An overview of the Chinese minor metals markets and the reasons for their latest price moves.Read More
The cobalt sulfate 20.5% Co basis, exw China, yuan/tonne trade log including business, bids and offers reported to Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets publishes trades logs for its key price assessments and indices to bring more transparencyinto the markets it covers and the pricing process it applies.Read More
Key data from the pricing sessions in Europe, Asia and the United States for the week ending Friday September 25.China Tight spot availability continued to consolidate the domestic market with prices remaining firm amid positive sentimentSome mills raised their October tender prices for 72% ferro-silicon, while the market was waiting for tender prices from major steel mills ...Read More
The price of flat stainless steel products in Europe increased in the week to Friday September 25 on higher nickel costs, sources told Fastmarkets. Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for stainless steel cold-rolled sheet 2mm grade 304 transaction domestic, delivered North Europe was ?,?1,980-2,030 ($2,308-2,366) per tonne, up by ?,?50 per tonne week on week from ?,?1,930-1,980 per tonne previous...Read More
Prices for steel scrap cargoes imported into South Korea fell again over the last seven days amid weakening Japanese offer prices and stifled demand, sources told Fastmarkets on Friday September 25.Japanese exporters reduced offer prices over the last week due to a lack of buying interest from Vietnam and Taiwan at the previous levels, sources said, while smaller suppliers focusing on Korea had al...Read More
Vietnamese steel mills booked Japanese scrap during the week to Friday September 25 as a result of sellers cutting their offer prices in an attempt to offload material before China's "Golden Week" holiday on October 1-8.Offers for bulk Japanese H2 cargoes fell consistently throughout the week, from $303-305 per tonne cfr Vietnam at the mid-week point to $295-297 cfr Vietnam by Friday. There was on...Read More
Import prices for containerized ferrous scrap in the key Taiwanese market fell in the past week on increasingly bearish sentiment brought about by falling prices in Turkey and limited buying interest. Fastmarkets' daily price assessment for containerized cargoes of steel scrap, HMS 1&2 (80:20), US material import, cfr main port Taiwan was $272-275 per tonne on Friday September 25, widening do...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Thursday September 24 that are worth another look.Brazilian ferrous scrap association Inesfa expects further decreases in export volumes from the levels seen in August, with demand rising among local steelmakers amid a heated steel market, the group's president, Clineu Alvarenga, said...Read More
London Metal Exchange three-month base metals prices were universally trading lower in the morning session on Thursday September 24, with sustained strength in the dollar index - trading at a six-week high - and macro uncertainty driving down futures prices. The dollar continues to trade above 94 today, most recent trading around 94.53 this morning, acting as an effective headwind for metals tradi...Read More
China's imports of unwrought aluminium and aluminium products increased by more than eightfold on a year-on-year basis in August, according to Chinese customs data released on Wednesday September 23.This follows a more-than-sixfold increase in the country's light metal imports in July.Copper imports also...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Thursday September 24 that are worth another look.Brazilian ferrous scrap association Inesfa expects further decreases in export volumes from the levels seen in August, with demand rising among local steelmakers amid a heated steel market, the group's president, Clineu Alvarenga, said...Read More
Slovak ferro-alloys producer OFZ Slovakia is producing a reduced rate of ferro-silicon, compounding other European plants that have cut production in response to the fall in consumption from steelmakers struggling to tackle end-user demand, an industry source told Fastmarkets.OFZ Slovakia is operating only two of its four ferro-silicon producing furnaces, with the rest of its furnaces producing ma...Read More
The initial public offering (IPO) by Chinese battery materials producer CNGR Advanced Materials Co Ltd has been approved, according to a document filed to the Shenzhen Stock Exchange on Wednesday September 23. CNGR has been given the greenlight to be listed on the second-board market and the company plans to sell up to 56.97 million shares to domestic investors. The battery materials producer expe...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Thursday September 24 that are worth another look.Brazilian ferrous scrap association Inesfa expects further decreases in export volumes from the levels seen in August, with demand rising among local steelmakers amid a heated steel market, the group's president, Clineu Alvarenga, said...Read More
Several Bangladeshi steelmakers have exited the market for imports of steel scrap in recent days, piling further pressure on already-weakening prices, market participants told Fastmarkets on Thursday September 24.No deep-sea bulk imports have been booked into Bangladesh over the past week, while deals for material in containers were closed at lower prices than in the previous week."I think Banglad...Read More
Turkish steel producers have continued their silence in the deep-sea scrap markets in hopes of pushing prices downward, sources told Fastmarkets on Thursday September 24.The country's steelmakers have been staying away from the deep-sea scrap market since September 9, when bookings were made at $301 per tonne cfr for HMS 1&2 (80:20).Although some US and Baltic Sea...Read More
Base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange were down across the board this morning, Thursday September 24, while risk-off gathered pace on concerns that the Covid-19 pandemic is spreading aggressively again. US central bankers also warned on Wednesday that the US economy remained in a "deep hole" of joblessness and weak demand. Base metals prices on the LME are all dropping from high ground,...Read More
Lithium market participants and observers have generally reacted positively to US electric vehicle maker Tesla's recent announcements because they support the view that demand for the metal is likely to soar in the medium term, sources have said.But sources surveyed by Fastmarkets have cast doubts on the potential of the new lithium extraction process announced by the company during its Battery Da...Read More
The initial public offering (IPO) by Chinese battery materials producer CNGR Advanced Materials Co Ltd has been approved, according to a document filed to the Shenzhen Stock Exchange on Wednesday September 23. CNGR has been given the greenlight to be listed on the second-board market and the company plans to sell up to 56.97 million shares to domestic investors. The battery materials producer expe...Read More
Indian steel mills have held back their offers of hot-rolled coil for export shipments in November because the fob value of the bids they have received has fallen to less than $500 per tonne, Fastmarkets heard on Thursday September 24."Currently, [Indian] mills are neither issuing offers for HRC exports nor responding to bids," one market participant said.Bids for HRC exports received this week by...Read More