Here are five Fastmarkets MB stories you might have missed on Thursday March 28 that are worth another look.Weaker-than-expected demand from steel mills following the introduction of new rebar standards in China and increased use of ferro-niobium there have hit the ferro-vanadium market with prices in Europe now trading at levels last seen in December 2017. So far this month, the European fer...Read More

Copper and brass scrap prices in the United States have largely held steady over the past week, with sustained domestic and offshore competition helping to mitigate price erosion.Copper scrap discounts were mostly flat week on week, aside from that for refiners No1 copper, which widened by a penny to 14-16 cents per lb, according to Fastmarkets AMM's latest assessment on Wednesday March 27. All ot...Read More

The collapse of a tailings dam at an iron ore mine in the south-east Brazilian state of Minas Gerais will not change miner Vale's plans for its base metals division, the company's chief financial officer, Luciano Siani, said on Thursday March 28.During a conference call with analysts, Siani said that the Salobo and Sossego copper mines will continue to operate normally, while the expansion of Salo...Read More

Prices in the US copper market continued to push upward on Thursday March 28, with macroeconomic data outweighing recent growth in market participants' bearish speculative positioning.The copper price for May settlement on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange inched up by 1.15 cents to $2.8745 per lb on Thursday.On the technical side, the net speculative length has declined marke...Read More

Robin Scheiner will lead a merged aluminium-alumina department at Glencore following the departure of David Streule, sources close to the matter told Fastmarkets. "Change will take place in the coming weeks or months," a source close to the matter said, while two sources said Streule will be departing by the end of June.Streule will leave Glencore...Read More

Brazilian miner Vale sold its nickel products at a $545 per tonne premium over the London Metal Exchange benchmark price in 2018, the company said in an earnings report published on Wednesday March 27.The premium of 4.20% above LME prices was the highest achieved by the company since 2002, it said.According to Vale, the average realized price in the year was $13,667 per tonne, with the company foc...Read More

Market participants expect alumina prices to plummet upon any future announcement that Hydro's alumina refinery, Alunorte, can return to full capacity, but agree the scheduled court date does not provide any further clarity. Alunorte, the largest alumina refinery in the world, has been running at only 50% of its production capacity since March 2018 because of restrictions imposed by authorities in...Read More

Domestic prices for cold-rolled coil (CRC) in Southern Europe have fallen this week due to limited demand, sources told Fastmarkets on Thursday March 28.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for domestic CRC in Southern Europe was ?,?530-560 ($598-630) per tonne ex-works on March 27, down by ?,?30 per tonne compared with ?,?560-590 per tonne ex-works a week earlier.Italian mills were reported to be...Read More

Steel billet import prices fell in Egypt in the week ended Thursday March 28, with demand remaining weak, but the domestic price for rebar held steady, Fastmarkets has heard.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel billet imported into Egypt was $460-480 per tonne cfr on Thursday, widening downward from $475-480 per tonne cfr last week.CIS-origin billet was offered to the country at $480-485...Read More

United Arab Emirates-based United Iron & Steel Co (UISC) has started producing its own cold-rolled coil at its plant in Abu Dhabi for processing into hot-dipped galvanized coil.The new 250,000 tonnes-per-year CRC facility consists of an in-line push-pull pickling line, a single-stand cold-rolling mill and a continuous galvanizing line to process both hot- and cold-rolled coil, equipment suppl...Read More

Weaker-than-expected demand from steel mills following the introduction of new rebar standards in China and increased use of ferro-niobium there have hit the ferro-vanadium market with prices in Europe now trading at levels last seen in December 2017. So far this month, the European ferro-vanadium price has fallen by more than 25%. Fastmarkets assessed the price for ferro-vanadium, 78% min, free d...Read More

China's domestic hot-rolled coil prices were flat on Thursday March 28, with market participants taking a wait-and-see approach.DomesticEastern China (Shanghai): 3,850-3,860 yuan ($573-574) per tonne, unchangedNorthern China (Tianjin): 3,790-3,800 yuan per tonne, unchangedA few buyers raised their procurement rates amid gains in the futures market in the earlier part of the day, sources said.But o...Read More

Brazilian miner Vale expects iron ore sales volumes in 2019 to be cut by 50-75 million tonnes, from a previous internal, undisclosed target of 382 million tonnes of sales during the year, chief financial officer Luciano Siani said on Thursday March 28 in a conference call with analysts.The reduction will be caused by the mine closures that ensued after an accident at the C??rrego do Feij??o unit,...Read More

Turkish steel mills made no new bookings in the deep-sea scrap market on Thursday March 28, but more transactions made last week were revealed, sources said on Thursday March 28.News of three deep-sea cargoes from last week came to light on Thursday.A steel producer in the Iskenderun region booked a US cargo, comprising 30,000 tonnes of HMS 1&2 (80:20) at $320 per tonne, 5,000 tonnes of shredded a...Read More

Vale achieved a price of $68.40 per wet metric tonne for its iron ore fines in the fourth quarter of 2018, the company said in an earnings report on Wednesday March 27. In the fourth quarter of 2017, Vale's realized price for the material was $63.10 per wmt.According to the miner, the premium received for higher-quality iron ore fines stood at $8.10 per tonne in the fourth quarter o...Read More

The latest bids, offers and deals in the global markets for iron ore, pig iron, direct-reduced iron and other steelmaking raw materials. Latest transaction: iron oreIron oreVale, Global Ore, 180,000 tonnes...Read More

Physical iron ore prices weakened on Thursday March 28 following losses in the futures markets.MB 62% Fe Iron Ore Index: $84.68 per tonne cfr Qingdao, down $0.43 per tonne. MB 62% Fe Pilbara Blend Fines Index: $83.80 per tonne cfr Qingdao, down $0.43 per tonne. MB 62% Fe Iron Ore Index-Low Alumina: $86.93 per tonne cfr Qingdao, down $0.17 per tonne. MB 58% Fe Premium Index: $76.97 per tonne cfr Qi...Read More

Seaborne coking coal prices were stable on Thursday March 28, with market participants awaiting the outcome of a miner's tender for direction.A cargo of second-tier hard coking coal was heard offered at $186 per tonne cfr China. The was no word of the cargo being sold by 6pm, the data collection cut-off time for the Fastmarkets MB daily coking coal indices.In the premium hard coking coal segment,...Read More

Brazil's Vale has adopted the Fastmarkets MB 65% Fe Iron Ore Index as the reference for the pricing of contract cargoes of its blast furnace and direct-reduction pellets in 2019."The [Fastmarkets MB 65% Fe Iron Ore Index] is the new reference index and the premiums for blast furnace and direct-reduction pellets remained the same as [that in] 2018 - $60 per tonne on average," the miner said on Thur...Read More

Nickel's three-month price on the London Metal Exchange was lower during morning trading on Thursday March 28, capped by broad strength in the US dollar index while risk-averse investors continue to defer commodity investment. Falling below $13,000 per tonne over the morning session, nickel's three-month price continues to trade in volatile swings either side of the support level, despite total LM...Read More