The United States remains the strongest market for copper cathodes, with the premium remaining at elevated levels in the week to Tuesday June 29, while premiums for imported cathodes in China are showing signs of recovery after sinking steadily for the past few months. US cathode premium holds at eight-year high. European market digests news of Russia export tax. China market firms mi...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
Russia's Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) is to commission a new blast furnace (BF) to produce additional pig iron volumes to be used in its own steelmaking operations, the company told Fastmarkets this week.No pig iron sales are planned.The project, at MMK's steelmaking complex at Magnitogorsk in the Chelyabinsk region of Russia, is expected to start in July 2021, with the start-up of the fu...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
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
European steel H-beam prices remained stable on Wednesday June 30, with mill-led price increases slowing ahead of the summer break, sources told Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel beams, domestic, delivered Northern Europe, was ?,?1,030-1,050 ($1,226-1,250) per tonne on June 30, unchanged week on week.This is the second week of price stability after a period of consistent w...Read More
A Turkish mill has secured ferrous scrap from the United States for $2 per tonne more than the last-reported US sale, but falling dock prices and a lack of significant upward momentum in US export prices has led some to question what direction domestic prices will take in July's ferrous scrap trade."It is an interesting turn of events. Somehow mills are getting comfortable. My agent told me export...Read More
Turkish steel producers continued their deep-sea scrap purchases, but at a slow pace dictated by limited long steel demand, market sources told Fastmarkets on Wednesday June 30.A steel mill in the Marmara region booked a US cargo, comprising HMS 1&2 (80:20) at $501 per tonne, along with shredded and bonus scrap at $521 per tonne cfr late on Tuesday June 29, the seller told Fastmarkets.But some mar...Read More
Prices were largely unchanged on the London Metal Exchange on the morning of Wednesday June 30, with the exception of lead which continued its steady rise, reaching a new year-to-date high of $2,340 per tonne during early trading."Today is the last trading day in June," Malcom Freeman, director at Kingdom Futures Limited, said. "So the question is will the funds and speculative players who appear...Read More
The Cobalt standard grade, in-whs Rotterdam, $/lb trade log including business, bids and offers reported to Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets publishes trades logs for its key price assessments and indices to bring more transparencyinto the markets it covers and the pricing process it applies.Fastmarkets assessed Cobalt standard grade, in-whs Rotterdam, $/lb at...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
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
An overview of the consumer electronics markets and their latest price moves.Janie Davies, Cristina Belda and...Read More
The Cobalt alloy grade, in-whs Rotterdam, $/lbtrade log including business, bids and offers reported to Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets publishes trades logs for its key price assessments and indices to bring more transparencyinto the markets it covers and the pricing process it applies.Fastmarkets assessed...Read More
An overview of the specialty steel raw materials markets in Europe and their latest price moves.Dalila Ouerghi and...Read More
CANADA DAY Pre-opening Comments for Thursday July 1stU.S. equity index futures were higher this morning. S&P 500 futures were up 5 points in pre-opening trade.Johnson & Johnson added $0.67 to $165.41 after the U.S. Surgeon General said that Johnson & Johnson's COVID 19 vaccine may protect against the Delta variant.Micron slipped $1.24 to $83.74 despite reporting highe...Read More
Hot-rolled coil prices in the United States rose above $86 per hundredweight ($1,720 per short ton) for the first time on Wednesday June 30, surpassing the previous all-time high that was reached just a day before.Fastmarkets' daily steel hot-rolled coil index, fob mill US was calculated at $86.53 per hundredweight ($1,730.60 per short ton) on Wednesday, an increase of 0.64% from $85.98 per...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
Here are five Fastmarkets MB stories you might have missed on Tuesday June 29 that are worth another look....Read More
All prices on the London Metal Exchange except for copper finished the day on June 29 at higher prices than Monday, with lead showing the biggest gains and setting a new year-to-date high, and aluminium up by 2.5%.Copper was the only price to close lower on Tuesday, falling 0.6% to $9,334.50 per tonne from Monday's $9,388 per tonne. The three-month price of lead rose by 3.2% to $2,305 per ton...Read More