US Steel is mulling over the possibility of adding pig iron equipment to one of its blast furnaces, a top executive said during an earnings call on Friday July 30.Analysts asked executives at US Steel about its subsidiary Big River Steel's raw materials strategy during a second-quarter earnings call."The thing that keeps mini-mills up at night is their metallic strategy and where are they going to...Read More
Domestic steel scrap prices in Turkey dropped during the week to Monday August 2, in line with the market for imported scrap, market participants told Fastmarkets.Turkish steel mills continued to book deep-sea scrap cargoes at a slow pace last week amid limited finished steel demand.Fastmarkets' index for steel scrap, heavy melting scrap 1&2 (80:20 mix), United States origin, cfr Turkey was calcul...Read More
Turkish steel mills remained inactive in the import markets at the start of this week, making no new bookings of deep-sea scrap cargoes on Monday August 2, sources told Fastmarkets.But two older cargoes have come to light since the calculation of the scrap indices closed for the day last Friday.Two European cargoes were booked by mills in the regions of Marmara and Izmir, each comprising unspecifi...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Monday August 2 that are worth another look.The rapid spread of Covid-19 infections in at least eight major cities in China is casting doubt on the recovery of steel demand in the country for the rest of 2021, market sources said.Four unions representing...Read More
The price of lead reached a new year-to-date peak of $2,412.50 per tonne on Monday August 2, while nickel and copper faltered in trading on the London Metal Exchange.Lead's three-month price was at its highest on Monday for 37 months, since July 2, 2018. The metal's price was up by 0.8% from its price last Friday, hitting $2,402 per tonne at the close of trading. It had risen by 5.5% last month.Eu...Read More
Iron ore prices mostly went up on Monday August 2 with the Chinese government being urged to pull back its aggressive carbon-reduction measures. This resulted in improved expectations for iron ore demand, because the proposed cuts in steel production for the rest of 2021 may be eased, market sources said.Fastmarkets iron ore indices62% Fe fines, cfr Qingdao: $184.42 per tonne, up by $2.85 per tonn...Read More
Prices of hot-rolled coil across China's domestic market fell sharply on Monday August 2, while futures prices tumbled after Beijing's latest comments on carbon emissions reductions sent confusion across the markets, sources told Fastmarkets.DomesticEastern China (Shanghai): 5,760-5,860 yuan ($892-907) per tonne, down by 150-240 yuan per tonneThe most-traded HRC contract on the Shanghai Futures Ex...Read More
Prices for carbon steel plate in the United States strengthened for a second week while the latest wave of mill price increases ripples through the market.Fastmarkets' weekly assessment for steel cut-to-length plate carbon grade, fob mill US climbed to an all-time high of $82 per hundredweight ($1,640 per short ton) on Friday July 30 from $80 per cwt on July 23. The assessment has more than triple...Read More
The recent Covid-19 outbreak across southeast Asia is weighing on Thai aluminium billet demand in the region after five months of price rises, sources told Fastmarkets. On-site labor restrictions in Thailand and the related closure of several extruder facilities in both Thailand and Vietnam due to Covid-19 restrictions have caused orders to temporarily stall followed by stock inventories inching u...Read More
Indian producer Vedanta Aluminium has purchased 354 million units of renewable energy for the 2022 financial year, it announced on Monday August 2.The energy, which will be from a mix of solar and non-solar renewable sources, will be used to help power aluminium production at its Jharsugada smelter in Odisha, India, to help the company achieve its carbon mitigation goals while producing "green," v...Read More
Iron ore prices mostly went up on Monday August 2 with the Chinese government being urged to pull back its aggressive carbon-reduction measures. This resulted in improved expectations for iron ore demand, because the proposed cuts in steel production for the rest of 2021 may be eased, market sources said.Fastmarkets iron ore indices62% Fe fines, cfr Qingdao: $184.42 per tonne, up by $2.85 per tonn...Read More
Four unions representing some 3,500 miners in Chile rejected the latest wage offers made by their companies in the week to August 2, initiating government-led mediation processes to avoid potential strikes, sources told Fastmarkets. The largest was the Number 1 union at Escondida, representing some 2,200 workers, who rejected BHP's latest wage offer and voted to go ahead with a strike on July 31.&...Read More
Improved shipments and record-high hot band prices pushed US Steel's second-quarter net income to $1.012 billion, in contrast to a net loss of nearly $589 million in the equivalent quarter last year.The mini-mill segment generated $324 million in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (Ebitda) and had a 36% margin in the quarter, the Pittsburgh-based steelmaker said in an&...Read More
ArcelorMittal's forthcoming hot-strip mill in Mexico will change the profile of the steelmaker's Mexican flat steel business, the company's chief executive officer said during an investor call to discuss its second-quarter earnings on Thursday July 29.The new Mexican mill - which will add 2.5 million tonnes per year of hot-rolled coil production capacity to the current 4-million-tpy slab capacity...Read More
Hydrometallurgy company Hellenic Minerals has completed the construction of a nickel sulfate hexahydrate facility in Cyprus, paving the way for initial production there.The plant in Skouriotissa, about 30km west of the island nation's capital, Nicosia, is thought to be on the site of the world's oldest copper mine. It was expected to reach output of 44,000 tonnes per year of laterite ore, containi...Read More
Prices for domestic and imported merchant bar quality (MBQ) steel in the United States rose in July, when demand continued to outpace supply, extending lead times and depleting inventories across the supply chain.Fastmarkets' monthly assessment for steel bar 2 x 2 x 1/4 -inch angle merchant products, fob mill US was $55.80 per cwt ($1,116 per ton) on Friday July 30, up by 3.72% from $53.80 per c...Read More
Hot-rolled coil prices in the United States came close to crossing the $94-per-hundredweight ($1,880-per-short-ton) threshold once again, with several mill offers made in the mid- to high $90-per-cwt range reported by market sources.Fastmarkets' daily steel hot-rolled coil index, fob mill US was calculated at $93.92 per cwt ($1,878.40 per ton) on Monday August 2, up by 0.23% from $93.70 per cwt on...Read More
Zinc and lead concentrate treatment charges (TCs) rose toward the end of July due to more mined tonnage hitting the market and pushing terms higher.Fastmarkets' assessment of zinc spot concentrate TC, cif China was $78-90 per tonne on Friday July 30, up from $75-88 per tonne three weeks earlier, and its highest level since last October.Terms have gradually increased since Chinese smelters took ext...Read More
Glencore has purchased a 9.99% stake in junior mining company Hot Chili for A$14.4 million ($10.62 million), the latter said on Monday August 2.The agreement gives Hot Chili, which is listed on the Australian Securities Exchange and operates assets in Chile, the financing to complete a feasibility study for...Read More
US Steel has its best days ahead, the company's top executive said during an earnings call on Friday July 30."We can now truly say, US Steel... has its best days ahead. We can't get to the future fast enough," company president and chief executive officer David Burritt said on Friday's call.Burritt also said that the strength in steel prices and demand would continue, and predicted all-time r...Read More