart of some key industries, market sources told Fastmarkets on Friday May 8.After a sharp rise in South Korean Covid-19 cases during February and March, new infections have slowed to just a handful over recent days. On Wednesday, the government allowed offices, libraries...Read More

Prices fluctuations for heavy melting scrap (HMS) imports in Taiwan have caused an unclear price outlook in the near term.Market participants from major supplier Japan had just returned from a holiday on Thursday May 7 and buyers were waiting for clearer price trends for Japanese cargoes."Taiwan had increased the purchases for Japanese materials in the past few weeks because of limited supply from...Read More

An overview of the battery raw materials markets and their price moves from the past week.Read More

China's lithium market was quiet in the week to Thursday May 7 with buyers largely absent due to the country's Labor Day holiday (May 1-5). Other global lithium markets experienced a similar lack of spot activity, which kept prices in place.Chinese battery-grade lithium carbonate price widens downward. China's industrial-grade lithium carbonate price unchanged.Chinese lithium hydroxide market flat...Read More

Import prices for flat-rolled steel into South America were steady to slightly higher during the past week, with market participants already reporting a slight recovery for some materials despite the bulk of negotiations for July shipment having yet to take place.Peru and Ecuador were still under a quarantine period aimed at preventing the spread of Covid-19, but were gradually expected...Read More

Prices for cold-rolled and galvanized sheet in the United States rose for the first time in two months in the immediate aftermath of price-increase announcements from domestic steel mills.Fastmarkets' price assessment for steel cold-rolled coil, fob mill US climbed to $34 per hundredweight ($680 per short ton) on Thursday May 7 from $32.50 per cwt on Thursday April 30.Fastmarkets' price assessment...Read More

Indian steel mills have increased hot-rolled coil exports, booking more than 200,000 tonnes to China and South East Asian countries over the past couple of days.One private-sector mill alone booked 125,000 tonnes of HRC to China, and two other private mills booked 50,000 tonnes each to China in addition to smaller shipments to South...Read More

China's domestic rebar prices continued to strengthen on Friday May 8 on steady demand and rising futures. Domestic Eastern China (Shanghai): 3,500-3,540 yuan ($494-499) per tonne, up by 50 yuan per tonneNorthern China (Beijing) - weekly assessment: 3,450-3,500 yuan per tonne, up by 60 yuan per tonne  Contractors maintained their active procurement rates to meet their daily use, sources said....Read More

China's ferrous scrap prices moved up sharply over the past week due to tight supply, eating into the profits of mills that operate electric-arc furnaces.Fastmarkets' price assessment for steel scrap heavy scrap domestic, delivered mill China was 2,480-2,560 yuan ($350-361) per tonne including value-added tax on Friday May 8, up by 70-150 yuan per tonne from 2,330-2,490 yuan last Thursday. Sources...Read More

Concerns about Brazilian iron ore supply resurfaced among market participants this past week due to expectations that exports of the product would be impeded by Covid-19-related lockdowns in the South American country and the rising number of infections.Sao Luis was the first major Brazilian city to enter lockdown this week. It is located in the country's northeastern state of...Read More

The market for pig iron exports from the Commonwealth of Independent States went up again during the week to Thursday May 7 on sales to the United States.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for high-manganese pig iron, export, fob main port Black Sea, CIS was $287-292 per tonne on May 7, up from $280-289 per tonne last week.Sales of both Ukraine- and Russia-origin pig iron were done during t...Read More

The seaborne iron ore market witnessed large price increases on Friday May 8 amid high prices in swap contracts and a general upturn seen on commodities such as rebar and copper. Fastmarkets iron ore indices 62% Fe fines, cfr Qingdao: $88.60 per tonne, up $4.25 per tonne 62% Fe low-alumina fines, cfr Qingdao: $90.92 per tonne, up $4.68 per tonne 58% Fe fines high-grade premium, cfr Qingd...Read More

China's domestic rebar prices continued to strengthen on Friday May 8 on steady demand and rising futures. Domestic Eastern China (Shanghai): 3,500-3,540 yuan ($494-499) per tonne, up by 50 yuan per tonneNorthern China (Beijing) - weekly assessment: 3,450-3,500 yuan per tonne, up by 60 yuan per tonne  Contractors maintained their active procurement rates to meet their daily use, sources said....Read More