Metal Bulletin is proposing minor amendments to its manganese ore indices to reflect evolving industry standards. Metal Bulletin proposes adjusting the delivery window of the manganese ore 37% Mn fob Port Elizabeth index to within nine weeks from within six weeks at present. This proposal will result in a larger volume of spot market transactions being included in the index calculation. As well, M...Read More
Brazil-focused vanadium producer Largo Resources produced 903 tonnes of vanadium pentoxide at its flagship Marac??s Menchen mine in December 2017, setting a new monthly production record in the process. The previous production record of 888 tonnes was set in August 2017. December's output surpassed the plant's nameplate capacity by 12.9%, the company said on Wednesday January 3. Vanadium pentoxide...Read More
China will increase sourcing of chrome ore to support its ferro-chrome production growth. Chinese domestic ferro-chrome output will continue to grow in 2018 as the country's chrome ore imports increase and consumers seek investments and deals aimed at accessing upstream supply, market sources predict. For the first 10 months of 2017, China imported 11.37 million tonnes of chrome ore, up 38% year o...Read More
The Turkish deep-sea scrap market remained quiet on Wednesday January 3, with supply still tight, according to market sources.Turkish mills were expected to book more cargoes for February but the suppliers were largely out of the market."Scrap collection is slow due to heavy winter conditions and holiday...Read More
Brazilian iron ore export volumes increased by 2.56% year-on-year in 2017, according to figures released by national foreign trade ministry MDIC on Tuesday January 2.Iron ore shipments totaled 383.54 million tonnes last year, compared with 373.96 million tonnes in 2016.Export revenues increased...Read More
Iron ore prices rose just short of $75 per tonne cfr China on Wednesday January 3 despite a retreat in the Chinese steel and futures markets.Metal Bulletin's 62% Fe Iron Ore Index Today: $74.97 per tonne cfr QingdaoDaily change: up by $0.26 per tonneMonth-to-date average: $74.84 per tonneMetal Bulletin's 58% Fe Premium Index...Read More
The latest bids, offers and deals in the global markets for iron ore, pig iron, direct-reduced iron and other steelmaking raw materials. ...Read More
The seaborne iron ore market continued to see thin trading with prices staying rangebound on Wednesday January 3 amid losses in China's steel and futures markets.Key driversChina's benchmark steel and iron ore futures contracts posted a short-lived uptick in the morning before trending downward after that to end the day in negative territory.The weathervane billet price in Tangshan fell 50 yuan ($...Read More
The seaborne coking coal market started to warm up on Wednesday January 3 with participants waiting for more indicative bids to emerge and trades to take place. A cargo of low-ranked second-tier hard coking coal to be loaded in February was heard offered at around $190 per tonne fob Australia while a higher-ranked second-tier product - which has been in the market since before the year-end break -...Read More
China's ferrous futures dipped during morning trading on Wednesday January 3 with sentiment remaining bearish due to increasing steel inventory levels and weak demand.Futures closing prices - morning session Shanghai Futures Exchange May rebar: 3,848 yuan ($592) per tonne, down 11 yuan per tonne May hot-rolled coil: 3,895 yuan per tonne, down 18 yuan per tonneDalian Commodity Exchange May iron ore...Read More
The Comex copper price fell for a third successive day on Wednesday January 2, pressured lower by technical selling and a stronger dollar.Copper for March settlement on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange fell 2.2 cents or 0.7% to $3.2560 per lb. The contract had rallied throughout most of December, peaking at around a four-year high."Downside risks are likely to be...Read More
The prospects for aluminium in 2018 appear tied to global trade concerns - particularly protectionist rhetoric coming from the United States as well as the future of supply cuts by Chinese smelters.In the US, the primary question mark dominating market attention is the fate of the Section 232 investigation into national security issues surrounding primary aluminium imports. According to recen...Read More
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has agreed to an arrangement between the London Metal Exchange and ICE Futures Europe, which means they will not be required to consider open access requests for over two years."Having taken into account the risks resulting from the application of the access rights under Article 36 as regards exchange-traded derivatives to the orderly functioning of the tradin...Read More
Nickel stocks in the Shanghai-bonded area moved to the domestic market in the second half of December due to Beijing charging higher import taxes from 2018, while zinc and copper stocks both rose due to lacking arbitrage opportunities.Metal Bulletin's assessment of nickel stocks in Shanghai-bonded warehouses decreased to a historical low of 28,000-34,000 tonnes at the end of December, down 22.5% m...Read More
An overview of the minor metals markets and the reasons for any price moves.Read More
The following Metal Bulletin minor metals prices changed on Wednesday January 3:Minor metals Antimony MB free market regulus, $/tonne: $8,000-8,350 per tonne from $7,950-8,300 Antimony MMTA standard...Read More
This is a reminder that Metal Bulletin Group's cobalt specification review remains open until later this month and that feedback is still being sought. In November 2017, Metal Bulletin proposed to amend its international cobalt price specifications to reflect changes in the market and invited feedback on the following consultation.There are two stages to the consultation period.The first stage is...Read More
The rampant bullishness of 2017 toward metals involved in the electric vehicle (EV) industry will make way for cautious optimism, with copper likely to benefit the most due to its role in the electric charging network, Lord Copper predicts. I've just looked back at my article written this time last year with my ideas as to what the coming 12 months may have had to bring. Reluctant as I am to indul...Read More
Base metals traded on the London Metal Exchange are for the most part weaker on Wednesday January 3, led by a 1% fall in nickel prices to $12,530 per tonne. The rest are off between 0.4% for copperand 0.8% for aluminium, while tin is bucking the trend with a 0.5% rise. Volume has been light, with 5,367 lots traded as of 06:35 am London time. This comes after a mixed performance on Tuesday that saw...Read More
Gold prices weakened in the Asian morning trading session on Wednesday January 3 as the dollar rebounded following the release of strong US economic data.The spot gold price was recently quoted at $1,312.55/1,312.90 per oz, down $7.42 from the previous trading day's close. Trade has ranged from $1,311.90 to $1,321.30 per oz so far today. The US dollar index on Wednesday morning was up 0.06 to 91.8...Read More