The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.This month's key ferro-alloy forecast highlights:?EUR?In a strong start to the year, January saw ore and alloy pricing gains across all markets priced by Fastmarkets - with the exception of Chinese silicon metal export prices, which retreated slightly last month after posting impressive gains in December 2020.The combination...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.Key ferro-alloy forecast highlights for the coming months:?EUR? A strong recovery in both bulk and noble alloys is expected in 2021 but the markets are unlikely to return to the levels seen before the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic. We have seen a quicker-than-expected recovery across various regions amid the economic fal...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.Fastmarkets analysts were invited to present our outlook for the coking coal market at Coaltrans Asia, held online on November 23-25. One of the key topics at the event was the trade tensions between China and Australia, which overtook Mongolia to become the largest coking coal exporter to China this year...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 latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts is ready to view.Prices of stainless steel are generally set to reach highs for the year as 2020 comes to a close. For the most common nickel-containing grades of stainless steel, this upward trend is being driven above all by rising nickel prices, which themselves are hitting relatively high levels into the end of 2020.The price increases si...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts is ready to view.While much commentary has been written about Asian economies performing far better than those elsewhere this year during the global Covid-19 pandemic, it is stainless steel markets in Europe and the United States that are ending the year in better shape than their Asian counterparts.We do not talk of demand levels or demand g...Read More
Domestic prices for steel hot-rolled coil in Northern Europe increased over the week to Friday February 19, supported by good order books at domestic producers and solid demand.Prices in the South of the region, in the meantime, were stable over the same period.Fastmarkets calculated its daily steel hot-rolled coil index, domestic, exw Northern Europe, at ?,?723.75 ($877.00) per tonne on February...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.Chinese export prices for seamless oil country tubular goods (OCTG) and linepipe barely moved in February 2021, after rallying in January, because the holidays to celebrate the Lunar New Year curbed market activity sharply.With the holiday now ended, we have seen some sharp jumps in round billet prices and we expect there to...Read More
London Metal Exchange zinc took out its 2020 high of $2,900 per tonne on Monday February 22 morning due to the complex being in rally mode, which has pushed all forward prices to set new multi-year highs."The fact that all the base metals are forging ahead this morning...supports our view that the markets are focused on the nearby Covid-19 recovery. The upturn is also supported by the huge underly...Read More
Base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange and Shanghai Futures Exchange were up significantly across the board this morning, Monday February 22, with all base metals on the LME setting fresh multi- month or year highs.Relief that vaccine programmes are being rolled out across many countries to underpin economic recovery, along with the knowledge that past and future stimulus packages will be...Read More
The domestic hot-rolled coil price in Northern Europe remained fairly stable on Monday February 22, supported by low availability and strong demand.Fastmarkets calculated its daily steel hot-rolled coil index, domestic, exw Northern Europe, at ?,?725.00 ($878.51) per tonne on Monday February 22, up by ?,?1.25 per tonne from ?,?723.75 per tonne on February 19.The index was also up by ?,?6.87 per to...Read More
Slab producers from the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) increased their offers to foreign customers due to the positive trend in the finished flat steel products and raw materials markets, with a return of demand in some of the key outlets supporting an uptick in slab prices also, sources said.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel slab, export, fob Black Sea, CIS was $650-660 per...Read More
The domestic market for flat steel in Russia's Central Federal District around Moscow was subdued during the week to Monday February 22, with poor weather conditions affecting deliveries and new offers expected later this week, sources told Fastmarkets. Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel hot-rolled (HR) sheet, domestic, cpt Moscow, Russia was unchanged week on week at 62,000-64,000 rou...Read More
Buying activity in the domestic steel rebar market in Russia's Central Federal District around Moscow was close to nil in the week to Monday February 22, due to bad weather conditions, Fastmarkets has heard.Official offer prices from major suppliers to the region were unchanged, but sources were expecting a downward correction soon.Snowstorms in the region over the assessment week put construction...Read More
Crude steel production in Italy inched higher year on year in January, while output in the long-steel sector registered a larger increase than that of the flat-steel sector, Italian steel association Federacciai said on Friday February 19. Italian crude steel production totaled 1.89 million tonnes in January, up by 0.7% from 1.88 million tonnes in the corresponding month last year. Long steel outp...Read More
China's hot-rolled prices coil prices rallied on Monday February 22 after dipping last Friday in tandem with overall gains in the industrial commodities sector amid concerns over inflation in the global market. DomesticEastern China (Shanghai): 4,850-4,870 yuan ($748-751) per tonne, up 150-170 yuan per tonneSeveral traders in Shanghai said that while trading activity in the spot market was weak, s...Read More
Liberty Steel, part of the GFG Alliance, has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with plant builder Paul Wurth and holding company Stahl-Holding-Saar (SHS) to develop a hydrogen-based steelmaking plant at its site in Dunkirk, France, the company said on Monday February 22.Paul Wurth is part of equipment provider SMS Group and has a partnership with hydrogen technology provider Sunfire, whil...Read More
Turkish steel scrap prices continued to rise on news of another cargo from the US on Monday February 22, which also led to a knock-on increase in finished steel and billet prices, sources told Fastmarkets. A steel producer in the northern Turkey booked a US cargo, comprising shredded at $440 per tonne and bonus at $445 per tonne cfr on Saturday February 20. The cargo composition has not yet been s...Read More
Turkish domestic ship scrap prices have increased over the past week amid increasing imported scrap values, market participants told Fastmarkets on Monday February 22.A deep-sea transaction done late on Wednesday February 17 - where a steel mill in the Marmara region booked a US cargo comprising 25,000 tonnes of HMS 1&2 (80:20) at $418 per tonne cfr - raised the daily scrap indices by more than...Read More
Export pig iron prices from the south of Brazil went up during the week to Friday February 19 on bullish supplier sentiment after they reported full order books, sources said.Fastmarkets' price assessment for pig iron, export, fob port of Vitoria/Rio, Brazil was $480-500 per tonne on Friday, up from $470 per tonne a week before. Suppliers from the south of Brazil were heard to be rejecting bids a...Read More