Russia's Severstal is running a modernization program at its Cherepovets steelmaking facility, which - though it may lead to short-term production cuts - will help it raise its annual steel output by 1 million tonnes by 2023.Several sources have reported that the major mill had scheduled a two-week maintenance for its 2-million-tonnes-per-year hot-rolling mill in October. They estimated that this...Read More
China's coking coal import quotas have changed the dynamics of the seaborne market, making the trading of the steelmaking raw material more risky, time-consuming and expensive for traders.What was typically a month-long process for a vessel carrying Australian coking coal to deliver to China has stretched to at least four months after import quotas became scarcer and port restrictions became tight...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Thursday September 10 that are worth another look.Russia's Severstal is running a modernization program at its Cherepovets steelmaking facility, which - though it may lead to short-term production cuts - will help it raise its annual steel output by 1 million tonnes by...Read More
Domestic prices for hot-rolled coil remained fairly stable day on day in Northern Europe on Thursday September 10, following a substantial increase a day earlier, sources have told Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets' daily steel hot-rolled coil index, domestic, exw Northern Europe, was calculated at ?,?476.15 ($561.29) per tonne on Thursday, down by just ?,?0.10 per tonne from ?,?476.25 per tonne on Wednesda...Read More
The three-month price of copper on the London Metal Exchange was the poorest performer at the close of trading on Thursday September 10, failing to capitalize on an early-afternoon spike above $6,700 per tonne in a 1.4% daily decline, while continued volatility in global equity markets left investors cautious about commodity exposure.Copper's outright price on the LME closed at $6,668.50 per tonne...Read More
The Turkish steel mills took a break from deep-sea scrap purchases after booking a number of cargoes at stronger prices earlier in the week, sources said on Thursday September 10.The steel producers in the country have booked six deep-sea cargoes so far this week, totalling around 200,000 tonnes. This activity was supported by improving demand for billet and long steel products in the...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Thursday September 10 that are worth another look.Russia's Severstal is running a modernization program at its Cherepovets steelmaking facility, which - though it may lead to short-term production cuts - will help it raise its annual steel output by 1 million tonnes by...Read More
Triland Metals Singapore Pte Ltd (TMS) has appointed Nicholas Quek as its head of sales & trading, effective September 1. Quek, who joined TMS in April 2019, most recently worked at Raffemet Pte...Read More
The three-month price of copper on the London Metal Exchange was the poorest performer at the close of trading on Thursday September 10, failing to capitalize on an early-afternoon spike above $6,700 per tonne in a 1.4% daily decline, while continued volatility in global equity markets left investors cautious about commodity exposure.Copper's outright price on the LME closed at $6,668.50 per tonne...Read More
Iron ore prices in the seaborne market fell further on Thursday September 10, with market sources saying that although the fundamentals of iron ore remained stable, the high levels of steel inventories dragged prices downward.Fastmarkets iron ore indices62% Fe fines, cfr Qingdao: $126.09 per tonne, down by $0.45 per tonne62% Fe low-alumina fines, cfr Qingdao: $126.15 per tonne, down by $0.68 per t...Read More
The three-month copper price was the standout underperformer during morning trading on Thursday September 10, after a complex-wide sell-off emerged during the Asian trading session, while LME nickel futures continued to correct firmly below the $15,000-per-tonne threshold. Copper's outright price on the LME was recently seen at $6,637 per tonne, down by more than 1.7% from Wednesday's closing pric...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of base metals analysts are ready to view.Aluminium: SHFE tailwind for LME pricesAs we are entering the traditional strong demand season, we expect Chinese aluminium demand to show further recovery, and we expect demand from existing end-user sectors, new infrastructure projects and the export sector to show some increases. As a result, we believe that S...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of base metals analysts are ready to view, including an upgrade to our aluminium price forecasts.Aluminium: Price forecasts raisedWe correctly expected the macro reflationary theme to raise the prices for all base metals but, with it being the base metal with by far the weakest fundamentals, we had expected the price of aluminium to underperform relative...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.US hot-rolled coil (HRC) prices performed in line with our expectations in August, with US domestic HRC prices finding a floor in July as forecast before they rose in August. US HRC prices averaged $522 per tonne in August, which compares with our forecast price of $518 per tonne. Based on an improving demand outlook and ris...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.This month's key ferro-alloy forecast highlights:Prices across most ferro-alloy markets trended stable to lower in August as demand remained subdued in major markets, apart from China where steel output continues to rise at a rapid pace, supporting demand for ferro-alloys. As alloy makers seek to remedy supply/demand imbalan...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view. A look at stainless steel price movements through August reveals the ongoing battle being faced by stainless steelmakers in Europe and the United States while they try to pass on rising costs to consumers. In these regions, prices on most grades of stainless steel are little changed from July, rising by around 2% at most -...Read More
The Turkish rebar and wire rod export prices have increased with strengthening demand over the past week amid rising imported scrap costs, sources said on Thursday September 10.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel reinforcing bar (rebar), export, fob main port Turkey, was $455-465 per tonne on Thursday, up from $440-450 per tonne of last week.Turkish steel mills increased their reba...Read More
Key data from the pricing sessions in Europe, Asia and the United States for the week ended Wednesday September 9.Key drivers Manganese flake price continued to gain strength, with constant increases since August 21 following higher offers from China. These offers from producers were supported by strong domestic demand and by the rise in value of the yuan against the dollar, which meant that buyer...Read More
Several major copper scrap buyers stayed out of the market in the week to Wednesday September 9, which lead to increased discounts for some grades in the United States"The spreads are wide as many mills are not buying currently," a scrap trader said, adding that some ingot makers are also undergoing planned outages."The big buyers are out, even the Chinese have backed off a bit from buying scrap,"...Read More
The placement of two major operations on care and maintenance has removed around 15% of this year's forecast production of nickel used in lithium-ion batteries from the market and demonstrates how tight the market can become, the president of Giga Metals Corp said. Martin Vydra said that the Goro and Ambatovy operations, located in New Caledonia and Madagascar respectively, represent around 71,000...Read More