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 three-month copper price on the London Metal Exchange continued to lose momentum on Friday August 21, slipping below$6,500 per tonne.Copper's three-month price on the LME closed at $6,482.50 per tonne on Friday afternoon, falling from an intraday high of $6,650 per tonne, on a day that saw 17,690 copper lots traded by the 5pm close.Copper's benchmark cash/three-month spread was recently tradin...Read More
An overview of the minor metals markets and the reasons for any price moves.Read More
An overview of the battery raw materials markets and the latest price moves.Read More
Fastmarkets copper concentrate treatment and refining charge (TC/RC) index continues to set new lows and has done for three weeks in a row. Major Chinese smelters are well-stocked for the third quarter, with Collahuasi, Cerro Verde and some clean brands reported being bought in the high $40s, Fastmarkets heard. Traders' buying levels are heard to be in a range of high $30s to low $40s,...Read More
China's plans to stockpile some 40,000 tonnes of tin in the coming year could threaten the London Metal Exchange's smallest market with further tightness, sources have told Fastmarkets.With the industry's supply chain still reeling from the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, concerns were now beginning to mount over the global availability of concentrate feed for smelters."The [global] tin market i...Read More
Three-month base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange were mostly down during morning trading on Friday August 21 after the release of key purchasing managers' index (PMI) data out of Europe disappointed, while copper futures took the brunt of the decline over the morning in a 1.2% drop. Copper's outright price on the LME was recently seen at $6,535 per tonne, slipping below nearby resistanc...Read More
Lead stocks in Shanghai Futures Exchange-registered warehouses fell the most in percentage terms - by 4.5% or 1,522 tonnes to 32,403 tonnes - in the week to Friday August 21.The outflows mainly came from warehouses run by Zhejiang Tianchuan in Zhejiang province with decline of 1,575 tonnes while warehouse of Minmetals Wuxi had the most inflows of 246...Read More
Markets were for the most part upbeat this morning, Friday August 21, with all of the base metals on the London Metal Exchange firmer, as were most Asian-Pacific equities, although they are firmer within consolidation patterns.But after the accelerated gains at the start of the week, with the S&P 500 regaining all the losses suffered from the coronavirus hit and with the base metals now on average...Read More
The price of alumina in China rose this week amid a bout of panic buying among participants, who worried that reduced supply in the seaborne market after a disruption at Hydro's Alunorte refinery in Brazil would in turn affect the Chinese domestic market.Hydro announced on Tuesday August 18 that it had halted operation of the pipeline transporting bauxite from its Paragominas bauxite mine to the A...Read More
Prices for cold-roll and galvanized steel sheet in the United States climbed for the second straight week after buyers sensed a bottom in pricing and helped the mills fill order books for the remainder of the third quarter. Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel cold-rolled coil, fob mill US rose to $32.50 per hundredweight ($650 per short ton) on Thursday August 20, up by 1.6% from $...Read More
Liberty Steel Group has resumed operations at one of its blast furnaces at its Ostrava steelworks after nearly four months of downtime, the company said on Friday August 21. Liberty has restarted blast furnace (BF) No 2 at its plant in Ostrava in the Czech Republic on Friday and plans to gradually ramp up production to adapt to market demand, a company spokesperson told Fastmarkets. The BF wa...Read More
The domestic price of hot-rolled coil in Northern Europe moved up on Friday August 21 after producers announced a rise in offers, sources have told Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets' daily steel hot-rolled coil index, domestic, exw Northern Europe, was calculated at ?,?433.75 ($513.83) per tonne on Friday, up by ?,?1.87 from ?,?431.88 per tonne on Thursday.The index was also up by ?,?14.58 per tonne week on...Read More
Turkish prices in the domestic market for hot-dipped galvanized coil (HDG) and color-coated coil were mostly stable in the week to August 21, with demand remaining weak because of the holiday season, sources told Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets' price assessment of steel HDG, domestic, exw Turkey was unchanged at $660-670 per tonne on Friday.Turkish producers were offering HDG at $660-680 per tonne ex-wor...Read More
Liberty Ostrava, part of the Liberty Steel Group, will install two hybrid furnaces at its integrated steel mill in the Czech Republic as part of the company's Greensteel plan to become carbon-neutral by 2030, it said on Thursday August 20.It has received approval from the country's ministry of environment for its Environmental Impact Assessment of the implementation of new low-carbon technologies...Read More
UK inter-merchant spot prices for light iron scrap increased in the week to Friday August 21 on tight availability, due to falling scrap generation in recent months while domestic and export demand has remained steady, sources told Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel scrap 5C, loose old light, domestic, delivered inter-merchant, UK was ?95-105 ($125-138) per tonne...Read More
The import pig iron market in the United States was quiet during the week to Friday August 21, but buyers are expected to start restocking soon, according to market sources.Fastmarkets' price assessment of pig iron, import, cfr Gulf of Mexico, US was unmoved week on week at $340-345 per tonne on Friday, with no activity reported. "The US will need to buy at some point, but for now they...Read More