Key data from the pricing sessions in Asia, Europe and the United States for the week ending Friday April 24.China The UG2 chrome ore market rose for a third consecutive week after buyers were willing to accept higher prices, with a number of concluded deals above and below the new index level The increased chrome ore prices have underpinned domestic ferro-chrome...Read More
Fastmarkets' copper concentrate treatment and refining charge (TC/RC) index trended lower in the week ended Friday April 24, marking the third consecutive week of decline. The benchmark index fell to $54.9 per tonne / 5.49 cents per lb on Friday, from $58.6 per tonne/ 5.86 cents per lb a week ago. Limited tonnages were sold on the spot market during the week with bids and offers coming in at...Read More
Adam HamiltonArchivesApr 24, 2020 The gold miners' stocks surged to a major bull-market breakout this week! Powering decisively above their years-old secular resistance is a hugely-important technical event. It proves this gold-stock bull is alive and well, greatly improves sentiment, and puts this high-flying sector on countless more traders' radars. New bull highs fuel self-feeding bullish psych...Read More
Cadmium prices continue to move downward in the week ended Friday April 24, with the global market in paralysis because of sluggish demand from India, the main buyer worldwide.On March 25, a 21-day lockdown was imposed on India to combat the Covid-19 pandemic. This has since been extended until May 3, hitting economic activity, while trading and projects came to a halt and migrant workers returned...Read More
An overview of the minor metals markets and the reasons for their latest price moves.Read More
The price of containerized ferrous scrap imports into India inched lower this week while the market continues to grapple with the fallout of the lockdown period in the country, sources told Fastmarkets on Friday April 24.Fastmarkets calculated the steel scrap, shredded, index, import, cfr Nhava Sheva, India, at $269.13 per tonne on Friday, down from $272.50 per tonne a week earlier.Since lockdown...Read More
The price of alloy steel scrap in the UK and Europe increased this week with tight supply outweighing low demand, Fastmarkets heard on Friday April 24.Both supply and demand in the stainless steel scrap markets have decreased substantially because of the Covid-19 pandemic and the measures taken to combat it.Initially, there were fears of a collapse in the downstream stainless steel market, which.....Read More
The inter-merchant spot price for light iron scrap in the UK has been stable over the past week amid quiet trading activity, while tracking a similar trend in European export markets to Turkey and the Indian subcontinent, sources said on Friday April 24.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel scrap 5C, loose old light, domestic, delivered inter-merchant, was ?50-60 ($62-74) per tonne on Ap...Read More
Base metals prices were mixed this morning, Friday April 24, after markets had to absorb weak flash purchasing managers' index (PMI) data on Thursday, especially in the services sector where readings were 11.7 in the European Union and 27 in the United States, while manufacturing readings were also weak. Broader markets were for the most part weaker this morning with losses seen in Asian-Pacific a...Read More
An overview of the battery raw materials markets and their price moves from the past week.Read More
The United States and European lithium carbonate price fell by 2.6% in a market plagued by coronavirus-related shutdowns, with suppliers there turning to the seaborne Asia market to offload stocks.European, US lithium suppliers targeted Asian seaborne market, pulling down an already weak spot carbonate price there. Chinese domestic prices stabilized, with market focus turning to the latest N...Read More
China will cut its new energy vehicle (NEV) subsidies progressively between 2020 and 2022, with a 10% reduction planned for this year, the country's ministry of finance announced on Thursday April 23.Compared with the 50% cut to subsidies in 2019, future reductions in principle will be done so at a slower rate of 10% in 2020, 20% in 2021 and 30% in 2022.This comes after Chinese Premier Li Keqiang...Read More
Global markets are contracting in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic, and the prices for flat steel products continue to retreat, with prices for coated steels down by a further 5% since late March in most of the markets that Fastmarkets tracks.The latest edition of Fastmarkets' Galvanized Steel and Tinplate Market Tracker, for April 2020, is now available to view.Further price falls are almost cer...Read More
Domestic hot-rolled coil prices in Northern Europe fell on continuing bearish sentiment, sources told Fastmarkets in Friday April 24.Fastmarkets' daily steel hot-rolled coil index, domestic, exw Northern Europe, was ?,?443.13 ($478.42) per tonne on Friday April 24, down by ?,?3.87 per tonne from ?,?447.00 per tonne on April 23.Official offers have been heard at ?,?455-465 per tonne ex-works, ...Read More
Anemic demand stemming from the Covid-19 pandemic resulted in another round of import price decreases for flat-rolled steel in South America, with the majority of customers reported as skipping orders for June shipments, market sources said."There is no market right now, no matter the price I offer," a Brazil-based trader source said."Most South American importers are out of the market at the mome...Read More
Apparent steel consumption in Brazil totaled 1.61 million tonnes in March 2020, falling by 11.1% from 1.82 million tonnes in the corresponding month of 2019, the national steelmakers' association, Instituto A??o Brasil, said on Friday April 24.Aside from December, which is a traditionally weaker month for steel demand because of holidays, this was the lowest figure reported since January 2019. Som...Read More
More Italian steel producers restarted their operations in the week ended Friday April 24, but one French flat steel producer plans to temporarily idle its remaining equipment, Fastmarkets has heard.European steelmakers have been reducing output and temporarily idling equipment due to the poor demand resulting from lockdown orders and other quarantine measures implemented across the region with th...Read More
British Steel is set to restart production at its North Yorkshire special steel mill, on Monday April 27, following a three-week shutdown the company announced on April 24.In addition to the 240,000 tonnes-per year special steel mill at Skinningrove in Redcar & Cleveland, the company said it also plans to reopen its Lisburn service centre in Northern Ireland."Whi...Read More
Nassim Taleb, Universa Investment's scientific advisor and distinguished professor of risk engineering at NYU, warned of an acute virus spreading throughout the planet in his 2007 book "The Black Swan." In January, he also warned of the systemic risks of the coronavirus pandemic. He joins "Squawk Box" to discuss.Nassim Taleb spent 20 years as a derivatives trader and, after closing 650,000 option...Read More
Eric Sprott has more than 40 years of experience in the investment industry. In 1981, he founded Sprott Securities (now called Cormark Securities Inc.), which today is one of Canada's largest independently owned securities firms. In 2001, Eric established Sprott Asset Management Inc. Over the years, Eric has personally been the recipient of numerous awards and honors, including one of Investor Dig...Read More