Copper smelters returned to the spot market this week with treatment and refining charges (TC/RC) relatively stable.For smelter purchases, clean tonnages for shipment in the fourth quarter and in January were seen with TCs in the low $60s. One extra clean cargo sold in the high $50s, while a lower-grade cargo of...Read More
The iron ore seaborne market supply might lose 40 million tonnes in 2022 compared with 2021, the ferrous director at Brazilian mining company Vale, Marcello Spinelli, said on Friday October 29.This reduction follows from a trend that began this year of important iron ore suppliers - including Brazil, India and the Commonwealth of Independent States - focusing more on their domestic marke...Read More
Stainless steel prices continue to register new highs around the end of the first half of 2021 and steelmakers continue to enjoy outsized margins.They have responded in recent months by increasing their output, which has now pushed above pre-pandemic levels and will eventually restore balance to the market.For now, though, supply gaps are still being filled and buyers find themselves competing aga...Read More
The Turkish deep-sea steel scrap import market was inactive on Friday October 29 due to the country's Republic Day holiday, which began on Thursday afternoon and runs through Friday, sources told Fastmarkets.The most recent cargo deal was recorded on Tuesday, when a steel mill in the Marmara region booked a cargo from the United States, consisting of 20,000 tonnes of HMS 1&2 (90:10)...Read More
Eastern China's rebar prices increased on Friday October 29 on rising end-user demand, narrowing this week's cumulative losses in comparison with those experienced last week.Domestic Eastern China (Shanghai): 5,220-5,250 yuan ($817-822) per tonne, up by 100-120 yuan per tonneNorthern China (Beijing) weekly assessment: 5,150-5,180 yuan per tonne, down by 90 yuan per tonneSpot prices in China's east...Read More
Silicon prices in the United States reached a new all-time high on Thursday October 28, making the price for US material - which has almost tripled in seven weeks - now the most expensive in the world. The US price for standard grade silicon (5-5-3) surpassed that in Europe, which had been the most expensive region prior to Fastmarkets' assessment there on Friday October 29.Fastmarkets assessed th...Read More
Prices for shredded steel scrap imported into Pakistan and India increased on Friday October 29, despite concerns over rising freight costs, sources have told Fastmarkets.PakistanFastmarkets calculated its weekly steel scrap, shredded, index, import, cfr Port Qasim, Pakistan, at $563.74 per tonne on Friday, up from $557.48 per tonne on October 22.Deals were heard at $560-565 per tonne this week, u...Read More
Copper smelters returned to the spot market this week with treatment and refining charges (TC/RC) relatively stable.For smelter purchases, clean tonnages for shipment in the fourth quarter and in January were seen with TCs in the low $60s. One extra clean cargo sold in the high $50s, while a lower-grade cargo of...Read More
The latest forecasts and analysis of the ferrous scrap and iron metallics market from the Fastmarkets research team are ready to be viewed.Stifled automotive output this year, driven by a supply shortage of semiconductor chips used in vehicles, has tightened prime scrap availability and widened the spreads between this grade of steelmaking raw material and obsolete scrap.While wide prime-over-obso...Read More
Prices for cold-rolled and galvanized steel sheet in the United States were flat on Thursday October 28, with many market participants relying on existing inventory or foreign steel purchases while they wait for mill prices to drop.Fastmarkets' weekly assessment for steel cold-rolled coil, fob mill US was unchanged from the previous week at $108 per hundredweight ($2,160 per short ton) on October...Read More
The three-month copper contract is trading near record highs on the London Metal Exchange, cash prices are rising even faster, and inventories are descending toward zero. Try running a hedge book in those conditions.It's been a very real quandary facing the physical trade and industry, which awoke on Tuesday October 19 to find copper's cash to November spread had flared to a backwardation of more...Read More
A summary of production figures and financial results from Brazilian steelmaker Usiminas for the third quarter of 2021, as shown in its earnings report published on Friday October 29.In brief?EUR?Usiminas' strategy of buying third-party steel slab to be rolled at the Cubat??o mill was maintained, with a significant increase in purchases year-on-year in the third quarter to 502,000 tonnes, from 240...Read More
Import steel billet prices into China fell again toward the end of the week, hampered by continued power shortages and efforts by traders to re-route cargoes sold to that country.Chinese trading companies have tried to divert their position billet cargoes into Southeast Asian markets during the week, a behavior that started with panic over falling prices setting in the prior week. Most of these ca...Read More
The recent decline in aluminium prices stoked bearish sentiment in the alumina market, pushing prices down 5% on Friday October 29.Fastmarkets calculated its daily alumina index, fob Australia at $452.16 per tonne on Friday, down from $476.73 per tonne on Thursday.A deal was reported on Friday for 30,000 tonnes at $450 per tonne fob Western Australia, for loading in the second half of November loa...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts is ready to view.Recent weeks have brought two key developments with regard to trade policy on stainless steel products that will be to the detriment of consumers.In China, the country's stainless steelmakers no longer enjoy a 13% export rebate as of May 1, reducing greatly their incentive to export and instead leading them to focus on supply...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.Bulk ferro-alloy prices have shown impressive gains again this month, with ferro-silicon, silicon metal and manganese alloy prices all making significant increases. Noble alloy markets also enjoyed upward momentum, with both vanadium and molybdenum prices rising sharply.Recovering demand from steelmakers globally, together w...Read More
The price of silicon in China has dropped several times over recent weeks, after setting a then-record price of $9,000-10,000 per tonne on September 24. Downstream demand then fell through October, clouding market confidence, and offer prices went lower and lower.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for silicon, export, 98.5% Si min, fob China, dropped to $5,000-5,500 per tonne on Friday October 2...Read More
Brazilian pig iron sellers are more optimistic amid increased demand in global markets, but no deals have been heard in the country's main producing regions.Sellers have been closely watching the improvement in prices of scrap in Turkey and expect further upside. Fastmarkets' price assessment for pig iron, export, fob port of Vitoria/Rio, Brazil was $500-510 per tonne on Friday October 2...Read More
The Cobalt standard grade, in-whs Rotterdam, $/lb 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.Fastmarkets assessed Cobalt standard grade,...Read More
Seaborne low-vol PCI prices in both the fob and cfr markets fell following the drop in thermal coal prices. And China's National Development & Reform Commission intervention, plus the news that stranded Australian coal was allowed to clear Chinese customs, have put market participants in a wait-and-see mode.Fastmarkets indicesPremium hard coking coal, cfr Jingtang: $608.12 per tonne, unchange...Read More