The London Metal Exchange three-month nickel price continued to gain during the morning session on Friday August 28, trading up 1.2% from the previous day's close at $15,340 per tonne, its highest since November 2019.Often considered a proxy for the Asian markets, nickel has continued to trend higher of late on near-term demand from China's industrial sector and ongoing speculative rhetoric from t...Read More
Slab export prices from Brazil increased in the week ended Friday August 28 amid low volumes available and a continued recovery in demand.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel slab, export, fob main port Brazil was $430-435 per tonne on Friday, up by $10 from $420-430 per tonne a week earlier.There were reports of offers from Brazil made near $440 per tonne fob, after...Read More
Indian steel mills were likely to increase their domestic hot-rolled coil prices by about 2,000-3,000 rupees ($27-41) per tonne in September, with local demand for the commodity continuing to grow, Fastmarkets heard on Friday August 28.Officials from two Indian private-sector mills have confirmed that they have already given guidance to their dealers to impose a 2,000-3,000 rupees per tonne price...Read More
Three-month prices for all base metals on the London Metal Exchange except lead rose on Friday August 28, with nickel leading the rally.Fastmarkets analyst Andy Farida attributed Friday's rally to market reaction to a speech by US Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell on Thursday August 27. Powell signaled to the market that the US Federal Reserve will relax its inflation target of 2% in a bid to...Read More
Fastmarkets copper concentrates treatment charges and refining charges (TC/RC) index stayed largely flat at its multi-year low level from a week ago.The spot market has been relatively quiet this week with smelters buying a handful of clean concentrates parcels in the high $40s, while some deals, with tonnages extending into the fourth quarter this year and first quarter next year, are said to be...Read More
An overview of the battery raw materials markets and their latest price moves.Read More
Lead stocks in Shanghai Futures Exchange-registered warehouses fell the most in percentage terms in the week to Friday August 28, dropping by 14.9% or 4,823 tonnes to 27,580 tonnes. The outflows mainly came from warehouses operated by Nanchu in Guangdong, with a decline of 2,766 tonnes to 25,963 tonnes. This follows a decline of 4.5% in lead stocks the previous week. "In China, vehicle productio...Read More
The first deal for the supply of aluminium to main Japanese ports (MJP) for the fourth quarter has concluded at a premium of $83 per tonne cif MJP, sources told Fastmarkets on Friday August 28.The deal was for up to 1,500 tonnes of aluminium ingot in total for October-December delivery, with 500 tonnes to be delivered each month, and is on top of the London Metal Exchange cash price...Read More
Sanjeev Gupta, Executive Chairman of steel and aluminium investment company GFG Alliance, will head the roster at the London Metal Exchange's virtual seminar this year, the LME announced on August 28.The virtual seminar will start on Monday October 19, 2020 and replaces the annual LME week gathering of metal market participants in London, which has been canceled amid the Covid-19 pandemic.Gupta ha...Read More
Daily PDFs will be downloadable until Monday August 31. After that, because of the UK's Summer bank holiday, the next daily PDF will be downloadable on Wednesday September 2.Read More
Hot-rolled coil prices in the United States have risen above $25 per hundredweight ($500 per short ton) for the first time since mid-June thanks to a recent round of price increases bolstered by healthy demand. Fastmarkets' daily steel hot-rolled coil index, fob mill US was calculated at $25.03 per cwt ($500.60 per ton) on Friday August 28, up by 0.5% from $24.90 per cwt on Thursday August 27 and...Read More
Prices for domestic steel beams in the United States were flat on Thursday August 27, while prices for imported products fell for a second month in a row on weakening demand, sources said.Fastmarkets' assessment for steel beams 8 x 8-inch, fob mill US held at $35.25 per hundredweight ($705 per short ton) on Thursday, unchanged for a fourth consecutive month.Most sources reported that demand was st...Read More
European distributors of flat steel products reported a 16.50% year-on-year drop in shipment volumes in June, regional steel industry association Eurometal said on Friday August 28.The decrease was less than an earlier fall in May of this year, when shipments dropped by 38.50%.In the first half of 2020, shipment volumes of flat steel products from European steel service centers dropped by 21.8% ye...Read More
Export billet prices from the Commonwealth of Independent States region strengthened week on week, supported by rising prices in the scrap segment and the revival of customer interest, particularly in North Africa.A cargo of CIS-origin billet was reported sold to Tunisia in the middle of the week at $425 per tonne cfr, which would net back to $400-402 per tonne fob Black Sea, according to market s...Read More
Domestic prices for hot-rolled coil in Northern Europe have been fairly stable day on day on Friday August 28, although the region's steelmakers continue to push for further price increases, sources told FastmarketsFastmarkets' daily steel hot-rolled coil index, domestic, exw Northern Europe was calculated at ?,?450.45 ($532.53) per tonne on Friday August 28, up by just ?,?0.56 per tonne day on da...Read More
Brazil's pig iron export market was active during the week to Friday August 28 amid new sales to China.Fastmarkets assessed the price of pig iron, export, fob port of Vitoria/Rio, Brazil at $340-350 per tonne on Friday, widening from $343-348 per tonne one week earlier. ...Read More
Negotiations resumed in the import pig iron market in the United States during the week to Friday August 28, but no deals have yet been concluded.Fastmarkets' price assessment for pig iron, import, cfr Gulf of Mexico, US rose to $355-360 per tonne on Friday, up by $15 from $340-345 per tonne a week before."All key buyers appeared in...Read More
The key global scrap markets improved in terms of both sentiment and prices in the week to Friday August 28, after Turkey resumed its deep-sea cargo purchases following a three-week hiatus.Turkey continues to book deep-sea cargoesUS sees liquid activity in spot export marketVietnamese buyers remain keen on bulk cargoes from US West CoastTaiwanese buyers see slowdown in price upswingIndia sentiment...Read More
The market for pig iron exports from the Commonwealth of Independent States was firm over the week to Thursday August 27 on resumed sales to China. Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for high-manganese pig iron, export, fob main port Black Sea, CIS was $335-343 per tonne on Thursday, narrowing upward from $330-343 per tonne the week before.A sale of Russia-origin pig iron was repo...Read More
The price of containerized ferrous scrap imports into India inched higher over the past week, following jitters in the market last week brought on by Turkey's scrap-buying hiatus, sources told Fastmarkets on Friday August 28.Fastmarkets calculated the steel scrap, shredded, index, import, cfr Nhava Sheva, India at $310.41 per tonne on Friday, inching up from $309.47 per tonne last week.Last week,...Read More