Copper concentrate treatment and refining charges (TC/RCs) continued to drop toward the end of January as smelters cover cargoes that look to be delayed from Chile and Peru.What you need to know China smelters covering short positions exacerbated by Chile, Peru delays High sea swells are preventing cargoes from leaving some ports in Chile Las Bambas shipments have started to resume A...Read More
Key data from Fastmarkets' pricing sessions in the week to Friday January 29 in China, Europe and the United States.China Spot ferro-silicon prices narrowed upward by 200-300 yuan ($31-46) per tonne amid little liquidity due to a supply shortage, while sentiment strengthened after many mills raised their tender prices for February-delivery ferro-silicon. Hesteel, China's second-largest steel mill,...Read More
An overview of the new energy materials markets and their price moves from the past week.Read More
An overview of the aerospace materials markets and their latest price moves.Ewa Manthey and Michael Greenfield in...Read More
Global ferrous scrap prices have yet to hit the buffers in their downward plunge. Buyers in Asia were holding back from purchases in the week ended Friday January 29, swooping in only for low-priced cargoes, but demand from China could support prices in the near term.Turkey re-enters spot marketBearish sentiment in US on lower transaction pricesTaiwan market in rapid descentCovid-19 in Vietnam dam...Read More
Turkish steel producers skipped deep-sea purchases on the last working day of the week, with sentiment still negative due to limited demand for rebar and steel billet, sources said on Friday January 29.The most recent deals were heard late on Wednesday January 27, when two US cargoes were booked, bringing the week's total to three. A steel mill in the Iskenderun region booked a cargo from the...Read More
The price range for UK-origin light iron has dropped ?5 ($5.65) per tonne in the week ending Friday January 29 after a fall in European deep-sea export markets to traditional buyers in Turkey in the past couple of weeks weighed on British scrap prices, trade sources said. Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel scrap 5C, loose old light, domestic, delivered inter-merchant, UK was ?130-145...Read More
Base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange and Shanghai Futures Exchange were for the most part weaker this morning, Friday January 29, with aluminium bucking the trend on both exchanges and March tin on the SHFE also higher. Asian-Pacific equities and major western pre-market equity index futures were weaker this morningOverall the base metals are looking heavyBase metals Three-month alumini...Read More
The rally in China's domestic lithium prices continued to influence markets in the rest of Asia in the week to Thursday January 28, but trading has thinned in the run-up to the Lunar New Year holiday in mid-February. China's battery-grade lithium prices rose again due to limited spot availability and because some producers had stopped offering ahead of Chinese New Year. Asian battery-grade lithium...Read More
South America's import prices for flat-rolled steel were mostly down during the week ended Friday January 29, with China-origin material offered at lower levels for April shipment.Some customers, on the other hand, had concerns that their previous expectations of a steeper downtrend after the Chinese New Year holiday period would not materialize due to high raw material costs and potential output...Read More
More European mills have pushed offers up seeking hot-rolled coil transaction price rises due to limited availability of the material, sources told Fastmarkets on Friday January 29. Buyers, in the meantime, questioned how sustainable these attempts would be in long-term. Fastmarkets calculated its daily steel hot-rolled coil index, domestic, exw Northern Europe at ?,?712.50 ($862.83) per tonn...Read More
Swedish steelmakers SSAB no longer plans to acquire the Ijmuiden plant in the Netherlands off of Tata Steel, SSAB said on Friday January 29.Tata Steel initiated discussions with SSAB on the sale of its IJmuiden plant in the Netherlands and related downstream assets in November 2020. After the announcement, market sources said it would have allowed SSAB to increase its presence in Northern Europe.A...Read More
Poland's rebar producers were still holding back March rolling volumes during the week to Friday January 29, while buyers were expecting prices to soften on the scrap market downturn, sources told Fastmarkets.Most rebar producers in Poland were said to have sold out of February rolling rebar at average prices of 2,900-3,000 ($772-799) zloty per tonne ex-works and were yet to announce new prices, m...Read More
China's domestic rebar prices were flat on Friday January 29 amid inactivity, with the situation set to be compounded next week when many market participants plan to make an early start to their holiday for the Chinese New Year.DomesticEastern China (Shanghai): 4,280-4,310 yuan ($663-667) per tonne, unchangedNorthern China (Beijing) weekly assessment: 4,110-4,160 yuan per tonne, up 50 yuan per ton...Read More
China's Baowu Steel Group, the world's largest steelmaker, is in talks with Shandong Iron & Steel Group Co for a potential merger.While a small segment of the steel market already had some knowledge of this development, particularly after Baowu Steel sent some of its company officials to Shandong Steel to conduct surveys on the topic of a merger, the matter became public after local media reported...Read More
Pig iron import prices in the United States fell sharply in the week ended on Friday January 29, with at least one deal reported for Brazil-origin material.Fastmarkets' price assessment for pig iron, import, cfr Gulf of Mexico, US was at $500-510 per tonne on Friday, down by $65-75 from $575 per tonne the previous week.After several weeks of a quiet market, information started to circulate ab...Read More
The export prices for pig iron from the Commonwealth of Independent States dropped during the week to Thursday January 28 on a bearish mood among buyers, sources have told Fastmarkets.Buyers preferred to hold back from making new deals until scrap prices settle and they can have a clearer price idea for pig iron, market sources said.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for high-manganese pig iron,...Read More
Global ferrous scrap prices have yet to hit the buffers in their downward plunge. Buyers in Asia were holding back from purchases in the week ended Friday January 29, swooping in only for low-priced cargoes, but demand from China could support prices in the near term.Turkey re-enters spot marketBearish sentiment in US on lower transaction pricesTaiwan market in rapid descentCovid-19 in Vietnam dam...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view. buoyant flat steel market and rising raw material prices resulted in large price rises for welded pipe products across all regions in January 2021.Increases in the price assessments for helical submerged arc-welded (HSAW) pipes were of the magnitude of $140-190 per tonne, with the exception of Europe, where prices were...Read More
Tesla is experiencing a shortage of battery cells and is facing difficulties in scaling up production, its chief executive officer Elon Musk said at an earnings call on Wednesday January 27."There is a fundamentally a constraint on battery cell output... It's really hard to appreciate just how hard it is to scale production, it's the hardest thing in the world," he said.Musk was responding to ques...Read More