Domestic prices for hot-rolled coil moved down across Europe on Wednesday June 30, but market participants were in disagreement over whether the decline indicated a change of trend.Buyers have been holding back from purchasing bigger tonnages of HRC, preferring to book lots of less than 500 tonnes if they needed to re-stock or when doing back-to-back business.In addition, buyers believed that a so...Read More
Steel rebar prices in the north of Europe have remained firm at a high level over the past week, supported by strong demand, low stocks at buyers and limited imports, sources told Fastmarkets on Wednesday June 30.Producers in the region were reported to have no spare volumes for July, sources said.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel reinforcing bar (rebar), domestic, delivered Northern...Read More
With the Chinese government setting 2030 as the target for China's carbon emissions to peak and 2060 for it to achieve carbon neutrality, the country's steel sector will have to change the way it does business.Fastmarkets speaks to market participants for their views on what these changes might be, and what challenges lie ahead.1. Reduce hot metal productionReducing hot metal output - such as via...Read More
News that several major producers had withdrawn from spot trading due to supply shortages has further strengthened China's spot ferro-chrome market, sending spot prices in the week to Tuesday June 29 to their highest point since April."With continuing energy controls in Inner Mongolia in June, our production has been increasingly disrupted due to tightened power restrictions," Jietie Ferroalloy sa...Read More
Prices for steel hollow sections in Europe remained flat on Wednesday June 30, with mills continuing to struggle to obtain feedstock material, sources have told Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets' price assessment for steel sections (medium), domestic, delivered Northern Europe, was ?,?1,370-1,420 ($1,631-1,690) per tonne on June 30, unchanged week on week.Hot rolled coil, the feedstock for hollow sections,...Read More
Workers at Celsa Group's Spanish mill are holding a second day of industrial action, demanding a new collective labor agreement and an investment plan for the site, sources told Fastmarkets on Wednesday June 30. The first strike was held on Monday June 28 at Celsa Atlantic steelworks, located in Laracha, north of Spain. The second strike started at 9am on Wednesday and will last until 10pm, source...Read More
With the Chinese government setting 2030 as the target for China's carbon emissions to peak and 2060 for it to achieve carbon neutrality, the country's steel sector will have to change the way it does business.Fastmarkets speaks to market participants for their views on what these changes might be, and what challenges lie ahead.1. Reduce hot metal productionReducing hot metal output - such as via...Read More
Asian steel scrap imports fluctuated wildly from territory to territory in 2020, with South Korea and Bangladesh reporting decreases while Taiwan and Vietnam recorded increases.Japan, Asia's largest steel scrap supplier, exported 9.39 million tonnes of the steelmaking raw material last year - over a fifth more than in 2019.Vietnam became the single largest importer of Japanese scrap last year; at...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Wednesday June 30 that are worth another look.BHP announced in 2018 that the depletion of its 80-million-tonnes-per-year Yandi mine in its Western Australia iron ore operations would begin from the second half of 2021. Fastmarkets explores how the low-grade fines landscape...Read More
Domestic prices for cold-rolled coil in Europe inched up over the week to Wednesday June 30, despite slow trading activity, sources have told Fastmarkets.The number of transactions for domestic material has been minimal.Buyers have been refraining from purchases due to long lead times from domestic mills. They preferred to remain in 'wait-and-see' mode until the price trend became clear. Full cred...Read More
An overview of the consumer electronics markets and their latest price moves.Janie Davies, Cristina Belda and...Read More
An overview of the specialty steel raw materials markets in Europe and their latest price moves.Dalila Ouerghi and...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Wednesday June 30 that are worth another look.BHP announced in 2018 that the depletion of its 80-million-tonnes-per-year Yandi mine in its Western Australia iron ore operations would begin from the second half of 2021. Fastmarkets explores how the low-grade fines landscape...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Wednesday June 30 that are worth another look.BHP announced in 2018 that the depletion of its 80-million-tonnes-per-year Yandi mine in its Western Australia iron ore operations would begin from the second half of 2021. Fastmarkets explores how the low-grade fines landscape...Read More
Copper's three-month price has shown the biggest fall during June among base metals on the London Metal Exchange, rocked by Chinese announcements and rising inventories, while the prices of other base metals such as aluminium and tin were higher than on June 1.Copper's price was $9,374.50 per tonne on Wednesday June 30 at the close of trading, falling from $10,245 per tonne on June 1.Among the fac...Read More
German steel maker Thyssenkrupp is to replace its four blast furnaces and switch to a system based on direct-reduction of raw material using hydrogen by 2025, the company announced on Tuesday June 29, following a visit by federal government ministers.The company confirmed that it will gradually replace the blast furnaces with direct-reduction plants fueled by green hydrogen, each able to melt soli...Read More
China's domestic rebar prices remained flat on Wednesday June 30 on weak demand while the futures price gained.DomesticEastern China (Shanghai): 4,860-4,880 yuan ($752-755) per tonne, unchanged day on dayThe purchasing managers' index (PMI) for the steel industry was 45.1 points in June, down by 1 point from May, according to the China Federation...Read More
Premiums for tin ingots in Europe and the United States continued their rise to new highs in the fortnight to June 29, with freight and trucking costs and delays still the main issue pressuring premiums upward, sources told Fastmarkets. Premiums in Asia were stable, with the high London Metal Exchange price diverting participants away from the spot market. China's Yunnan Tin, the world's lar...Read More
Antofagasta has agreed to supply four major Chinese smelters with copper concentrates in the first half of 2022, with a treatment charge in the mid-$50s, Fastmarkets understands.The Chilean copper miner and representatives from China Copper, Jiangxi Copper, Tongling Nonferrous and Jinchuan Group held meetings for three days since Monday, sources said, with an agreement finally reached on the eveni...Read More
News that several major producers had withdrawn from spot trading due to supply shortages has further strengthened China's spot ferro-chrome market, sending spot prices in the week to Tuesday June 29 to their highest point since April."With continuing energy controls in Inner Mongolia in June, our production has been increasingly disrupted due to tightened power restrictions," Jietie Ferroalloy sa...Read More