Aluminium's three-month price on the London Metal Exchange was the only metal to trade in positive territory at the close of trading on Thursday April 23, climbing by just under 1% to near $1,800 per tonne. News that operations would fully resume at Norsk Hydro's Alunorte alumina refinery in Brazil sent the light metal's futures price spiraling to a three-year low of $1,765.50 per tonne, however i...Read More
Base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange were lower during morning trading on Thursday May 23, with continued trade friction between the United States and China fueling risk-off sentiment while tight nearby spreads failed to attract fresh inflows. "Today has started in much the same mode with the metals losing ground in the Asian session," Kingdom Futures director and chief executive Malcol...Read More
Energy storage in mobility and stationary storage applications will increase annual copper demand by 2.3 million tonnes by 2029, according to an analyst at research and consulting firm IDTechEx.Na Jiao said that total cumulative copper demand in energy storage over the next decade will be just over nine million tonnes. Energy storage - and battery technology in particular - is often seen as having...Read More
Tighten up the belts! President Donald Trump's China tariffs are coming! The Trump administration's new duties on Chinese imports -- part of an effort to combat China's allegedly unfair trade practices -- are expected to ricochet back onto American consumers, according to a new study from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York's research department. The researchers es...Read More
The Chinese domestic cobalt sulfate price hit a fresh low for 2019 mid-week amid persistent selling pressure among producers who are mostly struggling to break even, sources said.Fastmarkets' assessment of the price for Chinese cobalt sulfate fell to 44,500-45,500 yuan ($6,444-6,589) per tonne on Wednesday May 22, down from 46,000-48,000 yuan per tonne previously. This placed the assessment at its...Read More
The Turkish steel producers have broken their silence in the deep-sea scrap markets with prices increasing sharply, sources said on Thursday May 23.Four steel mills booked deep-sea cargoes from various sources late on Wednesday and on Thursday.A steel mill in the Marmara region booked a US cargo, comprising 20,000 tonnes of HMS 1&2 (80:20) at $310 per tonne and 5,000 tonnes of shredded at $315 per...Read More
The United States' reduction of tariffs on Turkish steel imports to 25% from 50% last week will only partially reopen the US market to Turkish mills, who should avoid raising prices if they are to successfully regain a share in that market, several sources told Fastmarkets this week. The US has lowered its tariffs on steel imports from Turkey to 25% effective Friday May 17. Duties had been at...Read More
European Metal Recycling (EMR) has sold parts of specialty scrap recycler Metal & Waste Recycling (M&W) to UK-based Recycling Lives following a competition inquiry. As part of the transaction, the two London-based sites of M&W will be retained by EMR. The sale will complete on Thursday May 30, EMR said. The disposal comes following an intervention by...Read More
Goldprices are under pressure, unable to break away from trading in a tight trading range, but the summer could bring a pleasant surprise according to one expert. On Wednesday, the gold market was seeing little reaction to relatively expected minutes from last month's Federal Reserve monetary policy meeting. "This has been a tough market and we have just been trading the ranges," said...Read More
The Chinese domestic cobalt sulfate price hit a fresh low for 2019 mid-week amid persistent selling pressure among producers who are mostly struggling to break even, sources said.Fastmarkets' assessment of the price for Chinese cobalt sulfate fell to 44,500-45,500 yuan ($6,444-6,589) per tonne on Wednesday May 22, down from 46,000-48,000 yuan per tonne previously. This placed the assessment at its...Read More
Energy storage in mobility and stationary storage applications will increase annual copper demand by 2.3 million tonnes by 2029, according to an analyst at research and consulting firm IDTechEx.Na Jiao said that total cumulative copper demand in energy storage over the next decade will be just over nine million tonnes. Energy storage - and battery technology in particular - is often seen as having...Read More
China Communications Construction Co (CCCC) plans to build a steel rolling mill by 2023 in Marab??, a city in the Brazilian northern state of Par??, through its local subsidiary Concremat, the company said on Thursday May 23.Iron ore producer Vale will be involved as well, ensuring collateral for the project funding, the miner stated. The unit will need around 1.5 billion Reais ($371 million) in c...Read More
The negative trend in prices in the EU market for hot-rolled coil (HRC) has softened and prices have now stabilized, market sources told Fastmarkets on Thursday May 23.Domestic prices might start to recover slowly in the second half of June, some market participants added.Some European flat steel producers, including ArcelorMittal and Marcegaglia, have increased their official offers of HRC while...Read More
The United States' reduction of tariffs on Turkish steel imports to 25% from 50% last week will only partially reopen the US market to Turkish mills, who should avoid raising prices if they are to successfully regain a share in that market, several sources told Fastmarkets this week. The US has lowered its tariffs on steel imports from Turkey to 25% effective Friday May 17. Duties had been at...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets MB stories you might have missed on Thursday May 23 that are worth another look.South32's decision to review the future of its manganese alloy assets comes as little surprise to fellow manganese alloy producers because they are likely to be considering similar options. The United States' reduction of tariffs on Turkish steel imports to 25% from 50% last week will only par...Read More
Brazilian steel demand decreased further in April, demonstrated by lower volumes of flat-rolled products sold in the market and despite a recovery in the long-rolled market, national steel association Instituto A??o Brasil said on Thursday May 23. Steel demand has now fallen for two consecutive months, following a drop of 1.6% in March. Steel apparent consumption was 1.67 million tonnes in April,...Read More
The weakening of Turkey's lira against the US dollar has pushed up the domestic prices for rebar and wire rod despite sluggish demand over the past week, sources said on Thursday May 23.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for domestic rebar in Turkey on Thursday was TRY3,330-3,420 ($547-561) per tonne ex-works, up from last week's TRY3,250-3,350 per tonne ex-works.The mills in the Izmir region we...Read More
The Turkish steel producers have broken their silence in the deep-sea scrap markets with prices increasing sharply, sources said on Thursday May 23.Four steel mills booked deep-sea cargoes from various sources late on Wednesday and on Thursday.A steel mill in the Marmara region booked a US cargo, comprising 20,000 tonnes of HMS 1&2 (80:20) at $310 per tonne and 5,000 tonnes of shredded at $315 per...Read More
Seaborne iron ore prices went through corrections on Thursday May 23 after jumping to more than $105 per tonne cfr China a day earlier, but Chinese steelmakers' demand for the material remained robust.MB 62% Fe Iron Ore Index: $103.79 per tonne cfr Qingdao, down by $1.99 per tonne.MB 62% Fe Pilbara Blend Fines Index: $101.98 per tonne cfr Qingdao, down by $1.99 per tonne.MB 62% Fe Iron Ore Index-L...Read More
CIS billet producers further increased their export offers on Thursday May 23, still buoyed by last week's halving of import taxes on Turkish steel by US president Donald Trump.The US import tax on Turkish steel products is now in line with products from most other countries at 25%, and the US move improved market sentiment generally and resulted in higher scrap prices.CIS...Read More