The Turkish steel producers have entered a third consecutive week with no deep-sea scrap bookings due to the still-weak finished markets for long steel products, sources said on Monday August 24.After booking some US and Baltic Sea cargoes at $285 per tonne cfr for HMS 1&2 (80:20) on August 7, the steel mills in Turkey went quiet in the deep-sea scrap import markets.In the past two weeks, the Turk...Read More
Cobalt producers Huayou and Glencore are founding members of a new body aiming to develop artisanal and small-scale miners in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). The objectives of the Fair Cobalt Alliance (FCA) include supporting the professionalization of site management and instilling best practice across the artisanal mining sector to develop health and safety, and minimize the environm...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Monday August 24 that are worth another look.The steel recycling division of Tata Steel has announced it is launching a mobile app for sourcing steel scrap in India, the company said on August 19.London-based metals trading firm...Read More
London-based mining private-equity company Appian Capital Advisory has appointed Nelson Silva, a former director at Brazilian state-owned oil company Petrobras, to be its senior safety and social performance adviser, it said on Monday August 24.Silva will take the role of assisting with environmental, health, safety and community issues on Appian's mining portfolio, the company added.Appian operat...Read More
The three-month price of nickel on the London Metal Exchange was higher at the close of trading on Monday August 24, outperforming its peers and closing a little more than 1% higher, while the entire base-metals complex was given a boost by a rally in global equity markets.Nickel's outright price closed at $14,926 per tonne on Monday afternoon, its highest closing price since November 2019, and co...Read More
Seaborne iron ore prices eased for the second consecutive trading session on Monday August 24 amid limited trading activity, according to trade sources.Fastmarkets iron ore indices62% Fe fines, cfr Qingdao: $125.23 per tonne, down by $2.15 per tonne.62% Fe low-alumina fines, cfr Qingdao: $124.78 per tonne, down by $1.93 per tonne.58% Fe fines high-grade premium, cfr Qingdao: $111.21 per tonne, dow...Read More
Seaborne coking coal prices were relatively flat on Monday August 24 due to a lack of transactions, sources told Fastmarkets. Fastmarkets indicesPremium hard coking coal, fob DBCT: $104.09 per tonne, down $0.62 per tonne Premium hard coking coal, cfr Jingtang: $114.63 per tonne, unchangedHard coking coal, fob DBCT: $85.19 per tonne, unchangedHard coking coal,...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view. We also review our price forecasting accuracy for the second quarter 2020.Q2 2020 price forecast performance review According to the results of Fastmarkets' Apex for the second quarter of 2020 published this week, Fastmarkets' base metals research team was the second most accurate price forecaster for nickel (99.06%), lead...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.Aluminium: Comfortable consolidationAluminium appears comfortable consolidating for the moment, and this will leave prices in a stronger position to challenge overhanging long-term trend-line resistance from the May 2018 high, which stands at $1,670 per tonne currently.Copper: Consolidation unlikely to lastCopper reached its...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.Aluminium: Upside breakout last weekThe price of aluminium on the London Metal Exchange surprised us with a break to the upside in the week ended July 10, when prices on the Shanghai Futures Exchange raced to three-and-a-half-year highs. While we think there is more short-term upside potential if technical and liquidity fact...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.Aluminium: Capped by oversupplyA lack of a meaningful supply adjustment to the Covid-19 demand hit is keeping the aluminium physical market oversupplied and weighing on prices, limiting the success of more buoyant macro and technical forces on prices. Our premium forecasts are under review in light of threats from the U...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.US market at risk of slidingPrices for pipe products were at a floor in the United States in mid-August, and have been broadly stable at that level since the start of the second quarter, but they are at risk of declining further in the coming months.Drilling rig counts have yet to find a floor and have fallen below most esti...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.This month's key North American steel forecast highlights:US domestic prices for hot-rolled coil moved down in line with our expectations, averaging $461 per ton in July versus our forecast price of $460 per ton. Although domestic HRC prices slipped to less than $450 per ton in late July/early August, we maintain the view th...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.?EUR? US domestic prices for hot-rolled coil have moved down in line with our expectations, averaging $508 per tonne in July compared with our forecast price of $519 per tonne. While we are forecasting coil price increases in August, we have revised our expectations downward. Although steelmakers are reporting improving dema...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.The price for steel scrap in China has risen recently, amid high mill operating rates and at a time of heavy rain, but it remains at a premium to hot metal, we estimate. Heavy rains in China tend to increase the moisture content of iron ore stockpiles, which can cause issues during the sintering process, and this may have en...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.This month's key ferro-alloy forecast highlights:Numerous ore and alloy markets enjoyed upward pricing momentum in the first half 2020, with supply-side constraints supporting prices despite collapsing demand from steelmakers and other key end users. While supply side issues related to Covid-19 lockdowns have been resolved,...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.In previous reports, we noted that upside risks to our forecasts existed. These were based on Chinese steel production, and in turn alloy consumption, outperforming our expectations.Chinese crude steel production is rising each month in a year-on-year comparison, prompting our revised view that Chinese alloy consumption will...Read More
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