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
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
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
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 three-month price of copper on the London Metal Exchange was the underperformer at the close of trading on Thursday August 20, with the price holding above nearby support despite losing more than 1.2% over the day.Meanwhile, zinc futures struggled to hold ground above the $2,500-per-tonne threshold.Copper's outright price on the LME closed at $6,601.50 per tonne on Thursday afternoon, falling...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
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
Brazilian steel slab producer Companhia Sider??rgica do Pec?(C)m (CSP) has named Marcelo Botelho as its chief executive officer, it said on Wednesday August 19.He replaces Cl??udio Bastos, who had been in the position since February 2018. Bastos will take up a position in Brazil-based miner Vale, which is one of CSP's...Read More
The three-month price of copper on the London Metal Exchange was the underperformer at the close of trading on Thursday August 20, with the price holding above nearby support despite losing more than 1.2% over the day.Meanwhile, zinc futures struggled to hold ground above the $2,500-per-tonne threshold.Copper's outright price on the LME closed at $6,601.50 per tonne on Thursday afternoon, falling...Read More
The seaborne premium hard coking coal fob index edged up on Thursday August 20 due to the bullish market sentiment from India, while Chinese participants, however, still feel trapped by a lack of coking coal import quotas, Fastmarkets heard.Fastmarkets indices Premium hard coking coal, fob DBCT: $104.17 per tonne, up $0.61 per tonne Premium hard coking coal, cfr Jingtang: $114.60 per tonne, up $...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
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.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.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
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
Fastmarkets has made corrections to its daily calculations of nickel and copper physical metal arbitrage into China, after input errors led to inaccurate figures being published. From August 3 to August 17, Fastmarkets published its nickel import arbitrage, $/tonne and nickel import arbitrage, yuan/tonne calculations based on a bonded warehouse nickel premium of $110 per tonne. They shou...Read More
The LME three-month copper price was the biggest faller in morning trading on Thursday August 20, dropping by 1.7% against a slight uptick in the US dollar index, while a fresh cancellation supported the nickel price.Copper's outright price on the London Metal Exchange was recently trading at $6,575.50 per tonne on Thursday morning, wiping out gains made on Wednesday after closing at its highest l...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
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
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