Base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange were mostly down during morning trading on Tuesday July 10, led by a significant drop in zinc prices, while ongoing uncertainty around Sino-US trade relations hampers the complex.Falling more than 3% over the morning, zinc prices are trading at their lowest point since June 2017 as the metal continues to struggle against a tight fundamental backdrop....Read More
Good morning from Metal Bulletin's offices in Asia as we bring you the latest news and pricing stories on Tuesday July 10.Base metals prices on the Shanghai Futures Exchange were mixed during Asian morning trading on Tuesday, with most of the complex oscillating either side of unchanged, while zinc was the early session's weakest performer with a drop of 1.7%.Check Metal Bulletin's live futures re...Read More
The latest bids, offers and deals in the global markets for rebar, wire rod, steel beams and other long steel products. Latest transaction: rebarRebarOman, export, rebar, offered at $615-620 per tonne cfr, theoretical weight,...Read More
The latest bids, offers and deals in the global markets for steel billet, slab and bloom. Latest transaction: billetBilletIran, export, billet, offered...Read More
The latest bids, offers and deals in the global markets for hot-rolled coil, cold-rolled coil, hot-dipped galvanized coil, pre-painted galvanized iron, steel plate, steel sheet and other flat steel products. Latest transactions: HRC, CRC, HDGHot-rolled coilChina, export, hot-rolled coil (2mm), offered at $630 per tonne cfr, to the UAE.India, export, hot-rolled coil (2mm), traded at $610 per tonne...Read More
Italian re-roller Marcegaglia terminated its membership of national steel association Federacciai on July 5, the company announced on Tuesday July 10."I note with regret that, in recent discussions on fundamental issues of international trade, from dumping to the operating procedures for the application of the safeguard clause, Federacciai has decisively confirmed itself to be 'the association of...Read More
European flat steel product distributors reported a 6.3% year-on-year drop in shipments in May, the regional federation for steel, tube and metals distribution and trade, Eurometal, said on Tuesday July 10."After quite some overstocking, mainly in coated products, stocks of EU steel service centers are slowly coming back to normal," Eurometal said.Metal Bulletin's weekly assessment of domestic pri...Read More
Michael Lillja will leave his position as head of marketing at Finnish speciality alloys company Afarak on September 1.He will start a new position within the steel and alloys sector on September 3."It has...Read More
Global ferro-vanadium and vanadium pentoxide (V2O5) prices experienced considerable gains over the past week, taking their cue from strength in the Chinese domestic market. Chinese ferro-vanadium, V2O5 export prices rise in response to strength in domestic market European ferro-vanadium prices strengthen in line with Chinese market European V2O5 prices surge on supply concerns US FeV market conti...Read More
Click here to view the LME price forecast summaryAluminium: Steadying around $2,100 per tonne Aluminium prices appear to be steadying around $2,100 per tonne, having unwound virtually all of the Rusal sanctions rally that reached $2,587 / tonne on April 19. The level that the consolidation is taking place at present coincides with our recently-revised base case Q3 forecast. Copper: Is the copper b...Read More
Price dropped below $2,100 for the first time since early April The LME aluminium price on Friday dropped below $2,100 per tonne for the first time since early April, as a trade war between the world’s two largest economies officially began when the Trump administration followed through with its threat to impose tariffs on $34 billion worth of Chinese products. Risk-off sentiment has been pre...Read More
The latest bids, offers and deals in the global markets for ferrous scrap products. Latest transactions: HMS, shredded, bonus, P&STurkey, import; HMS 1&2 (80:20), traded at $344 per tonne; shredded, traded at $354 per tonne; bonus, traded at $359 per tonne cfr;...Read More
Aluminium Having found technical support from the July 6 low at $2,071 per tonne, the LME three-month aluminium price made a decent attempt to rebound on Monday, July 9. It traded as high as $2,134.50 per tonne and had a rather positive close above $2,100 per tonne, then received some follow-up buying on Tuesday. The technical indicators are starting to improve too, edging slowly away from ov...Read More
We have been asked by a number of clients about our view on how the current concerns over trade wars affect our long-term view on the copper market. We decided to share some of our views on this theme with our wider readership. Broadly, the base metals have entered a new bull market – some might even say a new ‘supercycle’. It will run well into the 2020s. Whereas the last supercycl...Read More
The seaborne coking coal market remained enveloped in bearish sentiment on Tuesday July 10 despite transactions concluded at higher levels a day earlier. "Those trades were clearly tailor-made and not repeatable," an ex-China trader source said, referring to the transactions on Monday.A second such source questioned the "sustainability of the high prices in the ex-China market" because the "Chines...Read More
China's ferrous futures were largely stable during morning trading on Tuesday July 10, with the rebar and coke contracts ending the session slightly higher than their opening prices while the others were little changed.Futures closing prices - morning session Shanghai Futures Exchange October rebar: 3,872 yuan ($584.80) per tonne, up 7 yuan per tonne October hot-rolled coil: 3,940 yuan per tonne,...Read More
Prices dragged down again, but still relatively resilient Lead prices dropped to a low of $2,307 per tonne last week, extending the fall from $2,385 per tonne the week before. Since the June high, prices have now fallen 9.7 percent, while the other metals, with the exception of tin, have fallen between 12% and 17.2%. While the lead market continues to tighten in China, it has now started to show s...Read More
Solid fundamentals protecting the downside Nickel has been undergoing a healthy corrective move lower, alongside the other base metals as traders adjust to concerns that the US-China trade war may damage economic growth. Unlike some of its peers, however, nickel’s correction has been in an orderly fashion, with prices trading either side of $14,000 per tonne at the moment. Further downside sh...Read More
Good call on Q2 tin price The LME Q2 average cash tin price ended up at $20,961 per tonne, fractionally short of our long-standing forecast of $21,000 per tonne. We stood by this forecast as prices attempted to rechallenge the $22,000 per tonne highs in April, and then fell precipitously at times after that. Here we review some of the key factors that shaped tin market sentiment last quarter and l...Read More
Rebound falters Amid volatility across the base metals, zinc staged a modest end-of-week rebound on Friday, closing up 2.2% or $58 on the day, after the dip to a one-year low of $2,667 per tonne on Thursday seemed a step too far. But while the complex as a whole is in a steadier mood at the start of this week, LME zinc prices have bucked the trend, with the current chart figuration suggesting over...Read More