European steel association Eurofer believes that apparent steel consumption in the EU will increase by 11.7% year-on-year in 2021, it said on Thursday May 6.The association also forecast a more moderate rise of 4.9% year-on-year in 2022, to return "above 2017 levels thanks to continued improvement in demand from steel-using sectors."As a result, EU apparent steel consumption was expected to reach...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts is ready to view.Stainless steel prices and margins for stainless steel producers have risen notably over the past few months in both Europe and the United States, but there are now signs that the rally is petering out.A clear reason for the halt to rising prices comes from the near 20% drop in nickel prices seen in late February/early March,...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts is ready to view.With nickel prices down by almost 20% over the space of around ten days during late February and early March, one might have been expecting us to be reporting sharply-lower prices of stainless steel, at least for the most common nickel-containing grades of stainless steel.This is not the case, at least in Europe and the Unite...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts is ready to view.We spoke in our previous tracker of stainless steel prices ending 2020 on a high. That trend has continued during early 2021 and, in fact, the upward rally in prices has increased its momentum.Compared with the monthly price increase of some 5% seen at the end of 2020, prices for grade-304 stainless steel in al...Read More
The price of stainless steel flat products in Europe surged this week with some sources attributing this to China's cancellation of an export tax rebate, Fastmarkets heard on Friday May 7.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for stainless steel cold-rolled sheet, 2mm grade 304, transaction domestic, delivered North Europe, was ?,?3,000-3,050 ($3,611-3,672) per tonne, up by ?,?200 per tonne week on...Read More
Pig iron export prices from Brazil increased further on new sales in the week to Friday May 7, sources told Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets' price assessment for pig iron, export, fob port of Vitoria/Rio, Brazil, was $575-590 per tonne on Friday, up from $545-560 per tonne the previous week.Two 30,000-35,000 tonnes cargoes of pig iron, with phosphorous content 0.15%, were sold from southern Brazil for...Read More
Premiums for aluminium billet set or remained at all-time highs across the globe on Friday May 7, with tight supply and strong demand persisting.United StatesFastmarkets assessed the aluminium 6063 extrusion billet premium, delivered Midwest US at 20-22 cents per lb on Friday, steady since it rose to a fresh all-time high on April 23.Strong demand across extrusion end-use sectors and tight supply...Read More
Cesco, the Chilean Center for Copper and Mining Studies, is calling for a technical and political committee to be formed in order to discuss the recent law proposal to increase mining royalties in the country.An optimal balance between state interests and return on private investments must be reached to develop Chile's mining industry further, Cesco said in a statement on Friday May 7. It added th...Read More
Metal merchants for years ploughed credit into Liberty Commodities, the trading unit of GFG Alliance, even while banks quietly shunned the company.In separate instances related to nickel and copper deals dating to 2016, blue-chip banks including ICBC Standard Bank, Sberbank and Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) have abruptly halted financing of commodity trades made by Liberty after finding irr...Read More
Copper's futures price set a new all-time high in afternoon trading on the London Metal Exchange on Friday May 7, with the bullishness also extending to zinc, which rose above $3,000 per tonne for the first time since June 2018, and aluminium.Three-month copper reached a record high price of $10,435 per tonne on Friday, with volumes traded at over 22,300 lots by 5pm - the most since mid-April.The...Read More
An overview of the new energy materials markets and their price moves from the past week.Susan Zou, Yingchi Yang, and Sybil...Read More
Spot trading of copper concentrate slowed in the week ending Friday May 7 with Chinese and Japanese market participants away for holidays. Fastmarkets' copper concentrate treatment and refining charge (TC/RC) index rebounded, with deals to smelters reported at low-to-mid $30s. Spot buying interest was not particularly high because several major Chinese smelters are carrying out maintenance in May...Read More
Brazilian slab export prices rose during the week ended Friday May 7 as sellers seized the opportunity to raise prices given low supply and strong demand.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel slab export, fob main port Brazil was $900-940 per tonne on Friday, up by $20 per tonne on the high end from $900-920 per tonne the previous week. Early in the week, offers were reported between the...Read More
South American flat steel import prices rose during the week to Friday May 7 as Chinese mills were only beginning to return from the country's 5-day Labor holiday, and material from elsewhere was sold at higher levels.Only a few firm offers were provided to clients in South America, according to market participants. Most were price indications for residual June shipments and initial assessments fo...Read More
Pig iron import prices in the United States increased during the week to Friday May 7, following the uptrend in the global market.Fastmarkets' price assessment for pig iron, import, cfr Gulf of Mexico, US, was $620-635 per tonne on Friday, up from $585-595 per tonne the previous week.A cargo of Brazil-origin pig iron with 0.12% phosphorus content was bought at about $630-635 per tonne cfr for Augu...Read More
Prices for inter-merchant light iron scrap in the UK increased over the week ended Friday May 7, extending a general rally since late March, sources have told Fastmarkets.The market was likely to move higher, they added, given strong business conditions for European scrap exports into Turkey and the Indian subcontinent.UK monthly deliveries into domestic consumers in May were likely to be settled...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Thursday May 6 that are worth another look.Recent changes in Chinese tax policy have resulted in significant rises in the prices for steel billet and finished long steel products from the CIS and...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Wednesday May 5 that are worth another look.German steel companies Thyssenkrupp Steel and H? 1/4 ttenwerke Krupp Mannesmann (HKM) and the Port of Rotterdam Authority are to jointly investigate setting up international supply chains for hydrogen.AfriTin Mining will increase production at its fledgling...Read More
High primary aluminium prices and premiums in Europe prevented market participants there from achieving a higher low-carbon aluminium differential throughout April, sources told Fastmarkets on Friday May 7.Fastmarkets assessed the aluminium low-carbon differential value-added product (VAP), Europe at $10-15 per tonne Friday May 7, flat compared to the last assessment on April 1.Offers as high as $...Read More
Trafigura is in talks with Cliveden Trading to acquire copper purchase and sale contracts from the Zug-based trading house, sources with knowledge of the matter told Fastmarkets.Talks were held between the two companies this week, with Trafigura potentially taking on a portion of Cliveden's copper book, subject to conditions, two sources who declined to be named because the discussions were confid...Read More