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
Reduced availability of hot-rolled coil in Europe from both mills within the region and from overseas suppliers has been supporting domestic prices, sources have told Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets calculated its daily steel hot-rolled coil index, domestic, exw Northern Europe, at ?,?487.81 ($569.82) per tonne on Thursday September 24, up by just ?,?0.20 per tonne from ?,?487.61 per tonne on Wednesday.Th...Read More
London Metal Exchange three-month base metals prices continued to trend lower through Thursday September 24, with dip buying across the complex failing to stall the decreases.Tin, lead, copper and zinc led the price decline, with tin losing 1.3% on Thursday. The volumes traded on the LME have been above average due to the drop in prices.On Wednesday September 23, tin dropped by 3%, its deepest sel...Read More
Germany-based aluminium products producer Aluminium Rheinfelden GmbH has applied for protective shield proceedings, which could protect the company from going bankrupt, sources told Fastmarkets. Market sources corroborated local press reports that said the company applied to the L??rrach district court to open the protective shield procedure. The proceedings are preliminary insolvency proceed...Read More
Future increases in aluminium prices will be driven more by macroeconomic factors rsther than supply-and-demand fundamentals into 2021, analysts said in a panel on Tuesday September 22 during Fastmarkets' International Aluminium Conference."The V-shaped recovery that we've been seeing in many of the metals is also macro-driven," Fastmarkets research analyst Andy Farida said.Factors such as a weak...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
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
German metals distributor Kl??ckner & Co has upgraded its originally negative earnings forecasts for both the third quarter and the full year of 2020 due to the steel market's recovery from the effects of Covid-19, the company said on Thursday September 24.Gradual recovery in the demand for steel in the company's core markets in Europe and the United States, along with improving pricing, especiall...Read More
Imported billet prices in Egypt fell this week because of lower offers in the market, while local rebar prices remained unchanged, sources told Fastmarkets on Thursday, September 24.However, no bookings have been heard over the past seven days due to weak end-user demand.Demand has been hit by a slowdown in construction activity stemming from the government's building ban...Read More
Turkish steel billet prices weakened over the past seven days in response to limited demand and falling imported scrap values, sources told Fastmarkets on Thursday September 24.Suppliers in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) have reduced their offer prices to Turkish buyers to $430-435 per tonne cfr, with the highest bid heard this week coming in at $420 per tonne.Several...Read More
Turkish domestic rebar and wire rod prices increased in the week to Thursday September 24 due to a weakening lira, with demand still only limited, sources told Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel reinforcing bar (rebar), domestic, exw Turkey, was 4,100-4,120 lira ($534-536) per tonne, including 18% VAT, on Thursday September 24, up from 4,000-4,010 lira per tonne last week.S...Read More
Turkish export prices for long steel products have softened over the past week due to falling scrap values and sluggish demand, sources said on Thursday September 24.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel reinforcing bar (rebar), export, fob main port Turkey, was $455-460 per tonne on Thursday, compared with the $455-465 per tonne of last week.The country's steelmakers lowered their offers...Read More
China's domestic hot-rolled coil market gained some strength on Thursday September 24, which motivated buyers in Vietnam to pay higher prices.DomesticEastern China (Shanghai): 3,840-3,850 yuan ($565-566) yuan per tonne, narrowing upward by 10 yuan per tonneA Shanghai-based trader said sellers in the city were able to secure orders at slightly higher prices on Thursday after rising futures improved...Read More
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 on Wednesday September 23.This strengthening of domestic demand granted more pricing power to scrap suppliers, resulting in higher domestic prices, Alvarenga told F...Read More
Seaborne premium hard coking coal prices maintained their uptrend on Thursday September 24 amid active trading, although not as strongly as on Wednesday, sources told Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets indicesPremium hard coking coal, fob DBCT: $133.86 per tonne, up $0.09 per tonne Premium hard coking coal, cfr Jingtang: $143.39 per tonne, up $1.70 per tonneHard coking coal, fob DBCT: $110.76...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.We do not consider the average iron ore fines price for September so far above $125 per tonne cfr Qingdao to be sustainable. The bullishness is not likely to last in the long term as we expect Chinese demand growth to slow down. A key factor boosting Chinese steel demand so far has been the stimulus policies from the authori...Read More
Iron ore prices rebounded on Thursday September 24, aided by mills' need to restock ahead of a holiday in China, sources said.Fastmarkets iron ore indices 62% Fe fines, cfr Qingdao: $114.67 per tonne, up $0.86 per tonne62% Fe low-alumina fines, cfr Qingdao: $115.46 per tonne, up $0.05 per tonne58% Fe fines high-grade premium, cfr Qingdao: $107.75 per tonne,down $0.10 per tonne65% Fe Brazil-origin...Read More
Novolipietsk Steel (NLMK), the largest steel producer in Russia, has resumed iron ore concentrate output at its Stoilensky mining and processing plant after two weeks of downtime due to an accident, the company said.Stoilensky GOK resumed operations on September 22 in a hot trials mode after output at the asset was stopped on September 7 following an accident, NLMK said.The restoration works laste...Read More
Fastmarkets today launches two new prices for import containerized scrap and one for deep-sea bulk scrap, all on a cfr Bangladesh basis.The new prices will build on the success of Fastmarkets' price reporting on the Bangladesh import market for HMS 1&2 (80:20) scrap, which started on Thursday March 19.During Fastmarkets' coverage of the import deep-sea bulk market for HMS 1&2 (80:20), several mark...Read More