Turkish steel producers continued to buy deep-sea scrap on Tuesday December 10, pushing up prices ahead of the winter holiday period in the United States and Europe, sources told Fastmarkets.A steel producer in the Northern Turkey booked a cargo from the US on Tuesday, comprising 33,000 tonnes of HMS 1&2 (80:20) at $295 per tonne, 5,000 tonnes of shredded at $300 per tonne and 2,000 tonn...Read More

Iron ore seaborne prices eased a little on Tuesday December 10, but some market participants remained optimistic that steel mills' restocking will likely lend some support.Fastmarkets iron ore indices62% Fe fines, cfr Qingdao: $93.57 per tonne, down $0.36 per tonne.62% Fe Pilbara Blend fines, cfr Qingdao: $92.66 per tonne, down $0.36 per tonne.62% Fe low-alumina fines, cfr Qingdao: $93.48 per tonn...Read More

CIS billet offers for foreign customers surged on Tuesday December 10, following the increase in scrap prices in the global market.Offers for CIS-origin billet, particularly from Russia, were within the range of $405-415 per tonne fob Black Sea, depending on the producer, up from $400 per tonne fob last week. Some steelmakers were offering material at $410 per tonne fob even last week,...Read More

Domestic rebar prices in the United Arab Emirates remained unchanged over the past week, but are expected to increase soon in the wake of rising steel billet and scrap prices, sources said on Tuesday December 10.Billet importsFastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel billet, import, cfr Jebel Ali, UAE, was $445-460 per tonne on December 10, up from $425-435 per tonne last week.One UAE cu...Read More

China's domestic rebar prices moved up further on Tuesday December 10 on early gains in the futures market, though sentiment among participants remained bearish. Eastern China (Shanghai): 3,910-3,940 yuan ($555-560) per tonne, up 10 yuan per tonneNorthern China (Beijing): 3,650-3,690 yuan per tonne, up 10 yuan per tonneSellers kept raising their prices after rebar futures climbed steadily in the m...Read More

Mogale Alloys has issued a Section 189 notice - a South African legal requirement representing an intention to retrench staff - amid low chrome ore and ferro-chrome prices. Ilitha Mining, another subsidiary of Afarak, has also issued a Section 189 notice, the company said. Helsinki and London-listed mining and metallurgical group Afarak said on Monday December 9 it has been forced to scale down op...Read More

Major Chinese steelmakers' daily crude steel output dropped in late November, according to data released by the China Iron & Steel Association (Cisa) on Tuesday December 10.Daily crude steel output November 21-30:...Read More

Sellers in the United States' ferrous scrap market will likely enjoy a third consecutive price increase in January, with domestic steel mills continuing to strike post-market deals above December levels in order to secure enough material to cover their programs."Fundamentally, business isn't really that much better but the mills beat the prices down so hard that scrap just dried up. They basically...Read More

Hot-rolled coil prices in the United States have continued to bounce around the $28-per-hundredweight ($560-per-short-ton) level in a quiet pre-holiday spot market.Fastmarkets' daily steel hot-rolled coil index, fob mill US was calculated at $27.96 per cwt ($559.20 per ton) on Tuesday December 10, down by 0.6% from $28.14 per cwt on December 9 but...Read More

A summary of base metals premiums from across the globe for the week to Tuesday December 10.Please click...Read More

Copper ended the Tuesday December 10 trading session on the London Metal Exchange at an intraday high and seven-month peak of $6,100 per tonne.And the three-month nickel price recovered some lost ground after falling by 3.5% this morning.The three-month copper price closed at its highest since May, climbing from an intraday low of $6,057 per tonne. Total volumes at the close were some 15,600 lots....Read More

Here are five Fastmarkets MB stories you might have missed on Tuesday December 10 that are worth another look.Export prices for Chinese cold-rolled coil and hot-dipped galvanized coil were mostly stable during the week to December 10 amid continued gains in the Chinese domestic market.Copper production in Chile fell by a slight 0.1% year on year during October, with higher volumes mainly from Code...Read More

Christopher Lewis7 hours ago (Dec 10, 2019 5:34 PM GMT)Gold markets trying to rally a bit during the trading session on Tuesday but could not sustain any meaningful gains. At this point, the market looks very likely to continue to struggle in general, as we have seen a bit of a grind lower over the last several months. This has been a gentle move lower, so that is one thing the buyers can take a b...Read More

Despite lingering oversupply and high levels of ore inventories at major Chinese ports, the low-grade seaborne manganese ore price in China registered a weekly rise of 12.1% on Friday December 6 after many Chinese buyers placed orders at higher-than-expected prices. Fastmarkets' manganese ore index, 37% Mn, cif Tianjin climbed by 40 cents week on week to $3.70 per dry metric tonne unit (dmtu)...Read More

Copper ended the Tuesday December 10 trading session on the London Metal Exchange at an intraday high and seven-month peak of $6,100 per tonne.And the three-month nickel price recovered some lost ground after falling by 3.5% this morning.The three-month copper price closed at its highest since May, climbing from an intraday low of $6,057 per tonne. Total volumes at the close were some 15,600 lots....Read More

Iron ore seaborne prices eased a little on Tuesday December 10, but some market participants remained optimistic that steel mills' restocking will likely lend some support.Fastmarkets iron ore indices62% Fe fines, cfr Qingdao: $93.57 per tonne, down $0.36 per tonne.62% Fe Pilbara Blend fines, cfr Qingdao: $92.66 per tonne, down $0.36 per tonne.62% Fe low-alumina fines, cfr Qingdao: $93.48 per tonn...Read More

James Hyerczyk12 hours ago (Dec 10, 2019 12:40 PM GMT)Gold futures are edging higher on Tuesday, boosted by lower demand for risky assets. Treasury yields are also trading lower which is pushing down the U.S. Dollar, driving up demand for dollar-denominated gold. Worries over the looming U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods that are supposed to kick in on December 15 is one catalyst underpinning gold. Th...Read More

Seaborne coking coal prices edged up on Tuesday December 10 amid a strengthening market for the steelmaking raw material as well as that for coke in China.Fastmarkets indicesPremium hard coking coal, fob DBCT: $136.25 per tonne, up $0.04 per tonnePremium hard coking coal, cfr Jingtang: $150.34 per tonne, up $1.34 per tonneHard coking coal, fob DBCT: $122.33 per tonne, up $1 per tonneHard coking co...Read More

Domestic prices for hot-rolled coil in Northern Europe edged higher on Tuesday December 10, market sources told Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets' steel hot-rolled coil index domestic, ex-works Northern Europe, was ?,?433.08 ($479.14) per tonne on December 10, compared with ?,?432.75 per tonne on Monday.The index is based on deals for the material heard at ?,?430-435 per tonne ex-works, and workable prices...Read More

The approval of ?,?3.2 billion in subsidies by seven European Union members could generate a major mineral supply and processing chain to manufacture lithium-ion batteries in Europe. The decision, announced on Monday December 9 by the European Commission, effectively greenlights a major collaborative project designed to strengthen European battery production.This "Important Project of Common Europ...Read More