Lithium carbonate prices in China were at parity with those for hydroxide in the week ended Thursday September 16 amid lingering spot tightness for both battery-grade and technical-grade carbonate.Lithium prices in China's domestic market continue to make strong gains on tight spot availability, rising spot spodumene price.Spot supply constraints allow seaborne Asian lithium market to track the up...Read More
Rising freight rates continued to push the import prices for flat-rolled steel products upward in South America in the week ended Friday September 17, despite offers from China remaining scarce and demand slowing down, especially in Brazil.Some market participants reported that freight rates were $20-30 per tonne higher, depending on the port of origin and the product. For coiled material, for exa...Read More
Indian hot rolled coil export prices slumped by $65 per tonne at the top end of the range on Friday September 17, on lower-priced bookings to Vietnam, sources told Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets' price assessment for steel hot-rolled coil (commodity) export, fob main port India was $840-845 per tonne on Friday, down by $5-65 per...Read More
The flat steel market in Turkey remained slow during the week ended Friday September 17 because of decreasing prices, sources told Fastmarkets.Most producers decreased their prices during the week, but it did not help to stimulate buying due to falling global raw materials prices.Fastmarkets' daily calculation of its index for 62% Fe fines, cfr Qingdao was $101.95 per tonne on September 17, fallin...Read More
Domestic steel rebar prices in Poland declined again in the week to Friday; buyers expect further price declines and so held back from trading in the week ended September 17, sources told Fastmarkets.Trading activity in Poland's rebar market has been sluggish over the past seven days, with most sources expecting substantial price cuts by domestic mills toward October when the new quota period open...Read More
Domestic steel wire rod prices in Poland were flat in the week to Friday September 17, but buyers were expecting the previous downtrend to resume in October and therefore were holding back from trading, Fastmarkets has heard.The Polish wire rod market was quiet during the assessment week with limited trading, according to sources."Activity is weak. Everyone is waiting for a price reduction," one d...Read More
The upward trend in China's domestic rebar prices came to an end on Friday September 17, mainly due to a drop in demand for replenishment stocks, sources told Fastmarkets.DomesticEastern China (Shanghai): 5,580-5,620 yuan ($865-871) per tonne, unchangedNorthern China (Beijing) weekly assessment: 5,300-5,340 yuan per tonne, up by 50-60 yuan per tonneEnd-user demand in eastern China was stable on Fr...Read More
The price range for light iron scrap in the UK widened upward during the week to Friday September 17, with major processors seeking to attract enough feedstock into their yards to keep their scrap-processing machines working cost-effectively, trade sources have said.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel scrap 5C, loose old light, domestic, delivered inter-merchant, UK, was ?170-190 ($235...Read More
Brazil's pig iron export market was firm over the week to Friday September 17, with long lead times after active selling to the United States and China through the first half of September, sources told Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets' price assessment for pig iron, export, fob port of Vitoria/Rio, Brazil, was $480-500 per tonne on Friday, narrowing upward from $475-500 per tonne a week earlier.The latest...Read More
Trading activity in the import pig iron market in the United States slowed in the week ended Friday September 17, while the market remains firm, sources told Fastmarkets. Fastmarkets' price assessment for pig iron, import, cfr Gulf of Mexico, US was $530-540 per tonne on Friday, unchanged week on week."I have not seen any activity...Read More
Prices for steel billet exports from the Commonwealth of Independent States remained firm over past the week, supported by demand from China.Having sold a significant part of their October allocations and even part of their November allocations to China in the week to September 3, CIS mills were mainly in wait-and-see mode and not hurrying to sell their remaining volumes.Rare indications of offers...Read More
Steel billet exporters are finding resistance in making sales to the Chinese market at higher prices over recent days following another barrage of bookings at the start of the week, market participants told Fastmarkets on Friday September 17.Several hundred thousand tonnes of imported billet were heard sold to China through the weekend and into the beginning of the week before activity paused on T...Read More
The upward trend in China's domestic rebar prices came to an end on Friday September 17, mainly due to a drop in demand for replenishment stocks, sources told Fastmarkets.DomesticEastern China (Shanghai): 5,580-5,620 yuan ($865-871) per tonne, unchangedNorthern China (Beijing) weekly assessment: 5,300-5,340 yuan per tonne, up by 50-60 yuan per tonneEnd-user demand in eastern China was stable on Fr...Read More
Russia's Primorskiy Metallurgical Plant intends to build a steelmaking facility in the country's Far Eastern Primorsky Krai region, with capacity for 1.5 million tonnes per year of heavy steel plate and 250,000 tpy of large diameter pipe (LDP), Fastmarkets has learned.The new facility, scheduled to begin production in 2025, will be built in the territory of Bolshoy Kamen in the south of Primorsky...Read More
China is putting more cities in the northern region under its air pollution controls to reduce emissions during the upcoming winter.Cities in northern Hebei, northern Shanxi, eastern and southern Shandong and southern Henan will join the fight against smog, bringing the total number of cities affected to approximately 64, according to a draft policy plan released by the Ministry of Ecology and Env...Read More
Rising freight rates continued to push the import prices for flat-rolled steel products upward in South America in the week ended Friday September 17, despite offers from China remaining scarce and demand slowing down, especially in Brazil.Some market participants reported that freight rates were $20-30 per tonne higher, depending on the port of origin and the product. For coiled material, for exa...Read More
Prices for steel billet exports from the Commonwealth of Independent States remained firm over past the week, supported by demand from China.Having sold a significant part of their October allocations and even part of their November allocations to China in the week to September 3, CIS mills were mainly in wait-and-see mode and not hurrying to sell their remaining volumes.Rare indications of offers...Read More
The price range for light iron scrap in the UK widened upward during the week to Friday September 17, with major processors seeking to attract enough feedstock into their yards to keep their scrap-processing machines working cost-effectively, trade sources have said.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel scrap 5C, loose old light, domestic, delivered inter-merchant, UK, was ?170-190 ($235...Read More
An overview of the specialty steel raw materials markets in Europe and their latest price moves.Janie Davies, Cristina Belda,...Read More
Brazil-based metals producer Nexa Resources will shift its chain of command next year, with Ignacio Rosado to take the role of chief executive officer, it said on Thursday September 17.Rosado, former CEO at Peruvian miner Volcan, will join the company on November 1 and start the transition to substitute Tito Martins as Nexa's top executive on January 1, 2022.According to the company, Rosado has mo...Read More