The seaborne coking coal market was steady on Wednesday April 4 as market participants continued to monitor the weather in the coal producing hub of Queensland, Australia. Late evening on Wednesday, the Queensland Weather Bureau cancelled the tropical cyclone Warning for the Queensland coast. "Tropical cyclone Iris moving away from the coast and expected to weaken further," the bureau said.The bur...Read More
The seaborne iron ore market softened further on Wednesday April 4 amid falling steel prices in China, with premiums for index-linked cargoes of Pilbara Blend fines remaining subdued. Metal Bulletin 62% Fe Iron Ore Index: $63.57 per tonne cfr Qingdao, down by $0.19 per tonneMetal Bulletin 58% Fe Premium Index: $51.79 per tonne cfr Qingdao, down by $0.30 per tonneMetal Bulletin 65% Fe Iron Ore Inde...Read More
Queensland's Dalrymple Bay Coal Terminal (DBCT) has declared force majeure amid unfavorable weather conditions caused by a cyclone off the Australian state's coast, well-informed market sources told Metal Bulletin on Wednesday April 4. Earlier in the day, the Queensland weather bureau had said that the tropical Cyclone Iris continued to move southeast off the state's central coast and was expected...Read More
China's ferrous futures apart from iron ore rose during the morning trading session on Wednesday April 4 amid a proposal to increase import duties on Chinese steel products by the United States.Futures closing prices - morning session Shanghai Futures Exchange October rebar: 3,367 ($535) per tonne, up 23 yuan per tonne May hot-rolled coil: 3,737 yuan per tonne, up 39 yuan per tonne Dalian Commodit...Read More
Comex copper prices dropped nearly 2% on Wednesday April 4 amid growing fears of a possible trade war between the United States and China following a fresh round of tariffs issued by both countries. Copper for May settlement on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange tumbled 5.90 cents or 1.9% to $3.0045 per lb. Over the past few weeks, tensions between China and the US have escalat...Read More
The arbitrage for copper, aluminium, zinc and nickel imported into China on Wednesday April 4*Copper -$95.55 (-602.74 yuan) Aluminium -$250.65 (-1,581.16 yuan) Zinc -$129.73 (-818.36 yuan) Nickel -$587.91 (-3,708.71 yuan) *The physical arbitrage numbers are...Read More
Copper premiums ticked higher in Shanghai, Taiwan, Japan and Southeast Asian markets this week on solid demand and the fresh cancellation of 16,000 tonnes in London Metal Exchange Asian sheds on April 3. LME's on-warrant stocks down by 19,275 tonnes from a week ago and the cash/three-month spread narrowed to a contango of $35.50 per tonnePremiums broadly unchanged in other markets following Easte...Read More
Base metals prices edged lower on the London Metal Exchange during morning trading on Wednesday April 4, as the prospect of a trade war between the United States and China continued to dampen sentiment.Aluminium's three-month price was the only contract to rise and appeared to be in consolidation mode after dropping below $2,000 per tonne on Tuesday for the first time since August 2017. Yet the ch...Read More
China's hot-rolled coil prices were largely stagnant on Wednesday April 4 amid fluctuations in the futures market ahead of a four-day break in the country.DomesticEastern China (Shanghai): 3,850-3,900 yuan ($612-620) per tonne, widened upward by 20 yuan per tonneNorthern China (Tianjin): 3,840-3,870 yuan per tonne, unchangedHRC prices in Shanghai rose in the morning following strong gains in the f...Read More
Key data from the Wednesday April 4 pricing session in London.Indium ingots MB $/kg in-warehouse Rotterdam Key drivers: -Lack of crude raw material leads to lower output-Tender due on April 10-Tomb-sweeping Day in China from April 5-7 will create supply shortageKey quotes:...Read More
Shalina Resources and its Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC)subsidiary, Chemaf SARL, have signed a marketing agreement for cobalt hydroxide with Trafigura, Chemaf said on Wednesday April 4. The marketing agreement covers cobalt output from existing producing assets operated by Chemaf - which specializes in cobalt and copper exploration, mining and processing in the DRC - and runs until Decembe...Read More
The US high-carbon ferro-manganese market weakened on Thursday March 29, as latent spot market demand and ample supplies wore on pricing. American Metal Market assessed spot prices for high-carbon ferro-manganese in-warehouse Pittsburg at $1,500-1,600 per long ton on Thursday, down 3.1% from $1,550-1,650 per long ton previously. The market has been bogged down by lackluster spot activity in r...Read More
China's domestic stainless steel prices fell again this week as high supply and weak demand continued to put pressure on the market.Metal Bulletin's assessment of prices for benchmark 304 stainless cold-rolled coil in the major market of Wuxi was 14,000-14,800 yuan ($2,226-2,353) per tonne including VAT for the week ended Wednesday April 4, down 200-300 yuan per tonne from last Thursday. Buying in...Read More
The latest ferro-vanadium and vanadium pentoxide (V2O5) transactions, bids, offers and assessments in Europe.To view the latest price quotations, follow the links below:Europe- Ferro-vanadium delivered duty-paid in Europe- Vanadium pentoxide in-warehouse RotterdamChina- Ferro-vanadium, 78% min, fob China, $ per kg V- Vanadium pentoxide, 98% min, fob China, $ per lb V2O5Thursday March 29Ferro-vanad...Read More
The following Metal Bulletin UK non-ferrous scrap and foundry ingot prices changed on Wednesday April 4:Aluminium scrap Group 1 pure 99% & litho: ?1,340-1,390 per tonne from ?1,380-1,430 per tonneCommercial pure cuttings: ?1,130-1,180 per tonne from ?1,150-1,200 per tonneClean HE9 extrusions: ?1,340-1,390 per...Read More
Aluminium ingot ADC 12 export prices fell after China dealt a serious blow to the raw material market with a blanket 25% tariff on US aluminium scrap.The move by China has meant that more domestic producers are looking to tolling deals to avoid paying the 25% import tax. Under the tolling deals, Chinese secondary alloy producers can import raw materials such as aluminium scrap from overseas and pr...Read More
Metal Bulletin looks at seven key things discussed in Xi'an last month at China Iron & Steel Association's 16th International Steel Market and Trade Conference that will have a major impact on the Asian and Chinese steel markets in the coming years.China plans to cut another 30 million tonnes of steel capacity in 2018China is planning to cut another 30 million tonnes of steel capacity in 2018 as p...Read More
Chinese aluminium and aluminium products are among a list of 1,300 items that the United States is targeting with a 25% import tax following its Section 301 investigation - a move which the Chinese Ministry of Commerce (MOC) said it "strongly condemns and firmly opposes."The office of the US Trade Representative (USTR) on Tuesday April 3 released a proposed tariff list on Chinese products which in...Read More
Global tin premiums barely moved this week on a lack of spot business between the Easter and Tomb Sweeping holidays, but a slight uptrend remained in place amid tightening supply from key exporter Indonesia.Most of Europe had a long weekend at the start of the month for Easter, with some prolonging the break to a week while China has also been slow ahead of the Tomb Sweeping festival on April 5-6....Read More
Zinc futures were trading lower during the afternoon trade in the domestic market on Tuesday as speculators trimmed positions amid easing demand in the spot market. Analysts said offloading of positions by participants on the back of tepid demand in the spot markets, mainly led to decline in zinc prices at futures trade.At the MCX, zinc futures for April 2018 contract was trading at Rs 213.80 per...Read More