Turkish deep-sea scrap import prices continued to rise after fresh transactions came to light on Wednesday February 24, sources told Fastmarkets.A steel mill in the Iskenderun region booked a Baltic Sea cargo, comprising 20,000 tonnes of HMS 1&2 (80:20) at $445 per tonne and 5,000 tonnes of bonus at $455 per tonne cfr late on Tuesday February 23.Another steel mill in the same...Read More
Fresh deals to South Korea and Taiwan have raised Japanese export scrap prices over recent days, market participants told Fastmarkets on Wednesday February 24.Bullish sentiment in the market was underpinned by major Japan steel scrap buyer Tokyo Steel raising its buy prices by ?500 per tonne across all factories on Wednesday. The price hike, the second this week of its kind, means the steelmaker...Read More
Higher Japanese offers are heating up prices in the China import scrap market, sources told Fastmarkets on Wednesday February 24.Chinese buyers have focused more on procuring steel billet imports since the market returned from its Lunar New Year holidays earlier this month, with few recent scrap sales heard.Fastmarkets' price assessment of steel scrap, heavy recycled steel materials was at $470-47...Read More
Seaborne low-volatility pulverized coal injection (PCI) prices in both the fob and cfr markets increased on Wednesday February 24 following the latest trade and growing buying interest in the cfr market, sources said.Fastmarkets indicesPremium hard coking coal, fob DBCT: $138.93 per tonne, up $0.15 per tonnePremium hard coking coal, cfr Jingtang: $219.04 per tonne, down $1.24 per tonneHard coking...Read More
China's "unpredictable political moves" in relation to coking coal from Australia has driven some Chinese steel mills to increase their contractual supplies of the steelmaking raw material from elsewhere, sources told Fastmarkets this week.Several mills increased contractual volumes for north American metallurgical coal at the end of 2020, an end user from south China said."We have also added abou...Read More
Iron ore prices were largely rangebound on Wednesday February 24 due to limited demand from steel mills, sources told Fastmarkets. Fastmarkets iron ore indices 62% Fe fines, cfr Qingdao: $172.71 per tonne, down $0.34 per tonne 62% Fe low-alumina fines, cfr Qingdao: $173.11 per tonne, down $0.41 per tonne 58% Fe fines high-grade premium, cfr Qingdao: $160.36 per tonne, down $1.00 per tonne 65% Fe B...Read More
Base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange and Shanghai Futures Exchange were mixed this morning, Wednesday February 24, with tin on the LME and the SHFE April copper contract in positive territory, while the rest were weaker.US Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell told Congress that rates would stay low and the central bank would maintain strong support for the economyAsian-Pacific equitie...Read More
The London Metal Exchange three-month copper price fell below $9,200 per tonne on Wednesday February 24, despite hitting a new annual high during earlier trading, with the rest of the base metals complex also trading lower following their recent bullish boost.LME three-month copper's price hit $9,342 per tonne during early morning trading - its highest since since August 2011 - but down by 0.2% at...Read More
China's hot-rolled coil prices continued to weaken on Wednesday February 24 amid rising inventories in the domestic market, while higher freight rates dampened exporters' willingness to book cargoes from Chinese mills.DomesticEastern China (Shanghai): 4,830-4,840 yuan ($747-749) per tonne, down 10-30 yuan per tonneSeveral traders in Shanghai said that the domestic market remained inactive even whe...Read More
Key data from Fastmarkets' pricing session in London on Wednesday February 24.Key driversSpot cobalt metal prices continued to rally in the first half of the week, supported by a flurry of inquiries from Chinese market participants following the end of...Read More
An overview of the consumer electronics markets and their latest price moves.Ewa Manthey and Dalila Ouerghi in London,...Read More
An overview of the specialty steel raw materials markets in Europe and their latest price moves.Charlotte Radford, Cristina Belda...Read More
The Cobalt alloy grade, in-whs Rotterdam, $/lbtrade log including business, bids and offers reported to Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets publishes trades logs for its key price assessments and indices to bring more transparencyinto the markets it covers and the pricing process it applies.Fastmarkets assessed Cobalt...Read More
The Cobalt standard grade, in-whs Rotterdam, $/lb trade log including business, bids and offers reported to Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets publishes trades logs for its key price assessments and indices to bring more transparencyinto the markets it covers and the pricing process it applies.Fastmarkets assessed Cobalt standard grade, in-whs Rotterdam, $/lb at 23.95-25.00 on Wednesday...Read More
The Cobalt hydroxide payable indicator, min 30% Co, cif China, % payable of Fastmarkets' standard-grade cobalt price (low-end) trade log including business, bids and offers reported to Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets publishes trades logs for its key price assessments and indices to bring more transparencyinto the markets it covers and the pricing process it applies.Fastmarkets assessed Cobalt hydroxide p...Read More
The Cobalt sulfate 20.5% Co basis, exw China, yuan/tonne trade log including business, bids and offers reported to Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets publishes trades logs for its key price assessments and indices to bring more transparencyinto the markets it covers and the pricing process it applies.Fastmarkets assessed...Read More
Key data from Fastmarkets' pricing session in Europe on Wednesday February 24. Key drivers Limited supplies of higher tin content grade (Sn 0.5-2%) scrap pushed the price to the highest since September 2012. The low tin (Sn 0.5%) content grade price was steady, with deals reported below $2 per lb, although a few offer prices have been reported above that level....Read More
A summary of Brazilian steelmaker Gerdau's financial results in the fourth quarter and full year of 2020, as stated in its earnings report published on Wednesday February 24.In brief Domestic sales volumes of both flat and long steel in the Brazil division increased year-on-year during the fourth quarter amid stronger steel demand from the construction, wind power and infrastructure sectors, drivi...Read More
The Chinese domestic price of cobalt metal surged in the first half of this week amid tightened supply and robust demand from the battery supply chain.Fastmarkets' assessment of cobalt 99.8% Co min, ex-works China rose to 390,000-420,000 yuan ($60,450-65,100) per tonne (approximately $24.26-26.13 per lb less China value-added tax) on Wednesday February 24, up by 11.3% from 358,000-370,000 yuan per...Read More
Apart from nickel on the London Metal Exchange, the rest of the base metals on both the LME and Shanghai Futures Exchange were once again stronger this morning, Thursday February 25.* US Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell told Congress that it might take three years to reach the central bank’s inflation targets* Asian-Pacific equities were up strongly on Powell’s commentsBase metalsT...Read More