Despite healthy demand, Brazilian slab export prices widened downward on Thursday April 18 due to reduced prices in other producing regions and increased deals, sources told Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets assessed Brazilian slab exports at $495-545 per tonne fob, down from $510-550 per tonne fob a week earlier. Deals to the US were closed near the $545-per-tonne-fob level, while deals for material from B...Read More

Reinforcing steel bar prices have decreased in the United States due to downward pressure from falling raw material costs and some reports of slower market activity, market sources said. Fastmarkets AMM's price assessment for domestic rebar stood at $34.50-35.50 per hundredweight ($690-710 per short ton) fob mill on Wednesday April 17, down by 2.4% from $35.25-36.50 per cwt two weeks earlier. At t...Read More

South American steel import prices were mostly unchanged or slightly higher, with demand in the region still low and customers increasingly looking for alternative sources of flat steel as Chinese material becomes too expensive for importers, sources said.Mills in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) region, like Russia and Ukraine, were regarded as a feasible alternative, they added.Fastm...Read More

The decision by the European Commission (EC) to suspend carbon emissions allowances issued by the UK government under the EU's Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) is expected to remain valid until the UK is able to reach a deal with the EU on the country's exit from the union, Richard Warren, head of policy at industry body UK Steel, told Fastmarkets on Thursday April 18.Allowances issued by the UK wer...Read More

Brazilian steelmakers have called for an urgent solution regarding production stoppages in iron ore miner Vale's southeastern system, after a disastrous accident in January this year at a tailings dam in the C??rrego do Feij??o mine, according to national steel association Instituto A??o Brasil."The current situation of raw materials supply cannot be maintained for long," A??o Brasil executive pre...Read More

Eastern promise for PolarXSPONSOREDpolarxThe company has filed a prefeasibility study that considers an independent and phased openpit operation at Pumpkin Hollow, which will be value accretive for shareholders.Read More

Turkish steel producers have gone through Thursday without making any deep-sea scrap purchases, because the political situation in the country has changed and the value of the country's lira has become more volatile, sources said on Thursday April 18.Turkey's supreme committee of elections (YSK) has declared opposition candidate Ekrem Imamoglu the winner of the recent mayoral election in Istanbul,...Read More

The price of shredded ferrous scrap imported into India moved up this week with deals done at higher levels than last week, sources told Fastmarkets on Thursday April 18.Fastmarkets' weekly index for containerized imports of shredded scrap into India inched up to $332.25 per tonne cfr Nhava Sheva on Thursday, from $331.32 per tonne cfr one week before.This week, deals were heard for shredded scrap...Read More

Prices for light iron steel scrap in the United Kingdom were unchanged for a fifth week on Thursday April 18 following a recovery in Turkish scrap prices, sources told Fastmarkets on the day.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for UK grade-5C ferrous scrap on an inter-merchant basis was ?90-110 ($117-143) per tonne on April 18. The price has remained unchanged since March 15.The steady 5C price...Read More

Niron Metals PLC, an investment vehicle with shareholders including former Xstrata chief executive officer (CEO) Mick Davis, has been given the go-ahead to export iron ore from the Zogota deposit in Guinea through Liberia using existing infrastructure. The company signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Liberian government allowing it to use rail and port facilities to export the material fr...Read More

Brazilian steelmaker Usiminas exported 19.90% less iron ore during the first quarter of 2019 than in the corresponding months of 2018, with the company shifting production to third-parties in the domestic market, it said in an earnings report on Thursday April 18.External shipments of iron ore totaled 868,000 tonnes in January-March, from 1.08 million tonnes a year before. But domestic sales reach...Read More

Participants took a breather from the seaborne coking coal spot market on Thursday April 18 following a flurry of trades earlier this week."We are not in a hurry to offer at the moment, especially since the loading dates for our shipments have been pushed back to May," a Chinese trading source said.Meanwhile, at the Port of Jingtang in China's steelmaking hub of Tangshan, a brand of premium low-vo...Read More

Alcoa's revenue for the first quarter of 2019 was $2.7 billion, down 19% from the fourth quarter of 2018, due to lower alumina and aluminium prices.The producers adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (Ebitda) excluding special items for the first quarter between January and March 2019 stood at $467 million, a 39% decrease from the previous quarter. "We improved ou...Read More

The Chinese domestic indium price dropped by 4% week on week on Wednesday April 17 in response to news that the Fanya Metal Exchange will again auction 34.64 tonnes of the indium stock it holds in its warehouse, after the first auction in January failed to attract any bidders. The stock will be auctioned via Alibaba judicial online platform at 10am Beijing time on April 24 and 10am Beijing time on...Read More

Base metals price on the London Metal Exchange were all trading down on Thursday April 18 after the previous day's boost from positive Chinese industrial production and retail data was replaced by bearish sentiment on weak European data, in particular German PMI figures. Base metals prices spiked on Wednesday when positive Chinese data sparked a spate of bullish consumption, but analysts consider...Read More

South32 has reported record year-to-date manganese ore output in the current 'favorable' market and has increased its 2019 annual production guidance by 4% in both Australia and South Africa.The miner reported 4.25 million tonnes of total manganese production for the nine months of the 2019 financial year beginning in June 2018, up 1% year on year. For the January-March third quarter, product...Read More

Key data from the Wednesday April 17 pricing session in Shanghai. Key driversChina's cobalt market was broadly stable on Wednesday following marginal upticks in international cobalt metal prices at the end of last week, which caused buyers to adopt a wait-and-see stance and thus stifled trading activity. Fastmarkets MB assessed the standard-grade cobalt price at $15.35-16.75 per lb on April 12, na...Read More

Cobalt prices continued their recovery on Wednesday April 17, although gains were more muted than in recent weeks as buyers assessed their restocking needs after recent price increases. Fastmarkets assessed standard-grade cobalt prices at $15.60-16.75 per lb, in-warehouse, on April 17, up from $15.35-16.75 per lb previously.  Alloy-grade prices rose to $16.85-17.65 per lb, up 20 cents on...Read More

Jeff Gerard has been appointed chief executive officer of Katanga Mining, effective May 2, following the resignation of Danny Callow.As well as being CEO of Katanga Mining, Gerard will be head of Glencore's assets in the...Read More

Tibnor, the distribution arm of Swedish steelmaker SSAB, has increased its footprint in Denmark, following the completion of its acquisition of Sanist??l, Denmark's second largest steel distributor, it said on Thursday April 17.The acquisition, worth around 630 million Swedish krona ($68.15 million), includes Sanist??l's automated steel distribution center in Taulov, Denmark, four sales offices in...Read More