Turkish steel mills have started buying deep-sea scrap again at steady prices for shipment in June, market participants told Fastmarkets on Tuesday April 27.A steel mill in the Marmara region booked a Baltic Sea cargo consisting of 25,000 tonnes of HMS 1&2 (80:20) at $427.50 per tonne cfr.This compared with the most recent deep-sea transactions heard on April 21, when two Baltic Sea suppliers secu...Read More
Ferrous prices in Asia are rising at a steady pace and look likely to surpass 2008's high levels as early as next month, industry sources told Fastmarkets this week.Coking coal and cokeSupply tightness in both the domestic and import markets for high-quality, low-sulfur hard coking coal should continue to support prices in May, sources said.Since the start of April, domestic supply shortages have...Read More
Chinese importers have been competing for the best-quality copper scrap, citing concerns over future rises in the procurement cost of raw materials while the price rally continues, Fastmarkets has learnt.Suppliers of top-grade copper scrap in the Asia-Pacific region were selling candy and berry at thin discounts to the price of refined copper, as traded on the London Metal Exchange over the past m...Read More
Ferroglobe will restructure its ferro-alloys production plants in France and Spain, which will affect manganese alloys, silicon and foundry alloys output near term, the company told Fastmarkets.Spain-based Ferroglobe has the production capacity for more than one million tonnes per year of ferro-alloys, such as manganese alloys, ferro-silicon, ferro-silicon magnesium, as well as foundry alloys such...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Tuesday April 27 that are worth another look.Brazilian iron ore producer Vale expected to see higher premiums for iron ore pellet in the third quarter of this year, after steep increases were applied in both the first and second...Read More
A summary of Brazilian miner Vale's results for the first quarter of 2021, as stated in its earnings report published on Monday April 26.In brief Vale's realized price for iron ore - considering transactions in both a fob and a cfr basis - increased on rising indices and higher-quality premiums, but was offset by marking prices at lower levels for the quarter and a larger amount of sales on a fob...Read More
Key data from the pricing sessions in Asia, Europe and the United States in the week ending Tuesday April 27.China China's Taiyuan Iron & Steel (Tisco), Baosteel and Tsingshan Group cut their ferro-chrome tender prices by 1,050 yuan ($162) per tonne for May-deliveries. Following these cuts, suppliers lowered their offer prices in the spot market, while buying interest waned amid bearish sentiment,...Read More
Cobre Panama, the copper industry's most recent major greenfield project, reported record production in the first quarter after it put disruptions related to the Covid-19 pandemic behind it, First Quantum Minerals said. The mine in Colon Province, 120km west of Panama City, achieved copper output of 82,042 tonnes in the three months ended March 31, an increase of 46% from the year-earlier period....Read More
With the exception of the June nickel contract, base metals prices on the Shanghai Futures Exchange were weaker this morning, Wednesday April 28.This is after strong gains in recent weeks and likely reflects some caution ahead of the United States Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting and US President Joe Biden’s address to Congress.* US 10-year treasury yields climb...* ...US Dollar I...Read More
Fastmarkets' index for iron ore 62% Fe fines, cfr Qingdao, rose to a new record high on Tuesday April 27 with iron ore prices all going up further. The 62% Fe index has been above the previous high of $183.59 per tonne, set in January 2011, since April 20.Fastmarkets iron ore indices62% Fe fines, cfr Qingdao: $195.31 per tonne, up by $1.73 per tonne62% Fe low-alumina fines, cfr Qingdao: $196.35 pe...Read More
Copper's price reached $9,705 per tonne in the morning, while the rest of the London Metal Exchange base metals also started the week with higher prices on Monday April 26. Copper's price was up 1.6% on Monday morning to a new 2021 high - and its highest level since July 2011 - following a 1.9% rise over last week, when it closed at $9,551 per tonne on Friday. There were more than 11,000 lots...Read More
All base-metals prices on the London Metal Exchange were up by 1% or more at the 5pm close of trading on Monday April 26, with overarching bullish sentiment toward economic recoveries taking hold of the complex throughout the day.Copper and aluminium were the leaders of the rally on Monday, both reaching new 2021 highs during the day at $9,765 and $2,407 per tonne respectively.They closed at 5pm u...Read More
China's leading stainless steel producers, Taiyuan Iron & Steel (Tisco) and Baosteel Group, have both slashed their ferro-chrome tender prices for May delivery by 1,050 yuan ($162) per tonne from the previous month.The latest high-carbon ferro-chrome tender prices released by Tisco and Baosteel on Sunday April 25 are 7,300 yuan per tonne and 7,495 yuan per tonne respectively. This marks a decrease...Read More
Renewed demand, sparked by lower offers in the past two weeks, shifted the seaborne manganese ore market to an uptrend this week, against the backdrop of support for portside prices and a strengthening performance in silico-manganese futures.Fastmarkets' manganese ore index 37% Mn, cif Tianjin, ticked up by 9 cents to $4.36 per dry metric tonne unit (dmtu) on Friday April 23, from $4.27 per dmtu a...Read More
As the current surge in coronavirus cases in India takes hold, Fastmarkets looks at the possibility that the steel industry could lose its impressive growth.New cases of coronavirus in India have surpassed 350,000 per day and steel plants in the country have been supplying liquid medical oxygen (LMO) to hospitals because of the ongoing shortage of available oxygen. Diverting supplies of oxygen awa...Read More
Metal companies transporting material in containers are facing fresh disruption to shipping following the blockage of the Suez Canal last month, sources told Fastmarkets. The main immediate legacy of March's Suez Canal obstruction has been worsening congestion at several global ports following major disruptions to vessel scheduling. These delays to shipping times have also exacerbated shortag...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Monday April 26 that are worth another look.Liberty Steel Dudelange-Liege has been cancelling orders and shipments to customers that had agreed deals for cold-rolled coil and hot-dipped galvanized coil, sources have told Fastmarkets.Metal...Read More
Copper led the London Metal Exchange base metals higher this morning, Monday April 26, and most of the base metals on the Shanghai Futures Exchange were up too, while the market continued to benefit from the strong purchasing managers' index (PMI) data that was out on Friday. US markets managed to shake-off concerns about US President Joe Biden's tax plans Base metalsLME three-month base metals pr...Read More
The latest data for the global manganese ore market for the week ended April 26, 2021.Read More
Turkish domestic scrap prices have remained fairly stable over the past seven days, with most mills keeping their buy prices unchanged week on week, market participants said on Monday April 26.Long steel producers in the Izmir region continued to buy domestic auto bundle and ship scrap at stable prices over the past seven days.Only two mills in the Marmara region cut...Read More