The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.This month's key North American steel forecast highlights:Unprecedentedly high flat steel product pricing in the United States was forecast to persist through the current quarter and well into the second half of 2021.Actual US hot-rolled coil prices in April slightly outpaced our forecasts, with Fastmarkets' US HRC index ave...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.Recent weeks have largely been a repetition of the weeks leading up to our previous tracker in mid-April. A flurry of price increases have been announced, and largely obtained, by leading steelmakers in both Europe and the United States while buyers struggle to secure spot tonnages.Although steel output is rising in both reg...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.Global welded pipe prices surged in May as strong demand and still-insufficient supply lifted flat steel prices.The biggest jumps were seen in China, which was hit by the unexpected announcement of the elimination of export rebates on welded pipes in April. Chinese seaborne prices reached $1,570 per tonne fob for longitudina...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.United States sheet prices hit record highs again in May, with upward momentum carrying into June. Actual US HRC prices averaged $1,712 per tonne in May, largely in line with our forecast of $1,698 per tonne. Strong underlying supply-and-demand conditions both in the US and globally are supporting prices as well as long lead...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.These include an increase in our copper mine disruption estimates, upgrades to our production outlook for Indonesian nickel pig iron (NPI), a smaller refined zinc surplus, and an upgrade to our zinc price forecasts.Aluminium: Big disconnect between price and fundamentalsAluminium has extended its uptrend on the London Metal...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of base metals analysts are ready to view, including an upgrade to our aluminium price forecasts.Aluminium: Price forecasts raisedWe correctly expected the macro reflationary theme to raise the prices for all base metals but, with it being the base metal with by far the weakest fundamentals, we had expected the price of aluminium to underperform relative...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of base metals analysts are ready to view.Aluminium: SHFE tailwind for LME pricesAs we are entering the traditional strong demand season, we expect Chinese aluminium demand to show further recovery, and we expect demand from existing end-user sectors, new infrastructure projects and the export sector to show some increases. As a result, we believe that S...Read More
Zinc producers in China's southwestern province of Yunnan should be able to fully resume their operations by mid-June, sources said.Yunnan will remove its power restrictions by the end of June that have stunted local zinc output, the provincial energy bureau said.A few zinc smelters in Yunnan have already resumed production, however, sources that spoke to Fastmarkets said.Production capa...Read More
Bill Gates has a theory about green premiums: He wants to eliminate them entirely. The American business magnate and philanthropist calls green premiums the additional cost of choosing a clean technology over one that emits a greater amount of greenhouse gases.In other words, the price that metals and mining companies are starting to charge their customers for producing low-carbon produc...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Friday June 11 that are worth another look.The domestic price of steel rebar remained stable in Brazil in June, but market participants were uncertain about the price outlook for the finished steel product, questioning the stability of...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Friday June 11 that are worth another look.The domestic price of steel rebar remained stable in Brazil in June, but market participants were uncertain about the price outlook for the finished steel product, questioning the stability of...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets stories from Tuesday June 8 that are worth another look.A rise in Covid-19 cases in China's Guangdong province in recent weeks has led to tighter controls and rigorous testing at the huge Yantian International Container Terminal (YICT), causing extended delays...Read More
The European Commission (EC) will extend the existing safeguard measures on 26 steel products imported into the European Union by three years, market sources told Fastmarkets on Friday June 11.Quota volumes for all 26 steel products will increase by 3% year on year - lower than the 5% rise expected by market participants.The draft document of the adjusted measures was released to member states on...Read More
The European Commission plans to start an anti-dumping investigation into hot-dipped galvanizing coil from Turkey and Russia, market sources told Fastmarkets on Friday June 11. Multiple market participants said that European steel association Eurofer has lodged a complaint and that the executive arm of the European Union is likely to announce the start of the case soon. Eurofer declined to comment...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Friday June 11 that are worth another look.The domestic price of steel rebar remained stable in Brazil in June, but market participants were uncertain about the price outlook for the finished steel product, questioning the stability of...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Friday June 11 that are worth another look.The domestic price of steel rebar remained stable in Brazil in June, but market participants were uncertain about the price outlook for the finished steel product, questioning the stability of...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Friday June 11 that are worth another look.The domestic price of steel rebar remained stable in Brazil in June, but market participants were uncertain about the price outlook for the finished steel product, questioning the stability of...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Friday June 11 that are worth another look.The domestic price of steel rebar remained stable in Brazil in June, but market participants were uncertain about the price outlook for the finished steel product, questioning the stability of...Read More
London Metal Exchange ring dealing members have a decision to make - whether to remain one or not.The LME has just announced it will reopen the open outcry trading floor, which was temporarily closed due to Covid-19, on September 6.Its plan, however, comes with a twist; some ring dealers say, a knife.The official prices - which the global trade and industry use as the global reference for physical...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.Fastmarkets analysts were invited to present our outlook for the coking coal market at Coaltrans Asia, held online on November 23-25. One of the key topics at the event was the trade tensions between China and Australia, which overtook Mongolia to become the largest coking coal exporter to China this year...Read More