Due to a technical error, an incorrect figure briefly appeared in the price book for the Metal Bulletin Group's daily fob Australia alumina index on Monday April 30. The price appeared as $653.47 per tonne for a short period; it should have read $658.13. Metal Bulletin's price book and database have been updated to reflect this change. The inferred fob Brazil alumina index has also been updated to...Read More
Comex copper prices bounced-back from a multi-week low on Monday April 30 morning in the US, with investors preventing another wave of selling despite the dollar climbing once again.Copper for July settlement on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange inched up 1.15 cents or 0.4% to $3.0810 per lb. On Friday, the contract fell to its lowest point since April 6 on a bout of technical...Read More
The latest metal markets news and price moves to start the North American day on Monday April 30.Base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange were mixed during morning trading on Monday April 30, with aluminium and nickel continuing to dip from recent highs.Here's how base metals prices looked at 12:10 London time:Read our live futures report here.South Korea's Public Procurement Service h...Read More
Base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange were mixed during morning trading on Monday April 30, with aluminium and nickel continuing to dip from recent highs. Aluminium's three-month price is consolidating close to the $2,200-per-tonne mark, with prices continuing to fall from a closing high of $2,550 per tonne on April 18. News of a potential escalation in US-Russia sanctions continues to i...Read More
Base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange were for the most part little changed this morning, Monday April 30. Lead, zinc, tin and copper were slightly firmer, with the latter at $6,815 per tonne, while aluminium and nickel were slightly weaker.With Chinese and Japanese markets closed, volume has been light with 2,195 lots traded as at 07.36 am London time. This follows a generally weak day...Read More
South Korea's Public Procurement Service (PPS) has floated two tenders to procure a total of 2,000 tonnes of good western primary aluminium, according to notices from the state agency on Friday April 27.The two tenders for 1,000 tonnes each are for high-grade good western aluminium of London Metal Exchange-registered brands - except those from China, India, Russia and Egypt - for delivery on cif b...Read More
Turkey's biggest steel producer, Erdemir Group, sold 1.937 million tonnes of flat steel products in January-March 2018, up by 9.19% from the 1.774 million tonnes sold in the corresponding period of 2017, the group said last week.The group reported earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (Ebitda) for January-March 2018 of TRY1.67 billion ($411.91 million*). This was up by 25....Read More
CIS exporters of rebar and wire rod increased their offers in the week ending Monday April 30, on improving demand and low stocks in the global market, and in China in particular."At the moment we see an increase in demand in the major sales outlets. Stocks of material are minimal and there is already a [shortage] in the markets," a producing source told Metal Bulletin. Metal Bulletin's weekly pri...Read More
Prices for CIS-origin billet remained largely unchanged in the week ending Monday April 30 amid reduced buying activity.Mills and traders sold significant volumes of billet in the preceding week and took a wait-and-see position over the past seven days, preferring to assess the market situation.Traders expect to see another round of price falls in the near term, but mills were more optim...Read More
Earnings at Peruvian steelmaker Aceros Arequipa more than doubled in the first quarter of 2018 compared with the corresponding period of last year on higher sales prices.The mill reported earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (Ebitda) of 97 million nuevos soles ($29.97 million), against 39 million nuevos soles the previous...Read More
Earnings at Mexican steel producer Altos Hornos de M?(C)xico (Ahmsa) increased by 60% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2018, amid higher sales prices and reduced operating costs.The mill's earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (Ebitda) totaled 1.43 billion pesos ($76.69 million), it said in a note to Mexico's stock exchange late on Friday April 27."The positive results...Read More
Import prices for steel billet in Southeast Asia have edged up again over the past week despite the level of general demand remaining soft, while prices for slab fell on lower offers after a period of high prices that lasted for several weeks.BilletMetal Bulletin's assessment of import prices for billet in Southeast Asia was $540-555 per tonne cfr for the week ended Monday April 30, widening upwar...Read More
Import prices for rebar in Singapore were stable in the past week on thin demand from end-users unwilling to accept offers for China-origin position and mill cargoes....Read More
Import prices for re-rolling-grade hot-rolled coil sold into Vietnam were stable over the past week amid limited trading activity.Metal Bulletin's assessment of HRC import prices in Southeast Asia - which mainly looks at Chinese 2-3mm SAE1006 HRC and equivalent grades sold into Vietnam - was $590-605 per tonne cfr for the week ended Monday April 30, stable from a week earlier.Market sentiment was...Read More
First-quarter production of tungsten concentrates at Wolf Minerals' Drakelands mine in the United Kingdom fell 20% from the previous quarter due to extreme weather in March, the company said on Monday April 30. Wolf Minerals' processing plant produced 34,602 metric tonne units (mtu) of tungsten concentrates in the quarter ended March 31, 2018. "The operating performance for the quarter continued t...Read More
The Chinese ferro-silicon market has rebounded in the week to Friday April 27, ending a steady run of losses since early March, because of supply worries and renewed buying from traders; prices in Europe and the US have gone the other way, however, due to slack demand for alloy on a prompt basis. China pares losses, eyes more gains as China futures jumps Europe, US suppliers cut offer prices...Read More
World silico-manganese supplies rose by 41.9% year on year in March to 1.37 million tonnes due to soaring Chinese production feeding strong demand from domestic steel mills, according to the International Manganese Institute (IMnI). In the first quarter of 2018, world supply of the alloy rose 36.9% year on year.In March alone, output was up 8.9% compared with February. The institute said global de...Read More
World manganese ore supply grew by 5% year on year in March to 1.58 million tonnes of manganese units, according to the latest figures from the International Manganese Institute (IMnI).For the first quarter of 2018, all regions except the Americas recorded higher production, leading to a 15.3% year-on-year increase in global production for the first three months of the year. In March alone, global...Read More
Turkish steel producers booked more deep-sea scrap for May at the end of last week, and prices continued to inch upward in trades on Monday April 30.A steel producer in the Iskenderun region booked a Baltic Sea cargo, comprising 30,000 tonnes of HMS 1&2 (80:20) at $352 per tonne and 5,000 tonnes of bonus at $362 per tonne cfr.Another steel mill in the same region booked a Canadian cargo, comprisin...Read More
Turkish domestic auto bundle scrap prices have gone up in line with imported scrap prices while ship scrap prices have remained stable over the past week, sources said on Monday April 30.Metal Bulletin's weekly price assessment for domestic auto bundle scrap (DKP grade) in Turkey was TRY1,370-1,500 ($339-372) per tonne delivered, narrowing upward from last week's TRY1,270-1,500 per tonne.This...Read More