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
The price for secondary aluminium alloy A380.1 rose on Monday December 9 following a month-long stasis, boosted by gains in the London Metal Exchange's North American special aluminium alloy contract (Nasaac) and firming scrap prices.Fastmarkets assessed the price for aluminium alloy A380.1, delivered Midwest, at 62-64 cents per lb on December 9, up from 61-63 cents per lb previously - a range tha...Read More
Certain smelter-grade aluminium scrap prices continued to see upward momentum at the start of the week amid spot buying activity - possibly driven by the upcoming holiday period - and supply-side tightness, but some sources said the increases may be short-lived."We continue to buy various items - not huge quantities, but loads from our regular suppliers... I heard there was a tightness in the scra...Read More
Fastmarkets MB has corrected its bi-weekly premium assessment for its Aluminium P1020A premium, in-whs dp premium, which was published incorrectly on Tuesday December 10 due to an input error.Fastmarkets' bi-weekly premium assessment for the Rotterdam duty-paid premium was originally published at $120-130 per tonne - it has now been corrected to $120-140 per tonne. The premium was correctly descri...Read More
Copper production in Chile fell by a slight 0.1% year on year during October, with higher volumes mainly from Codelco, Escondida and Colluahasi almost enough to offset output drops at Antofagasta and Anglo American. Copper mines in the country produced 490,000 tonnes of copper content in October, from 490,400 tonnes a year before, Chilean copper commission Cochilco said on Friday December 6. This...Read More
Mercuria, one of the world's largest energy and commodities traders, has let go of over 10 employees in its Shanghai base metals team, market sources familiar with the situation told Fastmarkets on Tuesday December 10. "So far more than 10 employees from the base metals team have left the Shanghai office since the middle of November, including two traders from aluminium...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
Flat steel import prices in the United Arab Emirates have increased this week as suppliers raised their offer prices on costlier raw materials, market sources said on Tuesday December 10.Offers for hot-rolled coil (HRC) from China were at $460-470 per tonne cfr UAE, while Indian and Japanese material was offered at $470-480 per tonne cfr UAE, according to the sources.Some sources believed that the...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
Fastmarkets has amended the specification of its northern China domestic hot-rolled coil price assessment to ex-works from ex-warehouse after a one-month consultation period from the date of this notice.This is to reflect the changing market situation in the region where Tangshan's ex-works prices is growing in influence in the spot market.The updated specifications are as follows:Assessment: Stee...Read More
Algeria will switch to fob-basis trade from cfr starting from January 2020, Fastmarkets learned on the sidelines of the Middle East Iron & Steel Conference being held in Dubai from December 9-11."The government is doing it with an aim of controlling the outflow of foreign currency from the country so they want to see how much is paid for the product and how much is paid for the delivery," an Alger...Read More
Mexican scrap prices have logged further gains, with optimism growing due to steady demand and a positive ferrous scrap settlement for December in the United States.Prices for most grades of scrap in the region of Monterrey city in northern Mexico rose by 175-225 pesos ($9-12) compared with the previous week, except for machine shop turnings.Fastmarkets' weekly assessment for steel scrap No1 bushe...Read More
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
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
Higher offers for Indian hot-rolled coil in the international market have raised the likelihood of transactions involving the flat product from China despite further price gains in the East Asian country's domestic market.DomesticEastern China (Shanghai): 3,820-3,830 yuan ($543-544) per tonne, up 10 yuan per tonneNorthern China (Tangshan): 3,660 yuan per tonne, down 10 yuan per tonneSpot prices in...Read More
The three-month nickel price on the London Metal Exchange fell during morning trading on Tuesday December 10, softening by more than 3% against a fresh inflow of 14,742 tonnes across LME-registered warehouses in Asia and Europe. Nickel's outright price on the LME was recently seen at $12,930 per tonne, a decline of more than $400 per tonne from Monday's closing price of $13,340 per tonne. Tur...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
Base metal markets have become more mixed this week with copper and tin running higher, zinc, lead and nickel consolidating just above low ground and aluminium oscillating sideways.Broader markets that have been seeing more risk-on are now consolidating while they wait for some key political decisions on the United Kingdom's general election, and its ramifications for Brexit, and on the United Sta...Read More
With the exception of those for zinc and lead that were marginally down, base metals prices on the Shanghai Futures Exchange were stronger during the morning trading session on Tuesday December 10.The broadly positive performance comes after another round of better-than-expected data releases on Monday continued to point to a stabilization in the global economy, which in turn boosted risk sentimen...Read More