Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Wednesday April 22 that are worth another look.The Covid-19 pandemic could nudge Chinese steelmakers toward using more electric-arc furnaces (EAF) to produce steel, market sources say.Aluminium stocks on the London Metal Exchange continue to rise and there is now a lack of warehouse space in key Asia locations in a situation that mirrors i...Read More
Last month, analysts started warning that oil prices could fall below zero. On Monday April 20, they did.The May futures contract for West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil fell as low as minus $37.63 per barrel, the first time ever that the price of the commodity has entered negative territory. By contrast, the June WTI contract is trading at around $20 per barrel, marking the biggest perce...Read More
The Covid-19 pandemic is a unifier in that it impacts all. But sub-Saharan Africa is facing an unprecedented health and economic crisis that threatens to throw the region off its stride, reversing the development progress of recent years and hitting the mining sector hard.The mineral-rich region - which comprises 46 of the 54 countries in the continent below the Sahara - is expected to see its eco...Read More
The Covid-19 pandemic has rapidly hit global electric vehicle (EV) production and sales, and so the broadly anticipated reshuffle of China's EV battery supply chain is likely to speed up in 2020. Many already believed the EV subsidy policy in China that had been scheduled to end in December 2020 would squeeze out some companies in the EV battery supply chain, including producers of precursors, cat...Read More
Aluminium stocks on the London Metal Exchange continue to rise and there is now a lack of warehouse space in key Asia locations in a situation that mirrors issues during the 2008 financial crash, sources told Fastmarkets. With a number of aluminium producers switching their value-added product production to primary aluminium and end-user demand increasingly weak due to Covid-19 shutdowns, storing...Read More
The Covid-19 pandemic could nudge Chinese steelmakers toward using more electric-arc furnaces (EAF) to produce steel, market sources say.This is especially due to the huge market uncertainty caused by the ongoing global economic crisis. EAF-based production could offer mills - most of which are still heavily reliant on blast furnaces (BFs) - the flexibility they need in such circumstances to reduc...Read More
A summary of London Metal Exchange warrant premiums from across the globe for the week to Wednesday April 22.Please click...Read More
The three-month copper price on the London Metal Exchange was the standout performer at the close of trading on Wednesday April 22, with its price action breaching nearby resistance at $5,100 per tonne, while nickel futures lost ground over the day. Copper's outright price on the LME closed at $5,126 per tonne on Wednesday afternoon, climbing from an intraday low of $4,973 per tonne, while turnove...Read More
Swiss commodities trader Glencore is to privatize its Katanga operations in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and have it delisted from the Canadian bourse.Glencore, which currently owns 99.5% stake, will buy the rest of the shares of the Toronto-listed Katanga Mining Ltd, according to a statement issued by the company on Wednesday April 22.Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.Aluminium: 4-million-tonne surplus for 2020We have made further downward revisions to our aluminium demand expectations for 2020 and, although there have been smelter capacity reduction in China too, the net effect is that our forecast for the global surplus this year has swelled to 4 million tonnes, from 2.7 million tonnes...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.Average LME aluminium price down by 2.5% week on weekAlthough LME aluminium began this week on the rebound, prices extended their recent downtrend further last week, approaching the $1,400-per-tonne level. The weekly average LME aluminium cash price was down 2.5% last week to $1,432.50 per tonne from previous week's $1,469.6...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.Despite these unprecedented times, US sheet prices moved in line with our expectations over the past month. While we maintain our view on the direction of pricing during 2020 and the length of the pricing downturn, as the Covid-19 crisis deepens we have increased the magnitude of the price declines through the second quarter...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.While downward pressure mounts on the steelmaking raw material markets, premiums for higher-grade iron ores have been sustained despite narrowing operating margins at Chinese steelmakers. Chinese mills are operating with shrinking margins since the end of last year but the premium for high-grade ores remains high. Historical...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.This week Fastmarkets' analysts and price reporters shared their views and recent findings in a webinar revealing some distinct fundamental tensions for steel, refining alloys and, of course, steelmaking raw materials such as iron ore.While the outlook for chrome and manganese ores and alloys is balanced, as far as market pa...Read More
The three-month copper price on the London Metal Exchange was the standout performer at the close of trading on Wednesday April 22, with its price action breaching nearby resistance at $5,100 per tonne, while nickel futures lost ground over the day. Copper's outright price on the LME closed at $5,126 per tonne on Wednesday afternoon, climbing from an intraday low of $4,973 per tonne, while turnove...Read More
An overview of the minor metals markets and the reasons for their latest price moves.Read More
A roundup of production suspension schedules at automotive facilities in the United States.Automakers began suspending production at their facilities in the United States in the second half of March. Those suspensions were driven by public health and safety orders from federal, state and local governments, and...Read More
Glencore' Katanga Mining subsidiary has cut its 2020 cobalt production guidance to 26,000 tonnes of cobalt contained in concentrates and hydroxides but has retained its copper guidance at 270,000 tonnes. The company had previously said it would produce 29,000 tonnes of cobalt this year. Katanga, which operates its 75%-owned subsidiary Kamoto Copper Company (KCC) in the Democratic Republic of Congo...Read More
Japanese carmaker Nissan will restart its operations in the UK later this week, conducting pilot activity before moving to restore full production at an unspecified future date, while its European plants will restart from April 27, the company announced on Wednesday April 22.As a result of worldwide shutdown measures to combat the Covid-19 pandemic, Nissan's vehicle production operations have been...Read More
Swiss commodities trader Glencore is to privatize its Katanga operations in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and have it delisted from the Canadian bourse.Glencore, which currently owns 99.5% stake, will buy the rest of the shares of the Toronto-listed Katanga Mining Ltd, according to a statement issued by the company on Wednesday April 22.Read More