Aluminium billet premiums in Europe reached all-time highs on Friday March 12, with the US billet premium now barely below a record high, and supply squeezed across the globe.EuropeBillet premiums in Europe continued to soar on Friday due to continued supply tightness and logistics issues.The premium has overtaken the multi-year highs reached when US sanctions imposed on producer Rusal caused pani...Read More
Aluminium primary foundry alloy (PFA) premiums in Europe rose to more than two-year highs on Friday March 12, while the premium in the United States was unchanged at a 19-month high.EuropePremiums in Europe were driven higher by a lack of supply, rising raw material costs and global logistics complications. Fastmarkets' assessment of the aluminium primary foundry alloy silicon 7 ingot premium, ddp...Read More
An overview of the new energy materials markets and their price moves from the past week.Susan Zou and Sybil Pan...Read More
Vedanta Zinc International's Gamsberg zinc mine in South Africa could post a production loss of up to 40,000 tonnes in 2021, a source with direct knowledge of the matter confirmed to Fastmarkets.Mining activity temporarily halted at the Gamsberg mine after a pit collapse in November 2020, but restarted in January. The mine has a capacity of 250,000 tonnes per year of zinc in concentrate....Read More
Key data from the pricing sessions in Asia, Europe and the United States for the week ending Friday March 12. ChinaThe spot domestic market price remained firm when production was suspended in Baotou due to the energy consumption restrictions in Inner Mongolia, adding to the already tight availability.The export price edged higher amid increasing spot demand from Asian buyers.Europe The spot...Read More
Some manganese alloy smelters in China are offering manganese ore back to the market after being shut down under measures aimed at controlling energy consumption, sources told Fastmarkets.Ferro-alloys smelters in Inner Mongolia were ordered to suspend their operations for a month from March 5 in a move that is expected to remove 10,000-20,000 tonnes of silico-manganese from the market.The smelters...Read More
An overview of the new energy materials markets and their price moves from the past week.Susan Zou and Sybil Pan...Read More
An overview of the specialty steel raw materials markets in Europe and their latest price moves.Charlotte Radford, Cristina Belda...Read More
Increasing scrap flows and bearish appetites led to softer prices in the majority of international steel scrap markets in the week to Friday March 12.While the markets in the United States, China and India appeared to be static over the period, a flurry of buying activity in Vietnam was intended to capitalize on lower Japanese scrap prices, while Taiwanese traders made hasty sales in a bid to avoi...Read More
The price of austenitic steel scrap in the UK and Europe fell further in the past seven days following the sharp drop in the nickel market last week, sources told Fastmarkets on Friday March 12.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for stainless steel scrap 18/8 solids, domestic, delivered merchants UK, was ?1,050-1,120 ($1,465-1,563) per tonne on Friday, down by ?30-50 per tonne week on week fro...Read More
Prices for shredded steel scrap imported into India and Pakistan moved down in the week to Friday March 12 following a correction in the international scrap market, sources have told Fastmarkets.IndiaFastmarkets calculated its steel scrap, shredded, index, import, cfr Nhava Sheva, India, at $450.83 per tonne on Friday, down from $460.86 per tonne one week previously.A deal was heard at $450 per to...Read More
Brazil-based metals producer Nexa Resources suspended activity at the open-pit San Gerardo zinc-lead mine at its Atacocha unit in Peru due to road blockades, the company said on Thursday March 11.The miner restricted operations to the minimum workforce necessary for critical maintenance and safety, it said, after demonstrations from the local Machcan community were blocking access to Atacocha's pr...Read More
Base metals prices on both the London Metal Exchange and the Shanghai Futures Exchange were mixed this morning, Friday March 12, with prices generally consolidating after recent weakness/consolidation. A lack of follow-through selling suggests underlying sentiment is still bullish. United States stimulus and European Central Bank support for a continued low interest rate environment are underpinni...Read More
An overview of the new energy materials markets and their price moves from the past week.Susan Zou and Sybil Pan...Read More
Chilean state-owned copper miner Codelco is exploring for lithium at the Maricunga salt flat, the second-largest in the country in terms of reserves, and is continuing to seek options for the area's future development, including joint ventures, the company's chairman has said.The miner received permission to explore from the Environmental Assessment Commission of Atacama, where the salt flat is lo...Read More
Profit-taking and the absence of Chinese buyers from the cobalt metal market has resulted in the first dip in the price of cobalt in 2021 but the fundamentals of the market remained the same, sources told Fastmarkets on Thursday March 11.Buyers which had speculated on cobalt during the latest rally, which has run since the start of the year, were now looking to sell off the metal they were holding...Read More
The South American import market for flat-rolled steel remained on an upward trend in the week to Friday March 12 with more expensive offers from China and Japan, but acceptance of these became less common with ship availability still low and freight rates remaining high, holding prices back.Two main factors were putting pressure on the market: the bulk freight situation and a potential cut in the...Read More
Domestic flat steel prices in Turkey continued to soar in the week to Friday March 12, but buyers were hesitant about booking big tonnages for July production, sources told Fastmarkets.Hot-rolled and cold-rolled coil producers were accepting orders to be produced in July, but buyers were reluctant to have to wait a minimum of four months for large quantities. Most market participants said tha...Read More
The European Commission's anti-dumping investigation into Chinese graphite electrodes sales into Europe has sparked a rush for material with market participants making plans in case duties are imposed, according to graphite electrode consultants GES.Since the EC declared on February 17 it was investigating whether Chinese graphite electrodes producers had broken anti-dumping rules, steel mills hav...Read More
The domestic price for reinforcing bar (rebar) in Brazil rose slightly during March, with the vast majority of mills delaying previously expected increases to April, market participants told Fastmarkets.While some local steelmakers had raised prices by 5-8% in February, a few who did not decided for a 6% increase in March. For April, at least two mills were indicating an average 15% rise, but this...Read More