Key information from the pricing session for Fastmarkets' daily alumina index, fob Australia, on Thursday August 20.The index was $284.30 per tonne on Thursday, its highest since March 18 this year when it was $297.23 per tonne, and was up by 7% since the beginning of this week.Key drivers Production at Norsk Hydro's Alunorte alumina refinery in Brazil has been reduced to 35-45% of capacity. Hydro...Read More
A summary of producer South32's financial results for the year ended June 30, 2020.In briefSouth32's underlying earnings were down by 81% in the 2020 financial year at $193 million, compared with $992 million in the prior financial year, with volatile macroeconomic conditions affecting the prices of key commodities. Statutory profit after tax declined by $454 million to a loss of $65 million in 20...Read More
China's domestic stainless steel prices rose for an eighth week reach their highest since February 19, while export prices too have risen to levels not seen since late last year.A weakening of the US dollar pushed up prices for commodities, including nickel, which then drove up stainless steel prices, an industry analyst in Shanghai said.The three-month nickel contract on the London Metal Exchange...Read More
Tight intermediates availability and a rally in the cobalt hydroxide market brought cobalt metal back in favor with cobalt sulfate refineries looking to cut risk in their feedstock inflows in late July. Until then, cobalt hydroxide payables - the percentage of the metal price buyers pay sellers for cobalt intermediates - had been capped at 70% for at least a year and a half, reflecting ample suppl...Read More
Turkish steel producers continued to stay out of the deep-sea scrap market on Thursday August 20, due to continuing weak demand in the domestic and export finished long steel markets, sources told Fastmarkets.Having booked some US and Baltic Sea cargoes at $285 per tonne cfr for HMS 1&2 (80:20) on August 7, mills in Turkey paused their deep-sea activity due the l...Read More
The cascade of cargoes booked by Bangladeshi mills from United States recyclers continued over the past week to Thursday August 20, with two more deals heard, sources told Fastmarkets. Demand for scrap in Bangladesh has ballooned over the past month, with mill capacity utilization rising at the country's three largest mills, and scrap stocks at steelmakers depleting. A Bangladeshi mill bought a bu...Read More
Three-month base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange were mostly weaker this morning, Thursday August 20, as were Asian-Pacific and pre-market major western equity index futures. Gold prices are rebounding after Wednesday's 3.3% sell-off.US equities retreated on Wednesday after the Federal Reserve minutes highlighted concerns about the US recovery.Base metals The three-month base metals pri...Read More
A summary of results for the lithium division of Chilean producer Sociedad Quimica y Minera (SQM) for the first six months of 2020, as shown in its half-year report published on Wednesday August 19.In brief Sales from the lithium division were up by 45% quarter-on-quarter in the April-June quarter despite being down by around 7% year-on-year overall in the first half of 2020. Lithium sales totaled...Read More
For the first time since the boom began in China's new energy vehicles (NEVs) sector in 2014, Europe is taking the lead, according to Al Bedwell, director at Global Powertrain, part of independent sector services provider LMC Automotive."Europe is certainly the star of the show and is responsible for the overperformance of the battery electric vehicle [BEV] segment this year," Bedwell said during...Read More
China's Ganfeng Lithium has signed a cooperation agreement with Jiangxi Special Electric Motor (Jiangte Motor) to manage and operate its lithium production lines from October this year.Ganfeng signed the lithium production line cooperation agreement with Jiangte Motor and its subsidiaries including wholly-owned subsidiary company Jiangte Mining and Jiangte Mining subsidiary Yichun Yinli New Energy...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Thursday August 20 that are worth another look.The domestic hot-rolled coil price in Northern Europe moved up on August 20, following producers' bullish pricing policy, sources told Fastmarkets.China's domestic stainless steel prices rose for an eighth...Read More
Prices for domestic and imported rebar in the United States were stable on Wednesday August 19, with market participants expecting prices to remain unchanged heading into late summer.US marketFastmarkets' assessment for steel reinforcing bar (rebar), fob mill US was unchanged at $28 per hundredweight ($560 per short ton) on Wednesday August 19.According to one trader, domestic prices should remain...Read More
Imported billet and domestic rebar prices remained stable in Egypt because of weak demand, sources told Fastmarkets on Thursday, August 20.The reason demand was slow is that billet prices have stopped increasing, so end-product prices have also fallen, Egyptian sources said.Fastmarkets' daily steel billet...Read More
Domestic long steel prices have gone down in Turkey over the past week in line with poor demand and a slight recovery in the Turkish currency, sources said on Thursday August 20.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel reinforcing bar (rebar), domestic, exw Turkey, was 3,790-3,810 ($516-519) per tonne on Thursday, slightly down from the 3,810-3,870 lira per tonne of last week.The steel mills...Read More
Turkish steel producers continued to stay out of the deep-sea scrap market on Thursday August 20, due to continuing weak demand in the domestic and export finished long steel markets, sources told Fastmarkets.Having booked some US and Baltic Sea cargoes at $285 per tonne cfr for HMS 1&2 (80:20) on August 7, mills in Turkey paused their deep-sea activity due the l...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
Seaborne iron ore prices were largely stable on Thursday August 20 in a much calmer market than the previous three days of trading, sources told Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets iron ore indices 62% Fe fines, cfr Qingdao: $129.32 per tonne, up $0.23 per tonne 62% Fe low-alumina fines, cfr Qingdao: $128.59 per tonne, up $0.20 per tonne.58% Fe fines high-grade premium, cfr Qingdao: $114.95 per tonne, up $0.4...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Thursday August 20 that are worth another look.The domestic hot-rolled coil price in Northern Europe moved up on August 20, following producers' bullish pricing policy, sources told Fastmarkets.China's domestic stainless steel prices rose for an eighth...Read More
Prices for steel billet in Southeast Asia remained largely rangebound over the last week amid poor demand, but fresh bookings to China are likely to now push prices higher, sources told Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets' daily price assessment for steel billet, import, cfr Southeast Asia, which mainly looks at 120-150mm 5sp grade billet sold into the Philippines, was $435-440 per tonne on August 20, up from...Read More
China's domestic stainless steel prices rose for an eighth week reach their highest since February 19, while export prices too have risen to levels not seen since late last year.A weakening of the US dollar pushed up prices for commodities, including nickel, which then drove up stainless steel prices, an industry analyst in Shanghai said.The three-month nickel contract on the London Metal Exchange...Read More