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
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
New Day Aluminum Holdings has signed a letter of intent with Cemtech Materials Corp to supply it with bauxite residue for use in the cement production process - a deal that will have an environmentally beneficial impact, New Day said.The agreement, made through New Day subsidiary Noranda Alumina, begins in the fourth quarter and will see the bauxite residue used as the raw material for iron, repla...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
A rebound in the United States' Nasdaq Composite Index on Wednesday September 9 may have underpinned broader markets, but the base metals were less convinced with most ending the day in negative territory.Base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange and Shanghai Futures Exchange were broadly lower again this morning.Asian-Pacific equities and pre-market major western equity index futures, exclu...Read More
Brazilian imports of flat and long steel decreased year on year in August amid increased prices in China, according to figures released by the country's economy ministry early this week.Imports of flat steel products dropped by 30.3% year on year in August, to 66,302 tonnes from 95,116 tonnes a year before. In comparison, Brazilian imports of flat steel products...Read More
Hot-rolled coil prices in the United States are closing in on $27.50 per hundredweight ($550 per short ton), while some mills have begun looking to up the ante and raise prices to as much as $30 per cwt ($600 per ton).Fastmarkets' daily steel hot-rolled coil index, fob mill US was calculated at $27.40 per cwt ($548 per ton) on Thursday September 10, up by 1.1% from $27.11 per cwt on Wednesday Sept...Read More
Prices for domestic steel reinforcing bar in the United States rose for the first time since January, after buyers mostly accepted mills' price increases. Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel reinforcing bar (rebar), fob mill US climbed to $29.25 per hundredweight ($585 per short ton) on Wednesday September 9, up by 4.5% from $28 per cwt previously, where the price had remained since mid...Read More
Imported steel billet prices increased again in Egypt this week because of higher offer prices, sources told Fastmarkets on Thursday September 10.No bookings were heard during the week, however, because of ebbing end user demand amid weak domestic construction activity, Egyptian sources said.Construction in Egypt has been slow since a construction ban was imposed in the country on May 25, which is...Read More
Turkish steel billet prices have increased this week because of the increasing scrap values, sources said on Thursday September 10.Steel billet producers in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) continued to raise their offer prices for exports into Turkey following the recent uptick in Turkish import scrap prices, sources said.Fastmarkets' daily index for steel scrap, HMS 1&2 (80:20 mix),...Read More
Turkish domestic long steel prices have increased over the past week on the back of firm scrap costs and a weakening Turkish lira, sources said on Thursday September 10.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel wire rod (mesh quality), domestic, exw Turkey, was 4,050-4,080 lira ($541-545) per tonne, including 18% VAT, on Thursday, up from last week's 3,950-3,960 lira per tonne ex-works.M...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
Brazilian ferrous scrap exports fell both year on year and month on month in August while suppliers shifted their focus to the domestic market, data published this week by the country's ministry of the economy shows.Scrap exports reached 55,377 tonnes in August, a 19.7% year-on-year decrease from 69,000 tonnes in 2019 and a 27.6% drop in comparison with 79,460 tonnes in July of this year.The count...Read More
Seaborne hard coking coal prices in the cfr China and fob Australia markets hiked on Thursday September 10 following firmer premium hard coking coal prices and better demand in the fob Australia market, sources said.Fastmarkets indicesPremium hard coking coal, fob DBCT: $112.18 per tonne, up $0.53 per tonnePremium hard coking coal, cfr Jingtang: $126.81 per tonne, down $0.37 per tonneHard coking c...Read More
China's domestic hot-rolled coil prices stopped dropping on Thursday September 10 on optimism generated by positive data for the country's automotive sector.DomesticEastern China (Shanghai): 3,920-3,950 yuan ($573-577) yuan per tonne, unchangedThe China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) reported during the day that the country produced 2.12 million vehicles in August. This is a 6.3% y...Read More
Key data from Fastmarkets' pricing session on Thursday September 10 in London.Key drivers Inquiry numbers remained low from consumers but traders, some of which were holding out for figures closer to $16 per lb, have seen offers above the previous range be accepted in today's pricing session....Read More
The Cobalt alloy grade, in-whs Rotterdam, $/lbtrade log including business, bids and offers reported to Fastmarkets. Fastmarkets publishes trades logs for its key price assessments and indices to bring more transparency into the markets it covers and the pricing process...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...Read More
Key data from Fastmarkets' pricing session in China on Wednesday September 9.Key drivers Prices slid after some suppliers lowered their offers to facilitate sales amid shrinking buying interest. Some consumers retreated from the market either because they had replenished sufficient volumes to meet near-term production needs in previous weeks or because they felt current...Read More
Chinese stainless steel prices, in both the domestic and export markets, fell over the past week amid declines in nickel futures as a result of weakness in broader markets.The US stock market experienced pronounced weakness over the past week, which in turn led to falls in commodity futures prices.The Nasdaq Composite Index closed at 11,141.56 on Wednesday September 9, down by 914.88 points (7.58%...Read More