The London Metal Exchange has just finished its trial to calculate nickel prices using a volume weighted average price (VWAP) method on the exchange's electronic trading platform. If early indications are anything to go by, metals market participants did not embrace this method of price discovery in the way some had anticipated. For three months since Monday March 18, closing prices for nickel car...Read More
It's Friday, Friday, Friday. Jim Cramer weighs in on the surges in gold and oil, Slack's (WORK) first full day as a public company and Canopy Growth's (CGC - Get Report) earnings report. Markets In case you missed it... On Friday, gold prices surged to a six-year high as investors sought safety from falling global currencies, negative interest rates and the prospect of escalating military tension...Read More
Premiums for nickel full plate surged in China this week following an arbitrage-driven rally that saw Fastmarkets' premium assessments for the material in Shanghai hit historic highs.Fastmarkets' assessment of the premium for nickel, 99.8% purity, full plate, cif Shanghai, climbed to $350-410 per tonne on Tuesday June 18, an increase of 69% from $210-240 per tonne a week prior and the highest sinc...Read More
Trading was active in China's export hot-rolled coil market on June 21, with traders rushing to restock on expectations that prices will gain further. Domestic Eastern China (Shanghai): 3,780-3,800 yuan ($550-553) per tonne, up 10-20 yuan per tonne. Northern China (Tianjin): 3,770-3,780 yuan per tonne, narrowing upward 10 yuan per tonne. Prices climbed further on Friday on futures g...Read More
Nickel's three-month price on the London Metal Exchange edged lower during morning trading on Friday June 21, pressured by a continued draw on the exchange's dwindling supply. Some 2,778 tonnes of full-plate nickel cathodes were freshly booked out of LME-registered warehouses this morning, prompting the downturn in price movement. The metal's futures price was still trading above the nearby $12,00...Read More
Iran's shooting down of a US drone has raised tensions in the Middle East, with gold and oil prices extending gains, while equities in Asia have weakened.Spot gold price reaches high of $1,411.90 per ozUS President Donald Trump reportedly ordered an attack on Iran, which was later aborted Asian equities weaker across the board Base metals Three-month base metals on the London Metal Exchange were f...Read More
Key data from the pricing sessions in Asia, Europe and the United States for the week ended Friday June 21.China China's domestic ferro-chrome spot price was flat ahead of the country's three leading stainless steel mills releasing July ferro-chrome tender prices, which should be in the week starting June 24. As a result, many suppliers took a watchful stance. The imported charge...Read More
Global ferrous scrap prices continued to trend downward over the week from June 17 to June 21, while falling Turkish import prices weighed on prices and buyer sentiment in other markets. Turkish import prices decline on oversupplyUS export prices continue downslideTaiwan, Vietnam prices fall but may rebound soonIndia prices dip on poor trading conditions Turkey Turkish mills booked three cargoes b...Read More
The current strike at Codelco's Chuquicamata divison is likely to continue on Saturday June 22 after the latest labor offer from the Chilean state-owned copper producer was rejected in an informal vote by the workers' union.Members of workers' unions Nos 1, 2 and 3 linked to Chuquicamata discussed the latest labor offer from the company on June 19 and decided to schedule a formal vote on...Read More
Tin's forward spreads on the London Metal Exchange have narrowed from their widest backwardation since 2015 against a 50% stock rise in June.The metal's cash/three-month spread recently traded in a backwardation of $45 per tonne, narrowing from its widest backwardation since 2015 at $320 per tonne. Additionally, the metal's nearby cash-July spread is now trading in a contango of $25 per tonne, mak...Read More
Nickel managed to hold on above $12,000 per tonne on the London Metal Exchange by the close of trading on Friday June 21 but ended around 2% lower. The three-month price has been in a choppy trend over the week, climbing from a low of $11,725 per tonne on June 17 to a high of $12,390 per tonne on June 20 before reversing to close at $12,090 per tonne today.Volumes were thin for nickel, with just m...Read More
An overview of the battery raw materials markets and their latest price moves.Read More
Fastmarkets has standardized the names of our metals and minerals prices across our product suite for ease of use and greater transparency.The aim of this exercise is to make it as easy as possible for our licensed users to identify and use our pricing data. As of two weeks from the date of this notice, all Fastmarkets price names will follow this structure, where possible: commodity + product/gra...Read More
Zinc stocks on the Shanghai Futures Exchange rose by 6,101 tonnes or 7.6% to 86,046 tonnes as of Friday from a week ago, according to the SHFE's latest inventory report.The inflows were mainly into Zhongjinshengyuan and Nanchu warehouses in Guangdong at 2,549 tonnes and 2,402 tonnes respectively. While China's zinc production continues to increase in line because of the full ramp-up of major smelt...Read More
Premiums for nickel full plate surged in China this week following an arbitrage-driven rally that saw Fastmarkets' premium assessments for the material in Shanghai hit historic highs.Fastmarkets' assessment of the premium for nickel, 99.8% purity, full plate, cif Shanghai, climbed to $350-410 per tonne on Tuesday June 18, an increase of 69% from $210-240 per tonne a week prior and the highest sinc...Read More
Nickel's three-month price on the London Metal Exchange edged lower during morning trading on Friday June 21, pressured by a continued draw on the exchange's dwindling supply. Some 2,778 tonnes of full-plate nickel cathodes were freshly booked out of LME-registered warehouses this morning, prompting the downturn in price movement. The metal's futures price was still trading above the nearby $12,00...Read More
Fastmarkets MB assessed the price for South America Galvalume steel coil imports at $705-725 per tonne cfr main ports on Friday June 21, lower compared with previously heard ranges amid the Chinese downturn.Fastmarkets announced the launch of its South America Galvalume steel coil import price assessment on Wednesday June 19. This assessment will be published on a weekly basis. The aluminium-...Read More
Steel slab export prices in Brazil widened downward this past week amid high competition, increased concerns about pressure from high iron ore costs.Fastmarkets' weekly assessment of Brazilian slab exports was $425-440 per tonne fob on Friday June 21, down from the week-earlier $430-440 per tonne fob.Offers for slab were reported within a range of $430-440 per tonne fob but som...Read More
Prices for cold-rolled coil in the United States fell further in the week to Thursday June 20, while coated steel prices declined after stabilizing somewhat the week before.Fastmarkets AMM's weekly assessment for domestic cold-rolled coil stood at $35 per hundredweight ($700 per short ton) on June 20, down by $1 from one week earlier and its lowest since early November 2016.Fastmarkets assessed th...Read More
Mexican steelmaker Altos Hornos de Mexico (Ahmsa) is suspending its No5 blast furnace - the largest in its operations - for 10 days beginning Thursday June 20 for maintenance.The move is needed to ensure that it meets its output schedule for the second half of 2019, it said on Wednesday. "All other equipment will operate normally during this period to guarantee delivery to customers," the steelmak...Read More