Turkish export prices for steel rebar and wire rod continued to fall over the past week, in line with the decreasing scrap costs that have resulted from weak demand, sources said on Thursday January 28.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel reinforcing bar (rebar), export, fob main port Turkey, was $600-620 per tonne on Thursday, down from last week's $620-630 per tonne fob on an actual we...Read More
Bangladeshi steelmakers avoided steel scrap imports over the past week and instead focused on procuring material from the domestic market, sources told Fastmarkets on Thursday January 28.Bangladeshi mills are concerned the market will keep going down and are, therefore, reluctant to complete import deals in the current market climate, a Bangladeshi steelmaker source said.Domestic sc...Read More
Iron ore prices fell on Thursday January 28, with weak mill margins and expected crude steel production cuts weighing on market sentiment, sources told Fastmarkets Fastmarkets iron ore indices 62% Fe fines, cfr Qingdao: $157.42 per tonne, down $9.17 per tonne62% Fe low-alumina fines, cfr Qingdao: $158 per tonne, down $8.65 per tonne58% Fe fines high-grade premium, cfr Qingdao: $143.81 pe...Read More
The seaborne hard coking coal fob index jumped on Thursday January 28 following a recent uptrend in the premium hard coking coal fob price, while the Chinese domestic coke price increased by 100 yuan ($15) per tonne nationwide, sources said.Fastmarkets indicesPremium hard coking coal, fob DBCT: $155.10 per tonne, unchangedPremium hard coking coal, cfr Jingtang: $217.73 per tonne, up $0.49 per tonn...Read More
A summary of Fortescue Metals Group's (FMG's) iron ore results for the three months ended December 31, 2020, as stated in its latest production report released on Thursday January 28. In briefIron ore shipments in October-December - the second quarter of FMG's 2021 financial year ending June 30, 2021 - increased by 5% compared with July-September. Increase contributed to its record shipment of 90....Read More
Lead and nickel led the declines on the London Metal Exchange on January 28 morning, while most metals in the complex dropped around 1% of their futures prices due to the pressure from a rising dollar index and strained stock markets. LME nickel's three-month price dropped by 1.6% to $17,635 per tonne on Thursday morning, its lowest since the start of the year.The metal entered its fifth day...Read More
China's domestic rebar prices stopped rising on Thursday January 28 due to weakening end-user demand.DomesticEastern China (Shanghai): 4,280-4,310 yuan ($663-667) per tonne, unchangedThe spot market failed to sustain the upward momentum from Tuesday, with construction sites gradually suspending work since last week to allow workers to return to their home towns for the Chinese New Year.The declini...Read More
Base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange and Shanghai Futures Exchange were for the most part weaker this morning, Thursday January 28, after market sentiment across the board has turned more cautious. Asian-Pacific equities and major western pre-market equity index futures were weaker this morningUS Dollar Index firmed on Wednesday while equities sold-offBase metals There were more fallers...Read More
China's Dalian Commodity Exchange (DCE) is adding more iron ore brands for physical delivery and has adjusted the premiums and discounts for several existing products, to take effect for contracts beginning on February 2022, it said on Wednesday January 27.The exchange added Bengang concentrate, a domestic product produced by Benxi Iron & Steel Group, to its physical delivery list. This brand carr...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, in-whs...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
Key data from Fastmarkets' Thursday January 28 pricing session in London.Key drivers Inter-trade transactions pushed cobalt prices upward, while some producers were reporting that they were sold out for some months, having committed any spare volumes in recently...Read More
Key data from the pricing session in London on Wednesday January 27. Key drivers The midweek correction downward follows a sharp increase this month because buyers have started to refuse to accept increasingly higher offers. Active spot trading as widened the range. The European market had moved more than 30% since the...Read More
Key data from Fastmarkets' pricing session in Europe on Wednesday January 27.Key drivers Indium found significant support with higher offers - close to $200 per tonne - heard globally while a robust futures market sustained the uptrend and sparked traders' interest. The price has now reached its highest since April 2019. Some producers were reportedly sold out, with producers in Japan and Canada&n...Read More
The European titanium scrap market, which was steady in the week to Wednesday January 27, looks set to resume its price rally that started in September 2020 in the near term, market sources told Fastmarkets. Fastmarkets' titanium scrap turnings, unprocessed type 90/6/4, 0.5% Sn max, cif Europe price stood at $1.60-1.75 per lb in the latest assessment on Wednesday, while titanium scrap tu...Read More
China's domestic stainless steel market continued to strengthen over the past week on tight supply and high prices for raw materials.DomesticStainless steel cold-rolled coil 2mm grade 304 domestic (Wuxi): 15,100-15,900 yuan ($2,332-2,456) per tonne, up by 200 yuan per tonne from a week earlier. A shortage of stainless hot-rolled coil - the upstream product for stainless CRC - sent prices for the f...Read More
The United States sold more copper scrap to China for the first 11 months of 2020, compared with the year before, despite a punitive tariff imposed from Beijing drastically disrupting the scrap trade flow since 2018.US copper scrap exports to China amounted to 102,145 tonnes from January-November 2020, up 20% year on year, the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI) said on January 26. This...Read More
Walmart (WMT), a Dow Jones Industrial Average stock moved below $142.30 setting an intermediate downtrend. Moderna (MRNA), a NASDAQ 100 stock moved above $178.50 to an all-time high extending an intermediate uptrend. Lithium ETN (LIT) moved below $67.56 completing a short term double top pattern. Pre-opening Comments for Friday January 29thU.S. equity index futures were lower this morning. S&...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Wednesday January 27 that are worth another look.Global crude steel output fell by 0.9% year on year to 1.86 billion tonnes in 2020, with an increase in China unable to offset declines across most other major steelmaking nations, the World Steel Association...Read More
A summary of London Metal Exchange warrant premiums from across the globe for the week to Wednesday January 27.Please click...Read More