View the Fastmarkets holiday pricing schedule for 2020 and 2021. Click on the image below to view the Fastmarkets holiday pricing schedule for base metals, minors, ores & alloys and industrial minerals, and ferrous prices for 2020 and 2021.The 2020 calendar has been updated to include the extended Lunar New Year holiday in China, which affected certain prices. See the following pricing notices for...Read More

Brazilian slab export prices increased in the week ended Friday January 31 amid recent deals, but there was growing uncertainty in the market for February bookings.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel slab export, fob main port Brazil rose to $460-475 per tonne on January 31 from $430-450 per tonne a week earlier.Deals for March-shipment Brazilian slab to the United States occu...Read More

Recent bookings of CIS-origin billet by customers in North Africa and by traders have helped to slow the downward trend seen in pricing in the week ended January 31.Nevertheless, market sentiment remained negative amid falling international prices for ferrous scrap as well as low demand for finished long steel products.Fastmarkets' daily steel billet index, export, fob Black Sea, CIS, was $393 per...Read More

View the Fastmarkets holiday pricing schedule for 2020 and 2021. Click on the image below to view the Fastmarkets holiday pricing schedule for base metals, minors, ores & alloys and industrial minerals, and ferrous prices for 2020 and 2021.The 2020 calendar has been updated to include the extended Lunar New Year holiday in China, which affected certain prices. See the following pricing notices for...Read More

The high-carbon ferro-chrome price in Europe rose at the top of the range on Friday January 31 following a bigger increase the week before. Fastmarkets' ferro-chrome high carbon 6-8.5% C, basis 60-70% Cr, max 1.5% Si, delivered Europe price widened upward by 2 cents to $0.82-0.92 per lb on Friday. The market had risen by 5 cents in the previous week in response to increased demand from c...Read More

Dr. Francis Boyle discusses the coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan, China and the Biosafety Level 4 laboratory (BSL-4) from which he believes the infectious disease escaped. He believes the virus is potentially lethal and an offensive biological warfare weapon or dual-use biowarfare weapons agent genetically modified with gain of function properties, which is why the Chinese government originally tried...Read More

Competition in the global steel markets remains fierce and here Fastmarkets provides an update on the new, progressing and closed trade cases from around the world in January 2020.1. Turkey: rebar, pig iron, cold-rolled coil2. China: copper, aluminium and ferrous scrap3. Morocco: HRC from Turkey4....Read More

Eastern China's Shagang has rolled over the prices for its long steel products booked over the February 1-10 period, according to a company announcement on Saturday February 1.HRB400 rebar (16-25mm): 3,880 yuan ($559)...Read More

Hot-rolled coil prices in the United States have remained broadly stable despite increasing market jitters about downside risks from lower raw material costs and the potential fallout from the Wuhan coronavirus outbreak in China.Fastmarkets' daily steel hot-rolled coil index, fob mill US was calculated at $29.75 per hundredweight ($595 per short ton) on Monday February 3, nearly unchange...Read More

The three-month aluminium price on the London Metal Exchange settled at a three-year low at the close of trading on Monday February 3, below the $1,700 per tonne support level against a 16-month high in turnover, while lead's price decline over the day was the starkest in the base-metals complex.Aluminium's outright price on the LME closed at $1,686.50 per tonne on Monday afternoon, its lowest lev...Read More

The seaborne prices for both high and low-grade manganese ore in China ticked down in the week to Friday January 31 in response to weakening sentiment amid the worsening coronavirus outbreak.Fastmarkets' manganese ore index 37% Mn, cif Tianjin declined by 2 cents per dry metric tonne unit (dmtu) or 0.5% week on week to $4.27 per dmtu on January 31.Fastmarkets' manganese ore 37% Mn, fob Port Elizab...Read More

Domestic prices for hot-rolled coil in Northern Europe increased again on Monday February 3 due to mills' good order books and a lack of competitive imports, sources have told Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets' daily steel hot-rolled coil index, domestic, ex-works Northern Europe, was ?,?479.66 ($531.95) per tonne on Monday, up by ?,?5.64 per tonne day on day from ?,?474.02 per tonne on January 31.The index...Read More

Here are five Fastmarkets MB stories you might have missed on Monday February 3 that are worth another look. The sell-off of Chinese steel futures this morning is a sign that "worse is to come" for global steel prices, market sources told Fastmarkets on February 3.Canadian copper producer Taseko has decided to take action to protect itself against the tumbling London Metal Exchange copper pri...Read More

The sell-off of Chinese steel futures this morning is a sign that "worse is to come" for global steel prices, market sources told Fastmarkets on Monday February 3.Expectations of a rosy second quarter fueled by seasonal demand have crashed on the pandemic, which broke out on the first day of the Lunar New Year holidays in China."With the current situation, the world can forget about steel prices i...Read More

The three-month aluminium price on the London Metal Exchange settled at a three-year low at the close of trading on Monday February 3, below the $1,700 per tonne support level against a 16-month high in turnover, while lead's price decline over the day was the starkest in the base-metals complex.Aluminium's outright price on the LME closed at $1,686.50 per tonne on Monday afternoon, its lowest lev...Read More

Canadian copper producer Taseko has decided to take action to protect itself against the tumbling London Metal Exchange copper price.Vancouver-listed Taseko placed put options for 22.5 million lbs of copper (10,206 tonnes) - equivalent to 75% of February, March and April production at its British Colombia-located Gibraltar mine - it said in a notice on Monday February 3.Read More

Seaborne coking coal prices were down on Monday February 3, although trading activity was relatively muted with participants awaiting Chinese buyers' next moves to gauge market direction.Fastmarkets' indicesPremium hard coking coal, fob DBCT: $150.79 per tonne, down $1.50 per tonnePremium hard coking coal, cfr Jingtang: $162.73 per tonne, unchangedHard coking coal, fob DBCT: $127.01 per tonne, unc...Read More

Brazilian slab export prices increased in the week ended Friday January 31 amid recent deals, but there was growing uncertainty in the market for February bookings.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel slab export, fob main port Brazil rose to $460-475 per tonne on January 31 from $430-450 per tonne a week earlier.Deals for March-shipment Brazilian slab to the United States occu...Read More

The high-carbon ferro-chrome price in Europe rose at the top of the range on Friday January 31 following a bigger increase the week before. Fastmarkets' ferro-chrome high carbon 6-8.5% C, basis 60-70% Cr, max 1.5% Si, delivered Europe price widened upward by 2 cents to $0.82-0.92 per lb on Friday. The market had risen by 5 cents in the previous week in response to increased demand from c...Read More

Here are five Fastmarkets MB stories you might have missed on Monday February 3 that are worth another look. The sell-off of Chinese steel futures this morning is a sign that "worse is to come" for global steel prices, market sources told Fastmarkets on February 3.Canadian copper producer Taseko has decided to take action to protect itself against the tumbling London Metal Exchange copper pri...Read More