Coated steel coil prices in Turkey continued to decline during the week to Friday September 3 on persistently slow demand and weaker hot-rolled coil prices, sources told Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets assessed steel hot-rolled coil, domestic, exw Turkey at $950-990 per tonne on Friday, narrowing downward by $10 from $950-1,000 per tonne last week.Domestic pricesFastmarkets' weekly price assessment for st...Read More
Chilean copper production in July was close to stability when compared with the corresponding month of 2020, amid increased output from Codelco and a drop reported by Escondida and Collahuasi, the country's copper commission, Cochilco, said on Thursday September 2.Chile produced 465,000 tonnes of copper in July, a slight decrease of 0.02% from 465,100 tonnes a year before but down by 2.58% from 47...Read More
The European steel hot-rolled coil market was quiet and lacking in direction on Friday September 3, with buyers and mills split on the future trend of prices, Fastmarkets heard.Producers in Northern Europe and Italy said they were sold out until the end of 2021, with some even booked for the first quarter of 2022, so are in no rush to reduce prices. In addition, if the European Union and the Unit...Read More
The United States' steel import licenses dropped month on month but soared year on year in August, according to government figures.The US was licensed to import 2.30 million tonnes of steel in August, according to data from the US International Trade Administration's steel import monitoring system collected through Wednesday September 1. That was down by 17.86% from the preliminary US Census impor...Read More
An overview of the new energy materials markets and their price moves in the week to Friday September 3.Susan Zou, Yingchi Yang and...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
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
Zinc producers in China's southwestern province of Yunnan should be able to fully resume their operations by mid-June, sources said.Yunnan will remove its power restrictions by the end of June that have stunted local zinc output, the provincial energy bureau said.A few zinc smelters in Yunnan have already resumed production, however, sources that spoke to Fastmarkets said.Production capa...Read More
Poor demand in key import markets in Turkey and Asia continued to pull steel scrap prices downward in the week ended Friday September 3. High freight costs and a lack of container ships also damped spot trading liquidity.Turkish mills book handful of cargoes for requirementsUS sees limited export transactionsChina demand weak amid more production cutsVietnam spot liquidity limited due to holidaysT...Read More
Base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange and Shanghai Futures Exchange were mixed on the morning of Friday September 3, but overall the picture is one of consolidation ahead of today's employment report from the United States.China's Caixin services PMI dropped to 46.7 in August, from 54.9 in July, switching from expansion to contractionThe US Dollar Index continues to retreat Base metalsTh...Read More
An overview of the new energy materials markets and their price moves in the week to Friday September 3.Susan Zou, Yingchi Yang and...Read More
The light iron scrap market in the United Kingdom widened in its price range during the week to Friday September 3, with the low end dropping ?5 ($7) per tonne. And quiet trading in European deep-sea export markets weighed on British prices, according to trade sources.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel scrap 5C, loose old light domestic, delivered inter-merchant, UK was ?170-185...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
Stainless steel prices continue to register new highs around the end of the first half of 2021 and steelmakers continue to enjoy outsized margins.They have responded in recent months by increasing their output, which has now pushed above pre-pandemic levels and will eventually restore balance to the market.For now, though, supply gaps are still being filled and buyers find themselves competing aga...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts is ready to view.Recent weeks have brought two key developments with regard to trade policy on stainless steel products that will be to the detriment of consumers.In China, the country's stainless steelmakers no longer enjoy a 13% export rebate as of May 1, reducing greatly their incentive to export and instead leading them to focus on supply...Read More
Prices for cold-rolled and galvanized steel sheet in the United States have increased at a time when a series of planned maintenance outages at domestic mills are drawing closer.Fastmarkets' weekly assessment for steel cold-rolled coil, fob mill US climbed by 0.47% to $108 per hundredweight ($2,160 per short ton) on Thursday September 2 from $107.50 per cwt on August 26. The assessment has soared...Read More
The light iron scrap market in the United Kingdom widened in its price range during the week to Friday September 3, with the low end dropping ?5 ($7) per tonne. And quiet trading in European deep-sea export markets weighed on British prices, according to trade sources.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel scrap 5C, loose old light domestic, delivered inter-merchant, UK was ?170-185...Read More
An overview of the new energy materials markets and their price moves in the week to Friday September 3.Susan Zou, Yingchi Yang and...Read More
London Metal Exchange ring dealing members have a decision to make - whether to remain one or not.The LME has just announced it will reopen the open outcry trading floor, which was temporarily closed due to Covid-19, on September 6.Its plan, however, comes with a twist; some ring dealers say, a knife.The official prices - which the global trade and industry use as the global reference for physical...Read More
Domestic prices for alloy steel scrap in the UK increased in the week to Friday September 3 due to good demand combined with tight supply, sources have told Fastmarkets.UK sellers of alloy scrap have been benefiting from both good domestic demand and strong demand and higher prices in India and the EU. As a result, UK buyers...Read More