The zinc futures contract had the biggest increase among base metals on the London Metal Exchange, and lead surpassed the $2,100-per-tonne mark at the close on Thursday February 11.The rest of the base metals held around their recently established highs.Zinc's three-month price climbed 2.4% on Thursday to $2,789.50 per tonne from its closing price of $2,725 per tonne on Wednesday February 10. Its...Read More
A summary of Belgian battery materials company Umicore's results for the full year of 2020 as stated in its report published on Thursday February 11. Record year for earnings and in the recycling divison. "Strongest financial performance" was buoyed by the recycling division, which showed a 92% increase in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (Ebitda), thanks to stronger...Read More
Russian nickel producer Nornickel has received a new bill from a local government agency in Siberia, relating to an oil spill in the Arctic region in May 2020, the company announced on Thursday February 11.The new bill is for the sum of nearly $7 million and adds to a $1.93 billion federal government fine, which Nornickel contested but which was upheld by a Russian court on February 5.The latest c...Read More
A steady stream of unfunded yet highly prospective opportunities in the battery minerals space led Sir Mick Davis to form investment company Vision Blue Resources (VBR) earlier this year. After raising $60 million in the first few weeks, it has already made its first investment and more will soon follow, Davis told Fastmarkets. The former chief executive of Xstrata Plc said in an interview that ma...Read More
Aluminium producer UC Rusal has agreed to acquire the business and assets of Aluminium Rheinfelden GmbH out of insolvency, it said on Thursday February 11. Aluminium Rheinfelden is one of Germany's main manufacturers of aluminium alloys, semis and carbon-based components, and is a major supplier to the global automotive industry. The acquisition comes after the Germany-based aluminium products pro...Read More
Nickel's price, together with the bulk of the London Metal Exchange complex, consolidated on Thursday morning from highs hit on Wednesday, while the start of the Lunar New Year holiday has been felt in the total number of volumes traded on the LME.The three-month nickel price was at $18,600 per tonne at 9am on Thursday, on low volumes of just over 600 lots traded.The metal's price had reached $18,...Read More
Total London Metal Exchange off-warrant stock fell by 77,245 tonnes, or 3.9%, month on month to 1.88 million tonnes in December, according to its latest off-warrant stocks report. That is roughly the same amount by which stocks increased over November 2020, when data collected by the LME showed there was 1.96 million tonnes of metal held off-warrant. Although volumes of aluminium decreased by 4.9...Read More
Latin American crude steel production fell by 8.4% in 2020 over the previous year due to operations being halted or limited especially in the second quarter as a result of restrictions imposed in several countries to combat the Covid-19 pandemic, regional steel association Alacero said on Thursday February 11. According to data from Alacero, crude steel output totaled 55.56 million tonnes in Latin...Read More
Turkish steel billet prices have increased this week in line with rising imported scrap values, which also triggered demand especially for exports, market sources said on Thursday February 11.The country's steel mills resumed their deep-sea scrap bookings on Wednesday, raising prices by around $10 per tonne.Fastmarkets' daily index for steel scrap, HMS 1&2 (80:20 mix), US origin, cfr Turkey, was $...Read More
Turkish domestic rebar and wire rod prices have increased over the past week on a rebound in scrap costs and improving demand, sources said on Thursday February 11.The producers in the country resumed their deep-sea scrap bookings on Wednesday, dragging prices up by around $10 per tonne.Fastmarkets' daily index for steel scrap, HMS 1&2 (80:20 mix), US origin, cfr Turkey, was $396.04 per tonne on F...Read More
Demand for steel billet and rebar was still very poor in Egypt in the week to Thursday February 11 but producers were not giving discounts because of increasing prices for raw materials, sources have told Fastmarkets.Egyptian demand for long steel products has been weak since the country imposed a ban on construction in May 2020.The rules of the ban were eased in September 2020, but that did not h...Read More
Turkish deep-sea scrap import prices increased again on Thursday February 11, in response to news of a fresh cargo arriving from the US, sources told Fastmarkets.A steel mill in the Iskenderun region booked a US cargo, comprising 22,000 tonnes of HMS 1&2 (80:20) at $410 per tonne, 4,000 tonnes of shredded at $415 per tonne and 4,000 tonnes of bonus at $420 per tonne cfr.This compared with the prev...Read More
The fob seaborne premium hard coking coal prices drifted lower on Thursday February 11 amid thin demand during the Lunar New Year holiday period in Asia. Fastmarkets indices Premium hard coking coal, fob DBCT: $142.01 per tonne, down $3.51 per tonne Premium hard coking coal, cfr Jingtang: $217.23 per tonne, unchanged Hard coking coal, fob DBCT: $127.57 per tonne, down $2.50 per tonn...Read More
Iron ore prices were rangebound on Thursday February 11 due to limited market activity while China begins its week-long Chinese New Year holiday, sources said.Fastmarkets iron ore indices 62% Fe fines, cfr Qingdao: $166.88 per tonne, down $0.02 per tonne 62% Fe low-alumina fines, cfr Qingdao: $167.25 per tonne, unchanged 58% Fe fines high-grade premium, cfr Qingdao: $152.66 per tonne, up $0.64...Read More
Rebounding scrap prices in Asia have caused Taiwanese importers of containerized ferrous scrap to source material even with the start of the Lunar New Year holidays in the territory.Fastmarkets' daily price assessment for containerized cargoes of steel scrap, HMS 1&2 (80:20), US material import, cfr main port Taiwan was $370-375 per tonne on Thursday February 11, unchanged from a day earlier but u...Read More
Fastmarkets is proposing to reduce the frequency of its two low-volatility pulverized coal injection (PCI) indices to a weekly basis from a daily basis.This is due to the illiquid nature of the spot market, which has been further affected by China's ongoing ban on Australian coal.The specifications with proposed amendments in italics are as follows:MB-COA-0007 PCI low-vol, cfr Jingtang, $/dmtQuali...Read More
With markets in China and much of Southeast Asia closed on Thursday February 11 ahead of Lunar New Year, trading on the London Metal Exchange this morning has been quiet with the base metals ranged between being down by 0.3% and up by 0.2%.The US Dollar Index remains on a back foot US 10-year treasury yields were weaker than they were at the start of the weakBase metalsThe three-month base metals...Read More
Fastmarkets rounds up the latest logistical issues affecting supplies of metal, ores and alloys from African countries, in the period ended Thursday February 11.February 4Fastmarkets reports that South32 has declared force majeure on some manganese shipments after rail lines to its Hotazel Manganese Mines consortium were suspended under state transportation provider Transnet's force majeure notice...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...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