The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.The Covid-19 pandemic and the associated impacts on steel production, mining and manufacturing activity, end-use consumption, and trade and transportation continue to dominate ferro-alloy markets. US steel mills are operating at around 50% of capacity, with similarly low operating rates evident in Europe as well. Chinese ste...Read More
Ferro-alloys prices have generally retreated over the past month, with demand concerns gaining in prominence.The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.Ferro-alloy pricing trends have generally diverged ove the past month, depending on the security of the supply-side position of the market. With most supply concerns fading with the resumption of industrial activity i...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.There has been an increasing bullishness in Chinese steel market sentiment recently, with rising post-Covid-19 optimism about the country's economy for the second half of 2020, especially after the government announced an infrastructure spending boost. Although we believe that high prices are justified, they remain far from...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.Heavy rains in China, which can negatively affect iron ore supplies and pig iron production, and bolster demand for scrap, continued in July 2020. Although this was more an upside risk to our bearish base case one month ago, Chinese scrap prices remained strong. The firm prices gained support from the rains and from a more g...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.This year has come with several unexpected events which increased the bullish case for iron ore prices, while the Chinese government's spending on infrastructure is likely to boost iron ore demand and add upside support to prices. But supply disruptions and a demand surge which caused price spikes are now easing. We do not e...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' teamof analysts are ready to view.Chinese crude steel production outperformed our expectations with its recovery since the Covid-19 pandemic lockdowns. Crude steel output was up by 2.3% year-on-year in the first half of 2020 to 503 million tonnes, and we have revised upward what was initially a more bearish forecast for this year. We now estimate that product...Read More
The latest forecast from Fastmarkets' team of analysts is ready to view.As we enter the summer season across the northern hemisphere, almost half a year has passed since the Covid-19 pandemic began to seriously affect Europe and the United States.One would not really be able to tell that such a dramatic event had occurred by looking at stainless steel prices, however, because they are more or less...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts is ready to view.Stainless steel prices are relatively stable this month, showing little change since our previous tracker. Such stability masks growing issues for stainless steelmakers, however, who are increasingly unable to pass on rising costs to consumers and are, thus, facing cuts to their margins.In general, this is due to an excess of...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts is ready to view.Stainless steel prices are on the increase in June. As far as this market is concerned, it appears as though the Covid-19 pandemic has had little impact so far, with prices on the most common grades of stainless steel just 2-4% lower than they were at the turn of the year in most markets.Even in Asia, a region often talked ab...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts is ready to view.Stainless steel prices have fared relatively well over the past couple of months in the face of the threat from the Covid-19 pandemic.In grade-304 material, the most common grade of stainless steel, prices were down by about 5-7% since the turn of the year - not bad, when compared with the falls in prices of other assets so f...Read More
The apparent reaffirming of a phase one trade deal between the United States and China continued to drive an increase in London Metal Exchange three-month prices during the afternoon on Tuesday August 25, with LME base metals futures universally closing up at the 5pm kerb. The LME base metals complex has become prone to following macroeconomic developments, and today was no exception, with the lat...Read More
Exporters of steel slab from the Commonwealth of Independent States mostly kept their offer prices stable in the week to Tuesday August 25, although some made attempts to achieve a slight increase because of reduced availability.Customers, however, adopted a wait-and-see attitude while waiting for more clarity to emerge in the scrap and finished flat steel products sectors."The market is a little...Read More
The Brazilian aluminium industry association, Abal, expects to propose a new duty-free import quota to national foreign trade chamber Camex in a month's time, its president, Milton Rego, told Fastmarkets on Tuesday August 25.Market participants have been apprehensive for more than a month now about the possibility of filling quota volumes before the year-end. Imports of primary aluminium are free...Read More
Primary aluminium stocks at the three main Japanese ports (MJP) of Osaka, Nagoya and Yokohama fell by 1.7% year on year at the end of July, according to data released by major Japanese trading house Marubeni Corp. Total aluminium stocks at the three ports stood at 341,400 tonnes on July 31, down by 5,900 tonnes from 347,300 tonnes at the end of June, figures released on Monday August 24 showed. Th...Read More
China's imports of unwrought aluminium and aluminium products soared by more than sixfold on a year-on-year basis in July, while copper shipments also increased, but to a lesser degree, Chinese customs data, seen by Fastmarkets on Monday August 24, shows.AluminiumJuly imports: 391,237 tonnes, up by 570% year on year, up...Read More
Three-month base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange were predominantly up during morning trading on Tuesday August 25, with price action consolidating higher against news of a reaffirmed commitment to trade talks between the United States and China, while zinc futures led the way in a 1% morning uptick.Zinc's outright price on the LME was recently trading at $2,481.50 per tonne on Tuesday...Read More
Hot-rolled coil prices in the United States have topped $24.50 per hundredweight ($490 per short ton) for the first time in nine weeks on longer mill lead times and limited spot availability at some producers.Fastmarkets' daily steel hot-rolled coil index, fob mill US was calculated at $24.58 per cwt ($491.60 per ton) on Tuesday August 25, up by 1.7% from $24.16 per cwt on Monday August 24 and up...Read More
ArcelorMittal has restarted its blast furnace (BF) No3 at its Dunkirk flat steel plant in France, the company told Fastmarkets on Tuesday August 25."We have restarted BF No3 in Dunkirk and it is currently in its ramp up phase," the company's spokesman said.ArcelorMittal announced its plans to resume production in the middle of July after the equipment was idled from March 23 this year, when steel...Read More
Flat steel import prices in the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia continued to edge up this week, despite demand still being weak, sources told Fastmarkets on Tuesday August 25.No deals were heard during the week because of liquidity problems in the UAE, as well as buyers preferring to wait for prices to fall.UAEOffer prices for hot-rolled coil from Japan were heard in the UAE at $540-550 per...Read More
Prices for steel rebar and billet in the United Arab Emirates decreased slightly this week because of weak demand, market sources said on Tuesday August 25.Domestic rebarRebar producers in the UAE have been offering the product at 1,800-1,830 dirhams ($490-498) per tonne ex-works for orders with September-production since August 17, with deals heard over the week at 1,750 dirhams per tonne e...Read More