Chinese tungsten concentrate prices fell for a second consecutive week in the latest pricing session amid sluggish demand while offers for ammonium paratungstate (APT) and ferro-tungsten fob China softened due to lower buying activity over the past week. APT market slows down Tungsten concentrate prices continue to fall amid weak demand Ferro-tungsten prices weaken in Europe, China Me...Read More
Chinese suppliers lowered their vanadium export prices to attract orders following the sharp price rise but thin deals earlier in the month, while European and US vanadium markets maintained their upward trend amid tight supplies there. Chinese suppliers lowered offers to attract orders. Low availability in Europe and United States supports regional prices. The Chinese vanadium export market...Read More
A summary of China's ferro-alloys imports in February 2018.Chrome ore Month total: 1.19 milion tonnes On month: -4.25% On year: -7.93%* Ferro-chrome Month total: 176,928...Read More
Worldwide output of direct-reduced iron (DRI) increased by 7.70% year-on-year in February 2018, driven by higher production in Iran, according to the World Steel Assn (Worldsteel).DRI output was 6.09 million tonnes in February 2018, compared with 5.66 million tonnes in February 2017, Worldsteel said on Monday March 26.But DRI production fell by 5.87% month on month, compared with 6.47...Read More
Turkish steel producers have entered a third week with no deep-sea trading, while offers and bids in the market kept the daily scrap indices largely flat, sources said on Monday March 26.Metal Bulletin's daily index for Northern European HMS 1&2 (80:20) closed the day at $368.10 per tonne cfr, up by only $0.41 per tonne day-on-day.The daily index for similar US-origin scrap closed at $378.08 per t...Read More
Turkish domestic auto bundle scrap prices remained largely steady over the past week, with most steel mills in the country keeping their buying prices unchanged, while ship scrap prices dipped slightly, sources said on Monday March 26.Metal Bulletin's weekly price assessment for domestic auto bundle (DKP grade) scrap in Turkey was unchanged at TRY1,300-1,520 ($327-382) per tonne delivered on...Read More
The seaborne iron ore concentrate market continued to fall on Monday March 26 in line with sharp dips in the fines market, with the trade tensions between the United States and China affecting general market confidence.The weekly Metal Bulletin 66% Fe Iron Ore Concentrate Index was $88.19 per tonne cfr China on March 23. This was down by $6.45 per tonne, or 6.8%, from a week earlier.The daily Meta...Read More
Iron ore prices were relatively stable at $64 per tonne cfr China on Monday March 26 with participants standing on the sidelines in anticipation of further clarity about the marketMetal Bulletin's 62% Fe Iron Ore Index Today: $64.33 per tonne cfr QingdaoDaily change: down by $0.25 per tonneMonth-to-date average: $71.17 per tonneMetal Bulletin's 58% Fe Premium Index Today: $51.43 per tonne cfr Qing...Read More
China's import and export volumes for major steelmaking raw materials largely shrank month on month in the short month of February amid the Lunar New Year break. Read More
Trading activity in the physical iron ore market remained thin on Monday March 26 although prices appeared to have gained some stability.Key driversChina's benchmark steel and iron ore futures contracts closed 1.9-2.8% lower in comparison with their settlement prices last Friday, though on a close-on-close basis, the latter ended a bit higher.The signs of stabilization discouraged sellers of iron...Read More
The arbitrage for copper, aluminium, zinc and nickel imported into China on Monday March 26*Copper -$111.19 (-702.99 yuan) Aluminium -$396.12 (-2,504.36 yuan) Zinc -$54.55 (-344.90 yuan) Nickel -$413.39 (-2,613.58 yuan) *Metal Bulletin calculates the physical...Read More
China's plunging steel prices are stoking the bearish sentiment among buyers over prices for steelmaking raw materials. Domestic rebar prices in China had entered the month of March above 4,000 yuan ($633) per tonne. Metal Bulletin's assessment of domestic prices for rebar in east China was 3,410-3,500 yuan per tonne on Monday March 26, compared with 4,080-4,120 yuan per tonne on March 1.A steel m...Read More
Market participants have said that a credit squeeze in India will lead cadmium prices to stabilize at current levels.The end of the fiscal year has also meant that companies are putting off purchases until next month. The new fiscal year in India begins on April 1.Metal Bulletin assessed the 99.95% cadmium quotation at 155-170 cents per lb on Friday March 23, up from 150-170 cents per lb on W...Read More
Market participants believe that the vote in the US International Trade Commission (ITC) on Friday March 23 - against the imposition of silicon import duties on material from Australia, Brazil, Norway and Kazakhstan - will help to raise silicon prices in Europe.But they also believed that the price rise would be subdued, because prices in China were weakening.Metal Bulletin assessed the price of g...Read More
The LBMA Gold and Silver prices will no longer be available in the public domain or on the FastMarkets platform with respective delays of 30 minutes and 15 minutes from April 3.Instead, these delayed prices will be published in the public domain at midnight on the date of...Read More
The Chinese silicon export market continued to weaken over the past week due to soft demand, while prices in the European market were unchanged.Metal Bulletin assessed the Chinese grade 553 silicon export price at $1,960-2,000 per tonne on Friday March 23, down from $1,980-2,030 per tonne in the prior week, with sellers lowering their offer prices to entice business from otherwise uninterested buy...Read More
Summary of China's minor metals exports and imports in February 2018.Unwrought bismuth metal exports Month total: 224 tonnes On month: -34.88% On year: +53.93%* Wrought bismuth metal exports...Read More
Base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange are down across the board by an average of 0.5% this morning, Monday March 26, led by a 1.1% fall in copper to $6,577 per tonne. Volume has been high with 12,433 lots traded as of 07:18 am London time.In precious metals, gold prices are off by 0.2% at $1,344.89 per oz, while silver and platinum prices are little changed and palladium prices are up by...Read More
The European Commission (EC) launched a safeguard investigation on Monday March 26 into 26 steel product types in an attempt to prevent the redirection of steel in the global export markets from the United States to the EU market."[The investigation] concerns products of all origins, and its opening does not prejudge its results," the EC said. "However, the procedure may result in the imposition o...Read More
South Korea is working to ease the steel import quota limits imposed by the United States following its Section 232 investigations, the Korea Iron & Steel Association (Kisa) said on Monday March 26.The 70% quota is based on the average US import volumes from South Korea for 2015-2017, which is about 74% of 2017's total, and was imposed after the US exempted South Korea from the Sect...Read More