A differentiated fee structure designed to drive member-to-member trade away from the telephone market is being proposed by the London Metal Exchange as part of its discussion paper. The goal is to incentivize trade on the exchange's electronic trading platform, LMESelect, and is proposed to be achieved by cutting fees to trade electronically while raising fees for the telephone market by around 5...Read More
Automakers are putting high hopes on 2021 amid a drive toward electrification and recovering demand.Mercedes Benz expects the share of hybrid and electric vehicles (EVs) in its sales portfolio to increase by 13% in 2021 after introducing four new Mercedes EQ models this year, including the EQA, EQB, EQE and EQS.The optimism is largely being supported by developments in Asia, which was a key driver...Read More
The London Metal Exchange base-metals complex finished the week to Friday January 22 on a broadly positive note, with most metals prices up from their Monday levels, albeit trading sideways from Thursday.Tin's three-month price showed the biggest rise of the week from Monday's closing price. Friday's 5pm price was $21,960 per tonne, up by 2.4% from Monday's closing price of $21,235 per tonne, but...Read More
Latest analysis from recent activity on the CME's cobalt metal futures contract, cash-settled against Fastmarkets' price assessment for cobalt standard grade, in-whs Rotterdam. Key data Jan 20, 2021, 30 tonnes (10 tonnes each for March ($17.95 per lb), April ($18.00 per lb), May ($18.05 per lb)) Jan 11, 2021, 15 tonnes (5 tonnes each for February, March and April, all at $17.45 per lb)&n...Read More
Seaborne premium hard coking coal price in the cfr market edged up on Friday January 22, on higher offers for Canada-origin coal, but fob prices remained relatively flat, with no transactions heard during the day.Fastmarkets indicesPremium hard coking coal, fob DBCT: $133.99 per tonne, down $0.48 per tonnePremium hard coking coal, cfr Jingtang: $212.95 per tonne, up $1.13 per tonneHard c...Read More
Domestic prices for hot-rolled coil in Northern Europe were down slightly on Friday January 22, due to slow trading activity, sources told Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets calculated its daily steel hot-rolled coil index, domestic, exw Northern Europe, at ?,?711.25 ($863.64) per tonne on Friday January 22, down by ?,?1.75 per tonne from ?,?713.00 per tonne on Thursday January 21.The index was down ?,?...Read More
Chinese lithium spot carbonate prices have started to move higher and this is likely to underpin a recovery across the whole lithium complex, according to William Adams, Fastmarkets head of battery raw materials research and base metals."The Chinese spot price has led [lithium] prices on the way up and led prices on the way down, with the cif Asian prices and the Europe and North American prices f...Read More
Bolstered by historically low treatment charges (TCs) for copper concentrates and a strong base price for the red metal, Canadian producer Capstone Mining aims to be debt-free in 2021 and to hit 200 million pounds of copper production in 2022.Capstone - which operates the Cozamin mine in Zacatecas, Mexico, and the Pinto Valley mine in Arizona, in the United States - is aiming for 40% higher produc...Read More
The London Metal Exchange base-metals complex finished the week to Friday January 22 on a broadly positive note, with most metals prices up from their Monday levels, albeit trading sideways from Thursday.Tin's three-month price showed the biggest rise of the week from Monday's closing price. Friday's 5pm price was $21,960 per tonne, up by 2.4% from Monday's closing price of $21,235 per tonne, but...Read More
An overview of the new energy materials markets and their price moves from the past week.Read More
The copper concentrate market continued to be active this past week although treatment and refining charges (TC/RC) were unchanged after a marked drop two weeks ago. What you need to know High swells in Chile causing disruptions to January shipments there. Smelters in China continue to buy at lower levels, especially for March. Traders continue sharp bets on small tonnages tendered...Read More
Statistics released by the International Aluminium Institute on Thursday January 21 showed that global monthly aluminium production in December 2020 rose by 4.22% year on year.The total global production of primary aluminium in December was estimated to be 5.67 million tonnes, at a daily rate of 182,900 tonnes. The daily average production rate slipped by 0.33% month-on-month from November.Estimat...Read More
A summary of China's battery raw materials exports for December 2020.In brief Exports of cobalt tetroxide rose amid the continuous recovery of manufacturing activities and demand for batteries used in consumer electronics outside China. Lithium carbonate exports decreased both on a monthly and yearly basis due to no improvement in overseas demand. Lithium hydroxide exports increased on a monthly a...Read More
A summary of China's battery raw materials imports for December 2020.In brief Imports of cobalt metal rose amid a surge in import profits when the price in China started to rally in mid-December and the price in Europe was stable due to slow activities during the Christmas and New Year Day holidays. Lithium carbonate imports continued to grow year on year amid strong demand from China, driven by c...Read More
Base metals producer Vedanta Resources is seeking a sales partner in Europe to sell the copper rods produced at its Fujairah Gold venture in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), it said.Fujairah Gold produces 100,000 tonnes per year of continuous cast copper rod, a company announcement on social networking site LinkedIn said on Thursday January 21. The move is part of Vedanta's effort to diversify...Read More
Prices for cold-rolled and galvanized steel sheet in the United States climbed again - extending their historic highs - after buyers reported further challenges in competing for what little spot tonnage is offered by mills.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel cold-rolled coil, fob mill US rose to $64 per hundredweight ($1,280 per short ton) on Thursday January 21 from $63 per cwt on Janu...Read More
Hot-dipped galvanized (HDG) coil prices decreased in Turkey's export and domestic markets in the week to Friday January 22, amid slow to moderate buying, sources told Fastmarkets.Buyers were cautious because prices for hot-rolled coil, the base product for coated coil, have decreased recently and they want to see if that would affect coated coil prices.Fastmarkets assessed steel hot-rolled coil, d...Read More
Poland's rebar producers closed their February rebar sales at increased prices and are now trying to push through new increases but buyers are resisting, claiming that demand is not enough to support it, sources told Fastmarkets on Friday January 22.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment of steel reinforcing bar (rebar), domestic, exw Poland was set at 2,950-3,000 zloty ($790-803) per tonne on Frida...Read More
Buyers of steel scrap in global markets were holding back from purchasing new cargoes in the week to Friday January 22, amid a sharp decline in prices and with more material being offered, and were hoping to re-enter the markets only after they have hit a bottom.Turkish import prices slump following fresh dealsUS sales to Turkey, Bangladesh show weaker pricesLower offers from Japan keep Vietnam bu...Read More
The price range for UK-origin light iron has widened downward in the week ending Friday January 22, with the lower end of the range falling because weaker export prices into traditional markets have put pressure on domestic prices in Britain, trade sources said.This downward pressure was mitigated, however, by relatively tight supplies coming into yards, as a result of reduced arisings from the au...Read More