Lead was the best performer on the London Metal Exchange at the end of trading on Thursday September 2, reaching its highest price in the past week, while most other metals in the base-metals complex remained around their Wednesday prices.Lead's three-month contract rose to as much as $2,315 per tonne on Thursday, and closed the session at $2,312.50 per tonne, up from Wednesday's 5pm price of $2,2...Read More
Steel wire rod prices in Northern Europe were largely flat in the week to Wednesday September 1, supported by good end-user demand and limited supplies, sources told Fastmarkets this week.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel wire rod (mesh-quality) domestic, delivered Northern Europe was ?,?890-920 ($1,052-1,088) per tonne on Wednesday, widening down from ?,?900-920 per tonne week on wee...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Thursday September 2 that are worth another look.The anticipated agreement between the European Union and the United States on Section 232 tariffs would boost flat-steel export sales to the US and, consequently, reduce domestic EU availability, triggering a price rise in Europe, European...Read More
Deep-sea steel scrap prices are expected to drop in upcoming bookings to Turkey, in line with falling finished steel prices in the country, market participants said on Thursday September 2.Sources said that suppliers in the United States were not currently offering material to Turkey because US domestic pricing negotiations remained unfinished. While a price drop is expected by some market partici...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 contraction* The US Dollar Index continues to retreatBase...Read More
The European hot-rolled coil market remained in "wait-and-see" mode on Thursday September 2, with mills continuing to reject buyers' lower bids, sources told Fastmarkets.Order books for the majority of EU mills are filled until the first quarter of 2022. As a result, they are keeping official offers unchanged from levels in June - before the market entered its traditional summer slowdown. Some mar...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Thursday September 2 that are worth another look.The anticipated agreement between the European Union and the United States on Section 232 tariffs would boost flat-steel export sales to the US and, consequently, reduce domestic EU availability, triggering a price rise in Europe, European...Read More
Prices for domestic steel reinforcing bar in the United States were stable this week, with market participants waiting to see if other mills will follow Steel Dynamics Inc's (SDI) price increase.Fastmarkets' price assessment for steel rebar, fob mill US was $49.25 per hundredweight ($985 per short ton) on Wednesday September 1, unchanged since August 11 but up by 75.89% from $28 per cwt at the sam...Read More
Seaborne iron ore prices fell on Thursday September 2, with the outlook remaining bearish despite a drop in steel inventories amid relatively active port trading, sources said.Fastmarkets iron ore indices 62% Fe fines, cfr Qingdao: $142.02 per tonne,down $1.41 per tonne62% Fe low-alumina fines, cfr Qingdao: $142.59 per tonne,down $1.64 per tonne58% Fe fines high-grade premium, cfr Qing...Read More
China Hongqiao, the world's largest producer of primary aluminium, has completed the first stage of its transition of over 2 million tonnes of aluminium production from Shandong to the company's hydro-powered smelter in China's Yunnan Province, it was announced during Fastmarkets International Aluminium conference this week. Speaking at the conference on Thursday September 2, Ron Knapp, internatio...Read More
LME aluminium rose to a year-to-date high on Thursday September 2, while the other base metals also edged up following a bout of profit-taking activity at the end of trading on Wednesday. Aluminium's three-month price on the LME reached a new 2021 peak of $2,734.50 per tonne on Thursday morning, up 1.65% from Wednesday's closing price of $2,690 per tonne. Rising coal prices due to supply worries i...Read More
The anticipated agreement between the European Union and the United States on Section 232 tariffs would boost flat-steel export sales to the US and, consequently, reduce domestic EU availability, triggering a price rise in Europe, European buyers told Fastmarkets.The US and EU will reach an agreement on the exemption from Section 232 of European imports of steel and aluminium by November 1. The US...Read More
Speculation as to whether China will lift its anti-dumping (AD) duty on Indonesian stainless steel arose during the week to September 2. Some market participants believe this move would reduce China's crude stainless steel production and thereby help lower carbon emissions.China has imposed AD duty on imports of stainless steel billet, slab, hot-rolled plate and coil produced in the European...Read More
Deep-sea steel scrap prices are expected to drop in upcoming bookings to Turkey, in line with falling finished steel prices in the country, market participants said on Thursday September 2.Sources said that suppliers in the United States were not currently offering material to Turkey because US domestic pricing negotiations remained unfinished. While a price drop is expected by some market partici...Read More
Speculation as to whether China will lift its anti-dumping (AD) duty on Indonesian stainless steel arose during the week to September 2. Some market participants believe this move would reduce China's crude stainless steel production and thereby help lower carbon emissions.China has imposed AD duty on imports of stainless steel billet, slab, hot-rolled plate and coil produced in the European...Read More
Copper scrap prices in the United States were steady on Wednesday September 1 amid solid demand and whipsawing Comex copper prices."Demand has held up well overseas, domestically it's fair," one trader source said. "Consumers have found a comfort level with their suppliers and everybody is making decent money at these spreads, so there've been no drastic...Read More
Hot-rolled coil prices in the United States climbed above $97 per hundredweight ($1,940 per short ton) to a new record, with market participants expressing concern that upcoming mill maintenance will result in reduced availability of steel. Fastmarkets' daily steel hot-rolled coil index, fob mill US was calculated at $97.08 per cwt ($1,941.60 per ton) on Thursday September 2, up by 0.86% from $96....Read More
Turkish prices for flat steel products kept decreasing during August because of the holiday season and a global downtrend in prices, sources told Fastmarkets on Thursday September 2.Iron ore prices in particular decreased significantly in August, leading to price falls for steel end products. Fastmarkets' daily calculation of the index for iron ore 62% Fe fines, cfr Qingdao was $142.02 per tonne o...Read More
Spot prices for Japanese exported scrap slid this week, reflecting weak demand from overseas buyers, market sources told Fastmarkets.But the end of the summer maintenance season at many domestic mills is set to shore up demand and spot prices in the coming weeks.Demand from key overseas market such as Vietnam and Taiwan remained very weak due to the Covid-19 pandemic in the former and cheaper cont...Read More
The lower house of the Brazilian Congress passed a personal and corporate income tax reform bill on Wednesday September 1 that included a 1.5 percentage point increase in mining royalties, while adding new commodities that will be subject to that change.The bill was approved by 398 votes against 77. It was intended to raise the Financial Compensation for Exploration of Mineral Resources - Cfem in...Read More