China's nickel sulfate prices softened in the week to Friday September 10 amid an increase in the supply of mixed hydroxide precipitate (MHP), though strong nickel prices on both the London Metal Exchange and Shanghai Futures Exchange kept the spot market quiet.Fastmarkets assessed prices for nickel sulfate min 21%, max 22.5%; cobalt 10ppm max, exw China at 36,500-38,000 yuan ($5,663-5,896) per to...Read More
Hot-rolled coil prices in the United States reached a new record on Monday September 13, while market participants remained split regarding the direction that spot pricing will take in the immediate future.Fastmarkets' daily steel hot-rolled coil index, fob mill US was calculated at $97.50 per hundredweight ($1,950 per short ton) on Monday, up by 0.69% from $96.83 per cwt on Friday September 10 an...Read More
Carbon steel plate prices in the United States remained at an all-time high on Friday September 10, and market chatter suggests the current lull in market activity is widespread but temporary.Fastmarkets' weekly assessment for steel cut-to-length plate carbon grade, fob mill US was at $87 per hundredweight ($1,740 per short ton) on Friday, unchanged since August 27.Fob mill assessments ranged from...Read More
Prices in the Commonwealth of Independent States export slab market declined during the week to Monday September 13 due to bookings made at lower levels.Mills cut prices to attract customers, while the latter showed modest interest in imported material on expectations that prices will decrease further in the coming weeks.Weaker finished flat steel prices, both in the CIS region as well as in the m...Read More
Seaborne iron ore prices inched down on Monday September 13 due to weak buying interest from end users, sources said.Fastmarkets iron ore indices62% Fe fines, cfr Qingdao: $123.84 per tonne, down $5.87 per tonne62% Fe low-alumina fines, cfr Qingdao: $124.16 per tonne, down $6.09 per tonne58% Fe fines high-grade premium, cfr Qingdao: $97.99 per tonne, down $6.13 per tonne65% Fe Br...Read More
The recovery of the Brazilian domestic flat steel market appears to have peaked in recent weeks, but it is expected to continue strong through 2022, according to ArcelorMittal Brasil chief executive officer Benjamin Baptista Filho."We saw since last year a very strong recovery of the Brazilian manufacturing activity, especially from the agribusiness sector, and demand for steel rose in a sustained...Read More
Turkish deep-sea scrap import prices fell sharply on the news of a fresh booking for October shipment, market participants told Fastmarkets on Monday September 13.A steel mill in the Marmara region booked a US cargo, comprising 32,000 tonnes of HMS 1&2 (80:20) at $436 per tonne and 8,000 tonnes of shredded at $451.50 per tonne cfr late on Friday September 10.Earlier on Friday, a booking from the B...Read More
Eight of the nine Category 1 members of the London Metal Exchange have indicated their support for continuing to trade official lunchtime prices in the open-outcry ring.Does this mean that one company does not support ring trading? And could one of the exchange's members be preparing to leave the trading floor?The exchange revealed on Monday August 9 that it had majority support for the ring, in a...Read More
The latest forecasts and analysis of the ferrous scrap and iron metallics market from the Fastmarkets research team are ready to be viewed.Stifled automotive output this year, driven by a supply shortage of semiconductor chips used in vehicles, has tightened prime scrap availability and widened the spreads between this grade of steelmaking raw material and obsolete scrap.While wide prime-over-obso...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.Fastmarkets analysts were invited to present our outlook for the coking coal market at Coaltrans Asia, held online on November 23-25. One of the key topics at the event was the trade tensions between China and Australia, which overtook Mongolia to become the largest coking coal exporter to China this year...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.Iron ore remains the most bullish commodity of the year, with prices fuelled by Chinese demand and supply disruptions in Brazil, along with bullish sentiment. But prices are expected to come down because Brazilian exports have begun to recover, and have reached their highest level since the Brumadinho dam disaster in 2019. W...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.In the iron ore market, supply issues including heavy rains at the start of the year, followed by staffing problems during the Covid-19 pandemic, have affected exports from Brazil. This has helped Australia gain a larger market share, but since June, Brazilian export volumes have returned to levels last seen before the...Read More
Steelmakers in Bangladesh returned to the market for imports of bulk steel scrap cargoes in the week ended Friday September 10 despite very high freight costs, sources told Fastmarkets.Bangladesh removed its Covid-19-related lockdown in early August 2020, leading to a re-opening of the steel retail markets and easing the movement of scrap across the country.The decision also allowed induction furn...Read More
The Brazilian domestic price for steel rebar was unchanged in September, with producers and buyers in a tug of war amid a global downturn and efforts to prevent oversupply in the market.Fastmarkets' price assessment for steel reinforcing bar (rebar) domestic, monthly, delivered Brazil held at 5,100-5,310 Reais ($972-1,012) per tonne on Friday September 10, compared with August 13, when it fell to...Read More
Major Japanese carmaker Toyota is cutting production by another 400,000 units globally in September and October due to a "shortage of certain parts" caused by Covid-19 in Southeast Asia, it said last Friday September 10.The cut includes 70,000 units in September, of which 40,000 units are overseas and 30,000 units are in Japan.In October, it will reduce production by 330,000 units - 150,000 units...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Monday September 13 that are worth another look....Read More
If any member was going to leave the London Metal Exchange ring trading floor, the exchange was probably hoping it wouldn't be Triland Metals Ltd.The company, a wholly owned subsidiary of Japanese conglomerate Mitsubishi, is one of the exchange's longest serving Category 1 members, having joined in 1972 after being founded in the prior year. Having a unit of Japan's largest trading company as a ri...Read More
Inner Mongolia, China's ferro-chrome production heartland, has imposed restrictions on its metallurgical sector in a move that has fueled the high-carbon ferro-chrome markets in China and Europe, and although this may ease off, the gains were unlikely to be lost while alloy ramp-ups continue, sources have told Fastmarkets.The decision to restrict energy consumption in Inner Mongolia since December...Read More
Spot prices for hot-rolled coil in China's domestic market held stable on Monday September 13, supported by expectations of a decline in supply due to more local governments stepping up efforts to curb energy consumption.DomesticEastern China (Shanghai): 5,850-5,900 yuan ($906-914) per tonne, narrowing downward by 20 yuan per tonneSouthwest China's Yunnan province requires steel mills across the r...Read More
Chilean copper miner Codelco's management and the Sindicato de Uni??n Plantas (Suplant) trade union reached a new collective wage agreement on Friday September 10, which should end a strike that has lasted for three-and-a-half weeks.The Suplant union, which represents employees at the company's Andina concentrator plant, rejected the last offer that came within the standard negotiation period and...Read More