Anglo American has cut its annual iron ore production targets at the Kumba operations in South Africa over the 2020-2022 period, but left those for its Minas Rio operations in Brazil unchanged.The miner said it now expects annual iron ore output of 42-43 million tonnes for the coming three years at its Kumba iron...Read More
Japan's Kanto Tetsugen has secured a higher price at its ferrous scrap auction for December, which is likely to boost sentiment in the Asian market for the steelmaking raw material.A total of 23,000 tonnes of H2 scrap were sold to two trading companies on Wednesday December 11 at the auction held by the cooperative of scrap dealers in Japan's most-industrialized region - 3,000 tonnes priced at ?2...Read More
Chinese hot-rolled coil prices were mixed on Wednesday December 11, with those in the east of the country rising due to tight supply and those in the north flat amid sluggish demand.DomesticEastern China (Shanghai): 3,880-3,890 yuan ($551-553) per tonne, up 60 yuan per tonneNorthern China (Tangshan): 3,660 yuan per tonne, unchangedSpot prices in eastern China surged amid active trading, with...Read More
The three-month nickel price on the London Metal Exchange was little changed during morning trading on Wednesday December 11 despite another sizeable inflow of material into LME-registered warehouses, keeping forward spreads wide. The LME nickel price was recently at $13,440 per tonne, $35 per tonne higher than Tuesday's closing price. Turnover was high at more than 2,600 lots exchanged over the m...Read More
China's domestic rebar prices were mixed amid weaker demand on Wednesday December 11, with eastern prices up but those in the north of the country down.Eastern China (Shanghai): 3,930-3,960 yuan ($558-563) per tonne, up 20 yuan per tonneNorthern China (Beijing): 3,640-3,670 yuan per tonne, down 10-20 yuan per tonneEnd users kept procurement rates limited and stockists were not looking to repl...Read More
When Gay Huey Evans attended her first London Metal Exchange dinner in 1999, she was head of markets at former UK regulator the Financial Services Authority (FSA) - some 20 years later she was there as LME chair elect, the first woman appointed to the role. "As a regulator I would send my markets people and occasionally come to learn a little bit more about commodities. I remember sitting in the b...Read More
An overview of the minor metals markets and their latest price moves.Read More
Key data from Fastmarkets' pricing session in Europe on Wednesday December 11.Key drivers Price ranges in the alloy and scrap markets have widened over the past week, with sales reported for ferro-silicon at either end of its new price assessment.Low-tin titanium scrap was also trading at slightly higher price levels, although some sources said the market is fairly stable, with a b...Read More
A summary of base metals premiums from across the globe for the week to Tuesday December 10.Please click...Read More
Copper ended the Tuesday December 10 trading session on the London Metal Exchange at an intraday high and seven-month peak of $6,100 per tonne.And the three-month nickel price recovered some lost ground after falling by 3.5% this morning.The three-month copper price closed at its highest since May, climbing from an intraday low of $6,057 per tonne. Total volumes at the close were some 15,600 lots....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
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
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
Mogale Alloys has issued a Section 189 notice - a South African legal requirement representing an intention to retrench staff - amid low chrome ore and ferro-chrome prices. Ilitha Mining, another subsidiary of Afarak, has also issued a Section 189 notice, the company said. Helsinki and London-listed mining and metallurgical group Afarak said on Monday December 9 it has been forced to scale down op...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
South African state power utility Eskom was forced to implement stage 6 load shedding for the first time ever on Monday December 9 amid a severe lack of generating capacity.Eskom implements load shedding - controlled power blackouts - to reduce pressure on the country's power grid when power is severely constrained.Eskom had previously outlined plans for stage 5 and 6 load shedding but, prior to M...Read More
Reversing a recent re-commitment to its New Caledonian operations, Brazilian miner Vale told investors it would "exit VNC (Vale New Caledonia)", but some analysts wonder if or how Vale will extricate itself from the long-troubled South Pacific island venture.Vale did not specify at its annual investor briefing how it would exit the nickel and cobalt mine. "By the first half of 2020, we will tell y...Read More
Sellers in the United States' ferrous scrap market will likely enjoy a third consecutive price increase in January, with domestic steel mills continuing to strike post-market deals above December levels in order to secure enough material to cover their programs."Fundamentally, business isn't really that much better but the mills beat the prices down so hard that scrap just dried up. They basically...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
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