The current Argentinian administration under President Alberto Fern??ndez is committed to developing the lithium resources that the country owns, although the government's efforts could be dampened by the lingering historic macroeconomic instability of the state, analysts told Fastmarkets.In early April, Argentina's government announced it had set up the "Mesa Nacional del Litio" roundtable in col...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Thursday April 29 that are worth another look.Major Indian steelmaker JSW Steel is reducing steel production to ensure that sufficient oxygen is sent from its plants to the healthcare sector to help combat the surge in Covid-19 cases in...Read More
An eagerness to maintain relationships by doing deals with counterparties has left some manganese ore buyers and suppliers saddled with unsustainable financing costs, market participants told Fastmarkets this week.Market participants who bought high-priced material in February and March are still financing high-priced material that has since devalued and some have reached the end of their toleranc...Read More
Visible progress has been made toward network readiness and the availability of 5G telecommunications in the first quarter of 2021, after delays last year resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic, sources have told Fastmarkets.There has been already a significant ramping-up of the uptake of 5G devices so far this year. The Global Mobile Suppliers Association (GSA), in its 5G devices summary for March...Read More
The three-month price of copper breached the $10,000-per-tonne mark on the London Metal Exchange during trading on Thursday April 29, while zinc and aluminium also reached fresh year-to-date and multi-year highs, driven by overall bullish sentiment.Most metals set their new highs during early trading, when the US Dollar Index was around its two-month low of 90.47 on Thursday morning. But when the...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Thursday April 29 that are worth another look.Major Indian steelmaker JSW Steel is reducing steel production to ensure that sufficient oxygen is sent from its plants to the healthcare sector to help combat the surge in Covid-19 cases in...Read More
The demand for nickel and cobalt as battery materials for electric vehicles (EV) will keep their long-term bullish fundamentals intact, according to Canadian miner Sherritt International.Over the past six months, numerous carmakers and governments have announced plans for significant investments to expand EV production capacity to meet growing demand, the company said.Sherritt produces nickel plus...Read More
With the exception of lead on the Shanghai Futures Exchange, base metals prices were stronger this morning, Thursday April 29, reassured that Federal Reserve would keep policy loose and because United States President Joe Biden pumped up the outlook for the US by saying the country is "ready for takeoff". Tin leapt higher on the LME on Wednesday, with the SHFE contract catching up today...... Mala...Read More
Sentiment in China's imported ferrous scrap market turned bullish on Thursday April 29, after the country's Ministry of Finance officially announced that the new tax regime for ferrous raw materials would start on Saturday May 1.According to the document published by the Ministry of Finance, there will be no import tariffs for steelmaking raw materials such as recycled steel, pig iron, crude steel...Read More
Turkish steelmakers took a break from deep-sea scrap purchases to monitor conditions in the finished steel markets on Thursday April 29, ahead of a 17-day coronavirus lockdown, sources told Fastmarkets.The most recent deep-sea trade was recorded on Wednesday April 28, when a steel mill in northern Turkey was heard booking 22,000 tonnes of HMS 1&2 (80:20) from the Baltic Sea at $432 per tonne cfr.T...Read More
A summary of Glencore's production results for the first quarter of 2021, as released on Thursday April 29.In brief Copper production was up by 3% year on year in the first quarter of 2021 because of productivity improvements and mine plan sequencing at Glencore's South American operations including Collahuasi, Antamina and Antapaccay.Lower grades at Kazzinc's Maleevsky mine and mine sequencing at...Read More
Visible progress has been made toward network readiness and the availability of 5G telecommunications in the first quarter of 2021, after delays last year resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic, sources have told Fastmarkets.There has been already a significant ramping-up of the uptake of 5G devices so far this year. The Global Mobile Suppliers Association (GSA), in its 5G devices summary for March...Read More
Fastmarkets has corrected its weekly price assessment for Aluminium ingot ADC 12, exw dp China, yuan/tonne, which was published incorrectly on Wednesday April 28 due to a reporter error.The assessment should have been 17,900-18,300 yuan per tonne, rather than 17,900-18,200 yuan per tonne, which was the previous week's range.This has now been corrected in Fastmarkets' pricing database, MinD.For mor...Read More
ADC 12 aluminium alloy prices in China rose on Wednesday April 28, due to higher production costs and reduced supplies, caused by a month of environmental inspections in Jiangxi province.China's Environmental Protection Inspection Team is conducting checks in Jiangxi until May 7 and many ADC 12 producers there have lowered their output while the checks take place."We heard that producers in Jiangx...Read More
Turkish steelmakers took a break from deep-sea scrap purchases to monitor conditions in the finished steel markets on Thursday April 29, ahead of a 17-day coronavirus lockdown, sources told Fastmarkets.The most recent deep-sea trade was recorded on Wednesday April 28, when a steel mill in northern Turkey was heard booking 22,000 tonnes of HMS 1&2 (80:20) from the Baltic Sea at $432 per tonne cfr.T...Read More
Long steel prices in the Turkish domestic market have increased in line with a slight recovery in demand, market sources said on Thursday April 29.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel reinforcing bar (rebar), domestic, exw Turkey, was 6,000-6,100 lira ($730-742) per tonne on Thursday, narrowing upward from last week's 5,950-6,100 lira per tonne.The domestic rebar price in the Istanbul re...Read More
Demand for steel rebar in Egypt should increase soon after the new construction regulations come into effect on May 1, sources told Fastmarkets on Thursday April 29.The Egyptian Ministry of Local Development announced that it will allow new building permits from May 1 onward, sources told Fastmarkets.The permits will be provided until June 30 as part of a trial period and after the trial, the mini...Read More
Fastmarkets' weekly price assessments for the CIS export steel market will not be published on May 3 or 4 because of recent changes to the public holiday schedule in Ukraine. Instead, the prices will be published on May 5.The prices affected will be:MB-STE-0012 Steel cold-rolled coil, export, fob Black Sea, CIS, $ per tonneMB-STE-0013 Steel heavy plate, 8-50mm, export, fob Black Sea, CIS, $ per to...Read More
Fastmarkets' weekly price assessments for the CIS export steel market will not be published on May 3 or 4 because of recent changes to the public holiday schedule in Ukraine. Instead, the prices will be published on May 5.The prices affected will be:MB-STE-0012 Steel cold-rolled coil, export, fob Black Sea, CIS, $ per tonneMB-STE-0013 Steel heavy plate, 8-50mm, export, fob Black Sea, CIS, $ per to...Read More
ArcelorMittal has again increased its official offer prices for all steel coil products in Northern Europe by ?,?20-50 ($24-60) per tonne, sources told Fastmarkets on Thursday April 29.The steelmaker had already increased its offers three times in April.With this latest increase, offer prices for hot-rolled coil reached ?,?1,020 ($1.233) per tonne ex-works, up by ?,?20 per tonne from the most rece...Read More