A summary of China's base metals imports for July 2021, according to Chinese customs data released on Friday August 20.Copper ore and concentrateJuly total: 1.89 tonnes, up by 12.9% month on month, up by 5.1% year on yearYear to date: 13.39 million tonnes, down by 10% year on yearRefined copperJuly total: 270,054 tonnes, down by 2.6% month on month, down by 52.5% year on yearYear to date: 2.07 mil...Read More
Initial offers for fourth-quarter supply of aluminium to main Japanese ports (MJP) are at a premium of $230 per tonne to the London Metal Exchange cash price, market participants told Fastmarkets on Tuesday August 24.The unconfirmed offer from this producer is 28.9% higher than the cif MJP premium for the third quarter, which settled at $172-185 per tonne.For the fourth quarter of last year,...Read More
A summary of the financial and performance results for China Molybdenum for the first half of 2021, published on Monday August 23.In briefRevenue from the company's mining and processing business totaled 84.82 billion yuan ($13.07 billion) in the first half of 2021, up by 81.45% year-on-year. Net profit was 2.41 billion...Read More
Prices for hot-rolled coil in the United States were virtually unchanged while order flow slowed on Tuesday August 24, with mills still discerning their next round of spot pricing and service centers reluctant to restock at current levels. Fastmarkets' daily steel hot-rolled coil index, fob mill US was calculated at $96.55 per hundredweight ($1,931 per short ton) on August 24, little-changed from...Read More
Sales volumes from Brazilian flat-rolled steel distributors were down by 24.01% on an annual basis in July 2021, due to clients increasing their direct purchases from steelmakers, national distributors' association Inda said on Tuesday August 24.Many clients that traditionally bought directly from mills had resorted to buying from distributors during the Covid-19 pandemic, because steelmakers were...Read More
Steel billet prices in key Asian import markets have continued to edge down in recent days amid weaker demand, sources told Fastmarkets on Tuesday August 24.Chinese ferrous futures gained ground on Monday and Tuesday after last week's crash, but the reaction from the physical spot market for steel billet has so far been limited, with bids from Chinese buyers still far below the offer prices.O...Read More
Prices for hot- and cold-rolled steel sheet and heavy plate in Russia's Central Federal District around Moscow continued to fall in the week ended Monday August 23, sources have told Fastmarkets.Hot-rolled sheet and heavy plate prices decreased by 3-5% week on week, while the drop for cold-rolled sheet prices was more pronounced at 10% week on week.Opinions varied about why this happened. One trad...Read More
Mexican ferrous scrap prices have trended lower, with more consumers applying price cuts to all grades.In recent weeks, scrap buyers announced weekly price cuts of 200 pesos ($10) per tonne, but sellers were resisting lower prices. Last week, lower prices were found to be more widespread, especially for obsolete grades. After succeeding in reducing prices for obsolete grades, buyers have been anno...Read More
Turkish steel mills continued to stay away from the deep-sea scrap import markets for the second working day of the week amid limited finished steel sales, market participants told Fastmarkets on Tuesday August 24.The most recent deep-sea trade was reported at the end of the week to August 20, when a steel mill in the Iskenderun region booked a United States cargo composed of 20,000 tonnes of HMS...Read More
China's domestic rebar market continued to push upward on Tuesday August 24, but the higher prices are weighing on buying interest. DomesticEastern China (Shanghai): 5,200-5,230 yuan ($802-807) per tonne, up by 60-70 yuan per tonneSpot prices rode the surge in the rebar futures market during the day, though this resulted in a slight drop in demand, sources said.Trading companies that actively...Read More
London Metal Exchange future contracts for tin and zinc had the most prominent increases on the morning of Tuesday August 23, after a small rally on Monday in which copper, aluminium and nickel rose over 2%; cancellations in LME warehouses continued for some metals.Following a 14,475-tonne cancellation on Monday, a further 9,000 tonnes of copper were cancelled in Busan (6,575 tonnes), Singapore (2...Read More
Members of the Sisan trade union for supervisors at the Andina copper mine have agreed to the latest labor offer from Codelco, the Chilean state-owned company said on Tuesday August 24.While the supervisors agreed to no increase in wages, they have settled for a one-off bonus of 5.07 million pesos ($6,453) per person, with 92% of union members voting for the deal, the company added. The supervisor...Read More
Gonzalo Cuadra will retire from his role as commercial representative in Europe for Chilean copper producer Codelco after almost three decades with the company, according to an announcement circulated among customers on Tuesday August 24.Jos?(C) Ignacio P?(C)rez Paredes, who has been on the company's team in London since 2018 and with Codelco for 10 years, will succeed Cuadra as chief executive of...Read More
Domestic rebar producers in the United Arab Emirates reduced their prices on Tuesday August 24 amid low demand, sources told Fastmarkets.Demand was low because of the summer slowdown and falling prices; buyers preferred to wait to determine how much further prices will fall.The country's biggest producer, Emirates Steel, offered rebar at 2,610 dirhams ($710.46) per tonne, down from 2,957 dirh...Read More
Aluminium's three-month price on the London Metal Exchange, backed by a constrained physical market, was just $5.50 per tonne short of its latest year-to-date high on Tuesday August 24, with nickel and zinc also climbing back above key psychological levels while most commodities and equities ticked upward.Aluminium's futures contract showed an intraday high of $2,636.50 per tonne on Tuesday, just...Read More
Seaborne coking coal prices maintained their upward trend in the cfr China market amid continuous supply tightness on Tuesday August 24. The fob market increased amid stable buying interest, sources said.Fastmarkets indicesPremium hard coking coal, cfr Jingtang: $386.83 per tonne, up $5.10 per tonne Hard coking coal, cfr Jingtang: $356.68 per tonne, up $3.78 per tonne Premium hard coking...Read More
Prices of hot-rolled coil in China's domestic market rose for the third straight day on Tuesday August 24 following a surge in futures while the Shanghai Futures Exchange ferrous complex rose.DomesticEastern China (Shanghai): 5,710-5,720 yuan ($881-883) per tonne, up by 20-50 yuan per tonneThe most-traded HRC contract on the SHFE surged by 140 yuan per tonne on Tuesday from the previous day's clos...Read More
Iron ore prices largely increased on Tuesday August 24 with active trading at China's ports.Fastmarkets iron ore indices62% Fe fines, cfr Qingdao: $146.13 per tonne, up by $9.42 per tonne62% Fe low-alumina fines, cfr Qingdao: $147.96 per tonne, up by $10.74 per tonne58% Fe fines high-grade premium, cfr Qingdao: $113.91 per tonne, up by $7.27 per tonne65% Fe Brazil-origin fines, cfr Qingdao: $166.1...Read More
Cancellation of 44,000 tonnes of copper in London Metal Exchange warehouses kept the metal's nearby price spreads in backwardation on Monday August 23, while sentiment for LME prices turned positive after a week of selling.Some 44,475 tonnes of copper were booked for removal from the Busan, Singapore and Kaohsiung warehouses on Monday, reducing the amount of metal on-warrant to 197,750 tonnes, the...Read More
A summary of China's battery raw materials imports for July 2021, according to the latest Chinese customs data released on Friday August 20.In brief Imports of cobalt rose month on month despite unappealing import profits in June and July. A trader source told Fastmarkets that some cobalt arriving in a Chinese bonded warehouse in July was immediately exported again, meaning the actual amount circu...Read More