A fire has interrupted operations at ArcelorMittal Gijon's rail mill in Spain, the company told Fastmarkets on Tuesday February 16. The short-lived fire broke out at one of the rolling stands at Gijon's steelworks rail mill, located in Asturias, Spain, on Saturday, prompting the company to issue a stop-work...Read More
Buyers of flat steel in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates were making no deals while they waited for new prices from China, which will be back from a national holiday soon, sources told Fastmarkets on Tuesday February 16.China's Lunar New Year holiday runs February 11-17.Offers were heard from India, but buyers believed that the prices were too high.End-user demand in both countries was al...Read More
Most buyers for steel rebar and billet in the United Arab Emirates held back from the market in the week ended Tuesday February 16 because they wanted to see new rebar prices from local producers, sources told Fastmarkets.Rebar producers in the UAE were expected to announce new prices soon, and buyers have been waiting for them since last week.Buyers expected prices to hold steady or go down becau...Read More
The export price for steel hot-rolled coil from the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) narrowed downward after deals were done at lower levels during the week to Monday February 15, but the general market mood improved due to higher scrap prices in Turkey. Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel HRC, export, fob Black Sea, CIS was $690-705 per tonne on Monday, down on the high en...Read More
Swedish state-owned iron-ore producer LKAB plans to reopen its iron ore mine in Lapland, Sweden, to meet the increased demand for iron ore products, Fastmarkets heard on Tuesday February 16.LKAB plans to reopen the Mertainen mine, which was mothballed in 2016 amid a change in the market situation, in the autumn 2021, the company said. The primary goal of the mine's reopening is to meet the increas...Read More
Turkish steel producers have extended their absence from the deep-sea scrap markets because they were focusing on finished steel sales, market sources said on Tuesday February 16.The daily scrap indices had risen by more than $22 per tonne week on week after two Turkish steelmakers booked US cargoes at $410 per tonne cfr on an HMS 1&2 (80:20) basis.Since the upturn in scrap prices, most Turkish st...Read More
Algerian Qatari Steel (AQS) started its own direct reduced iron (DRI) production on Sunday February 14, and thus will stop importing DRI, the company told Fastmarkets.The module has the capacity to produce 2.5 million tonnes per year of DRI. This is in addition to the 2.1 million tpy of crude steel and total rolling capacity of 2 million tpy of rebar and wire rod...Read More
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 challenges to date.The world's largest commodity trader's marketing department beat analyst expectations to make profits before tax of $3.3 billion in the full year of 2020. This was 41% more than in the previous...Read More
Fob seaborne premium hard coking coal prices continued to slide on Tuesday February 16 due to weak demand from end users for seaborne spot cargoes, despite reports of some trader interest. Fastmarkets indices Premium hard coking coal, fob DBCT: $141.76 per tonne, down $2.55 per tonne Premium hard coking coal, cfr Jingtang: $217.23 per tonne, unchanged Hard coking coal, fob DBCT: $125.07 per tonne,...Read More
BHP released its results for the first half of its 2021 financial year on Tuesday February 16, while seaborne iron ore prices remained flat.Fastmarkets iron ore indices 62% Fe fines, cfr Qingdao: $166.88 per tonne, unchanged62% Fe low-alumina fines, cfr Qingdao: $167.25 per tonne, unchanged58% Fe fines high-grade premium, cfr Qingdao: $152.66 per tonne, unchanged65% Fe Brazil-origin fines, cfr Qin...Read More
Belgian multinational Umicore is seeing strong demand for raw materials for battery production, spurred on by a resurgent electric vehicle (EV) market in China, according to comments by the company's chief executive in its 2020 full-year earnings call on Thursday February 11.Lithium prices have started to recover while cobalt prices have rallied hard since the start of 2021, both driven by improve...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 alloy grade,...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...Read More
British ferro-titanium producers have moved to allay any worries about trading with Europe after the UK's exit from the European Union trading bloc ('Brexit'), with most confident they can satisfy the EU's strict regulations on chemicals.The EU's regulations on the Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and restriction of Chemicals (REACH), which came into force in 2006, monitors the pr...Read More
A summary of stainless steel producer Aperam's results for the full year and fourth quarter of 2020.In briefEarnings and sales were lower for the full year 2020 year on year owing to Covid-19 Earning increased, however, in the fourth quarter on both a yearly and quarterly basis amid a resurgent European market.Overall deliveries in the fourth quarter were...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 in* As a barometer, spot gold prices...Read More
Tesla (TSLA) moved below $780.10 completing a double top pattern.Take Two Interactive (TTWO), a NASDAQ 100 stock moved below $191.81 completing a double top pattern.Pre-opening Comments for Wednesday February 17thU.S. equity index futures were lower this morning. S&P 500 futures were down 5 points in pre-opening trade.Index futures moved lower on inflation fears following release of economic n...Read More
Tin's London Metal Exchange three-month price closed 3% higher on Monday February 15 at $24,385 per tonne, while the rest of the base metals prices continued to capitalize on bullish momentum with new year-to-date highs for all metals except for zinc. The tin price extended to $24,895 per tonne around midday, rising by some $1,000 in one hour. The short squeezing has resulted in the highest price...Read More
Spot zinc treatment charges (TCs) remained stable in mid-February in the run up to the Chinese New Year holidays, with smelter side activity muted in Asia. Fastmarkets assessed the zinc spot concentrate TC, cif China at $70-85 per tonne on Friday February 12, unchanged from January 29 when it dropped to a two-and-a-half-year low. A zinc tender from Dugald River attracted sharp terms, coming i...Read More
Even with Chinese market participants on holiday, base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange have for the most part been bullish on Monday February 15, with the exception of zinc. Major western pre-market equity index futures were stronger. The dollar index was on a back foot while United States 10-year treasury yields were firmer, suggesting risk-on. Base metals The three-month zinc pri...Read More