Higher offers for Indian hot-rolled coil in the international market have raised the likelihood of transactions involving the flat product from China despite further price gains in the East Asian country's domestic market.DomesticEastern China (Shanghai): 3,820-3,830 yuan ($543-544) per tonne, up 10 yuan per tonneNorthern China (Tangshan): 3,660 yuan per tonne, down 10 yuan per tonneSpot prices in...Read More
The three-month nickel price on the London Metal Exchange fell during morning trading on Tuesday December 10, softening by more than 3% against a fresh inflow of 14,742 tonnes across LME-registered warehouses in Asia and Europe. Nickel's outright price on the LME was recently seen at $12,930 per tonne, a decline of more than $400 per tonne from Monday's closing price of $13,340 per tonne. Tur...Read More
China's domestic rebar prices moved up further on Tuesday December 10 on early gains in the futures market, though sentiment among participants remained bearish. Eastern China (Shanghai): 3,910-3,940 yuan ($555-560) per tonne, up 10 yuan per tonneNorthern China (Beijing): 3,650-3,690 yuan per tonne, up 10 yuan per tonneSellers kept raising their prices after rebar futures climbed steadily in the m...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
With the exception of those for zinc and lead that were marginally down, base metals prices on the Shanghai Futures Exchange were stronger during the morning trading session on Tuesday December 10.The broadly positive performance comes after another round of better-than-expected data releases on Monday continued to point to a stabilization in the global economy, which in turn boosted risk sentimen...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
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
U.S. equity index futures were lower this morning. S&P 500 futures were down 5 points in pre-opening trade. Equity index futures moved slightly lower following release of economic news at 8:30 AM EST. Consensus for Weekly Jobless Claims was 212,000 versus 203,000 last week. Actual was 252,000. Consensus for the November Producer Price Index was an increase of 0.2% versus a gain of 0.4% in Octo...Read More
The three-month copper price on the London Metal Exchange was higher at the close of trading on Monday December 9, holding firmly above the $6,000 per tonne support level while turnover topped the base metals complex. The red metal's outright price closed at $6,075 per tonne this afternoon, its highest close since May while volumes traded topped 20,000 lots exchanged by the close. Copper...Read More
Rising secondary aluminium prices in Asia helped drive European secondary aluminium ingot prices up last week from its recent decade-long low. Tight aluminium scrap supply in China due to shrinking scrap import quotas in the country have led to more expensive production costs for secondary aluminium ingots in the region. That has prompted market participants in Asia to seek potentially cheaper met...Read More
The three-month copper price on the London Metal Exchange was higher during morning trading on Monday December 9, with prices holding above nearby support levels against high turnover, while nickel futures fell by 2%.Copper's outright price on the LME was recently seen at $6,009 per tonne, while volumes traded were high over the morning at more than 7,500 lots as of 9:05am London time. The red met...Read More
Key data from the pricing sessions in Asia and Europe in the week to Friday December 6.ChinaKey drivers The export price for Chinese silicon 5-5-3 was unchanged from the previous week in a quiet market. This is because the price range of $1,480-$1,530 per tonne had no export advantage compared with silicon prices in Europe.The quantity of silicon available for export is restricted by China's domes...Read More
Turkish steel producers continued their deep-sea scrap purchases at the beginning of the week at strengthening prices, sources said on Monday December 9.A steel producer in the Izmir region booked a Baltic Sea cargo, comprising 20,000 tonnes of HMS 1&2 (80:20) at $289.25 per tonne and 5,000 tonnes of bonus at $299.25 per tonne cfr.This compares with the previous Baltic Sea...Read More
Turkish domestic scrap prices have gone up once again this week on the back of rising imported scrap values, sources told Fastmarkets on Monday December 9.Steel producers and a major scrapyard all increased their buying prices for auto bundle scrap by 45-120 Turkish lira ($8-21) per tonne over the past week because of costlier imports.Fastmarkets' daily index for steel scrap, HMS 1&2 (80...Read More
Turkish steel producers stayed out of the deep-sea scrap market on Friday December 6 after booking several cargoes earlier in the week to push prices up by more than $10 per tonne since Monday, sources told Fastmarkets.No new cargoes have been booked or come to light during the last two days of the working week. On Monday, it emerged that a steel mill in the Marmara region had booked a U...Read More
A strong United States employment report at the end of last week gave most markets something to be cheerful about and that has flowed through into Asian trading on Monday December 9.Trading is likely to remain nervous this week while the manufacturing sector prepares for the holiday season and businesses focus on whether US President Donald Trump follows through with his threat to put 15% tariffs...Read More
China's hot-rolled coil prices regained some strength on Monday December 9 amid some supply tightness and an overall pick-up in trading activity in the ferrous market after the Dalian Commodity Exchange launched its iron ore options.DomesticEastern China (Shanghai): 3,810-3,820 yuan ($541-543) per tonne, up 50 yuan per tonneNorthern China (Tangshan): 3,670 yuan per tonne, up 40 yuan per tonneTradi...Read More
Suppliers raised their offers for hot-rolled coil into Vietnam over the past week but ran into thin demand from buyers.Fastmarkets' assessment for steel HRC import, cfr Vietnam, which mainly looks at Chinese 2-3mm re-rolling-grade SAE1006 HRC and equivalent products sold into Vietnam, was $465-470 per tonne cfr Vietnam for the week ending Monday December 9, up $3-8 per tonne from $457-467 per tonn...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets MB stories you might have missed on Monday December 9 that are worth another look.Brazilian steel demand is set to grow in 2020 and support higher domestic prices, Companhia Sider??rgica Nacional (CSN) said in a presentation filed with securities commission CVM.Rising secondary aluminium prices in Asia helped drive European secondary aluminium ingot prices up last week fr...Read More