Prices for steel H-beams in Europe have fallen this week, with a four week stalemate ending after mills reduced their offer prices, sources told Fastmarkets on Wednesday February 17.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel beams, domestic, delivered Northern Europe, was ?,?740-760 ($898-922) per tonne on Wednesday, down from ?,?750-770 per tonne one week earlier."[The cost of] scrap is again...Read More
Turkish steel mills have preferred to focus on steel and billet sales so far this week, rather than resuming their deep-sea scrap purchases, market sources told Fastmarkets on Wednesday February 17.The mills have stayed away from the deep-sea scrap markets since the end of last week, when two Turkish steelmakers booked US cargoes at $410 per tonne cfr on an HMS 1&2 (80:20) basis.The daily scrap in...Read More
Greater use of scrap in the steelmaking process will be an important step toward achieving a sharp drop in CO2 emissions, the Japan Iron and Steel Federation (Jisf) said."We support and contribute to Japan's ambitious policy of carbon neutrality by 2050 and to that end, the Japanese steel industry will boldly take on the challenge of achieving zero-carbon steel," the federation said on Tuesday Feb...Read More
Seaborne prices were stable on Wednesday February 17 in a muted market, but market participants expect activity to resume when China returns from the New Year break on Thursday. Fastmarkets iron ore indices 62% Fe fines, cfr Qingdao: $166.88 per tonne, unchanged 62% Fe low-alumina fines, cfr Qingdao: $167.25 per tonne, unchanged 58% Fe fines high-grade premium, cfr Qingdao: $152.66 per tonne, unch...Read More
Mining giant BHP has listed high-grade iron ore and ferrous scrap as among the key future trends that will set the tone for the global steelmaking industry in its economic outlook released on Tuesday February 16.High-grade iron ore"High-quality seaborne iron ore fines and direct charge materials such as lump are important abatement sources for the blast furnace (BF)-based steelmaking route," BHP s...Read More
ArcelorMittal Liberia is aiming to produce its first iron ore concentrate at its Yekepa mine in the fourth quarter of 2023, the company said in an earnings report last week. Construction will begin this year for the second phase of the project that will produce 15 million tonnes per year of concentrate sinter fines, ArcelorMittal said without disclosing a specific start date for the building work....Read More
Seaborne hard coking coal prices outside China experienced a strong rebound on Wednesday February 17 due to demand from Indian steelmakers. Fastmarkets indicesPremium hard coking coal, fob DBCT: $141.20 per tonne, down $0.56 per tonnePremium hard coking coal, cfr Jingtang: $217.23 per tonne, unchangedHard coking coal, fob DBCT: $133.57 per tonne, up $8.50 per tonneHard coking coal, cfr Jingtang: $...Read More
Copper prices on the London Metal Exchange rallied this week, but with many parts of Asia on holiday for the Lunar New Year, the effect of the rally on spot markets is yet to be seen.Red metal's price on LME rise to its highest since May 2012 LME cash/three-month copper spread remains in backwardation with LME on-warrant stock dropping week on week US copper premium strengthens amid weather woes P...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 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,...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.Read More
Recovery hopes tied into the rollout of Covid-19 vaccines and some brighter economic data has driven up bond yields that in turn has lifted the dollar, and that seems to be creating some hesitancy in the metals this morning, Wednesday February 17. The US Dollar Index is firmer US 10-year treasury yields have stepped up a gear as recovery is still being priced inAs a barometer, spot gold prices are...Read More
Nornickel's annual profit fell by 39% in 2020, despite a 15% increase in its revenues compared with 2019, according to financial results issued by the Russian miner on Tuesday February 16.Nornickel posted a net profit of $3.634 billion for 2020, down from $5.966 billion in 2019.Strong commodity prices, especially that for palladium, helped Nornickel end the year with a better bottom line than at m...Read More
Key data from Fastmarkets' pricing session in Europe on Wednesday February 17. Key drivers Limited supplies of titanium scrap pushed the low tin (Sn 0.5%) content grade price to a high last seen in August 2012, while higher tin content grade (Sn 0.5-2%) reached a high last seen in January 2013.European suppliers are positioning themselves for firmer demand in early March for second-quarter delive...Read More
The European Commission has initiated anti-subsidy proceedings concerning imports of cold-rolled stainless steel from India and Indonesia, it said in a notice in the official journal of the European Union on Wednesday February 17. The proceedings follow a complaint lodged by European steel association Eurofer on January 4 on behalf of the stainless steel industry in the European Union. The EU impo...Read More
China’s metals industry returned from holiday to find metal prices were higher and it would appear have chased prices higher, with all the base metals on the London Metal Exchange and Shanghai Futures Exchange showing gains this morning, Thursday February 18.* While the metals were higher, Asian equities were for the most part under pressure this morning* US 10-year treasury yields remains fi...Read More
Wal-Mart (WMT), a Dow Jones Industrial Average stock moved below $139.19 extending an intermediate downtrend following release of fourth quarter results.Shanghai Composite Index advanced 20.27 to 3,675.36 following resumption of trade after the one week celebration of Chinese New Year. The Shanghai Composite Index has a history of moving higher on a real and relative basis until mid-April followin...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Tuesday February 16 that are worth another look.With long-serving chief executive officer Ivan Glasenberg departing on a trade-fueled high, Glencore looks likely to continue along a familiar path while also tackling one of its biggest...Read More
A summary of base metals premiums from across the globe for the week to Tuesday February 16.Please click...Read More
A slight rebound in the US Dollar Index failed to stop rises in the prices for nickel (up by 1% at 5pm), aluminium and copper, but it triggered a slight decrease for the other half of the London Metal Exchange base-metals complex.Nickel's three-month price reached a new year-to-date high of $18,840 per tonne during afternoon trading on the LME on Tuesday February 16, and it was $18,814 per tonne a...Read More