Three-month zinc and nickel both fell by more than 2% on Friday January 8, with the LME base metals ending the week with pullbacks from the highs reached in the first days of 2021 after a US Dollar Index rebound.Zinc's three-month price was down 2.6% at the 5pm close on Friday at $2,813.50 per tonne, compared with Thursday's closing price of $2,888 per tonne. Nevertheless, the...Read More
Seaborne iron ore prices pushed up on Friday January 8 on active trading, with demand for high-grade iron ore fines well supported at the Chinese ports, sources told Fastmarkets. Fastmarkets iron ore indices 62% Fe fines, cfr Qingdao: $173.06 per tonne, up $1.37 per tonne62% Fe low-alumina fines, cfr Qingdao: $173.33 per tonne, up $1.08 per tonne58% Fe fines high-grade premium, cfr Qingd...Read More
Base metals forward prices on the London Metals Exchange consolidated on the morning of Friday January 8, ending a week when some reached multi-year rises, due to a recovery in the dollar index. The three-month nickel price was down by 1.2% on Friday at 9am to $17,895 per tonne, while zinc fell by 1.4% to $2,848 per tonne from Thursday's closing prices of $18,109 per tonne and $2,888 per tonne res...Read More
An overview of the new energy raw materials markets and their latest price moves in the past week.Read More
An overview of the aerospace materials markets and their latest price moves.Ewa Manthey in London, Ruby...Read More
Three-month zinc and nickel both fell by more than 2% on Friday January 8, with the LME base metals ending the week with pullbacks from the highs reached in the first days of 2021 after a US Dollar Index rebound.Zinc's three-month price was down 2.6% at the 5pm close on Friday at $2,813.50 per tonne, compared with Thursday's closing price of $2,888 per tonne. Nevertheless, the...Read More
Spot trading of copper concentrates was quiet in the last week of December 2020, with fewer purchases by both smelters and traders.Fastmarkets' copper concentrate treatment and refining charges (TC/RCs) dropped slightly, with offers for copper concentrates to smelters remaining in the mid to high $40s per tonne, while smelters bid $50 per tonne for clean qualities. A combo deal of Bisha and clean...Read More
Copper concentrate treatment charges and refining charges (TC/RCs) fell in the week ending Friday January 8, with more smelters looking for units on the spot market to replace delayed shipments from the Las Bambas copper mine in Peru.This week, several parcels of clean concentrate for first-quarter shipment were sold to Chinese smelters at TC/RCs in the mid to high $40s per tonne, while some secon...Read More
Base metals, with the exception of copper and nickel, registered increases in inventory levels in Shanghai Futures Exchange-registered warehouses in the week to Friday January 8, with zinc up the most at 22.5%. Zinc inventories totaled 35,008 tonnes, up by 6,427 tonnes (22.5%) from 28,581 tonnes a week earlier. The R&S Logistics warehouse in Shanghai recorded the largest inflow, with stocks up by...Read More
Fastmarkets has corrected its weekly copper concentrate treatment and refining charge (TC/RC) index, which was published incorrectly on Monday January 4 due to a calculation error. Fastmarkets' weekly index for copper concentrates TC index, cif Asia Pacific (MB-CU-0287) should have been $44.70 per tonne, instead of $47.80 per tonne as previously published. Fastmarkets' weekly index for c...Read More
Base metals forward prices on the London Metals Exchange consolidated on the morning of Friday January 8, ending a week when some reached multi-year rises, due to a recovery in the dollar index. The three-month nickel price was down by 1.2% on Friday at 9am to $17,895 per tonne, while zinc fell by 1.4% to $2,848 per tonne from Thursday's closing prices of $18,109 per tonne and $2,888 per tonne res...Read More
Prices for cold-rolled and galvanized steel sheet in the United States climbed during the first week of 2021 after customers on the prowl for spot material came up mostly dry yet again. The new year ushered in the 22nd consecutive week of gains for one hot-dipped-galvanized metric.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel cold-rolled coil, fob mill US rose to $58.50 per hundredweight ($1,170...Read More
Brazilian automotive production rose by 22.8% year-on-year in December 2020, amid stronger export figures, national carmakers' association Anfavea said on Friday January 8.Vehicle output totaled 209,296 units in the last month of 2020, up from 170,504 units a year before. Volumes, however, were 12.1% lower than 238,200 units in November.Full-year production in 2020 was 2.01 million units, a 31.6%...Read More
Domestic prices for hot-rolled coil in Northern Europe have been fairly stable day on day on Friday January 8 due to a seasonal demand slowdown, sources told Fastmarkets.Transaction prices are expected to increase in the first quarter, according to market participants.Fastmarkets calculated its daily steel hot-rolled coil index, domestic, exw Northern Europe at ?,?667.50 ($820.19) per tonne on Fri...Read More
ArcelorMittal has increased its official spot offer prices for coil products across Europe by ?,?30-50 ($37-61) per tonne effective immediately, sources told Fastmarkets on Friday January 8.New offers for hot-rolled coil have increased to ?,?730 per tonne ex-works, up by ?,?30 per tonne. New offers for hot-dipped galvanized coil moved up by ?,?50 per tonne to ?,?850 per tonne ex-works. Official of...Read More
The export market for steel billet from the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) was quiet during the first week of January due to the Christmas and New Year holidays, but sentiment remained largely optimistic, sources told Fastmarkets on Friday January 8.Offers from Russian and Ukrainian suppliers ranged between $620 and $625 per tonne fob before the holiday break.But higher offers for March-...Read More
Flat steel prices in the Turkish domestic and export market were unchanged in the first full week of 2021 after the festive holidays, while local producers were offering material with long lead times which buyers were hesitant to accept, sources told Fastmarkets. Domestic prices Market activity was slow during the week to Friday January 8 because it was the first week of 2021 and some countries we...Read More
Turkish steel mills continued to refresh their scrap stocks in the week to Friday January 8, with fresh deep-sea cargoes booked at higher prices, while concerns increased over tight supply in Asia, with China entering the market.Turkish mills book more cargoes for February-March at escalating pricesUS East Coast exporters enjoy demand from Turkish producers; West Coast lacks fresh dealsVietnamese...Read More
The price of austenitic stainless scrap in the UK and Europe increased in the week to Friday January 8 on rising nickel costs and tight supply, sources told Fastmarkets. Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment of stainless steel scrap 18/8 solids, domestic, delivered merchants UK increased to ?1,020-1,100 ($1,385-1,494) per tonne on Friday, up by ?40-50 per tonne from ?980-1,050 per tonne on Decem...Read More
Monthly European alloy steel surcharges have increased substantially for January on the back of further gains in the nickel market, sources told Fastmarkets on Friday January 8. Fastmarkets' stainless steel cold-rolled sheet 2mm grade 304 alloy surcharge domestic, Europe was calculated for January at ?,?1,578-1,604 ($1,939-1,971), up by ?,?71-88 per tonne from the December level of ?,?1,507-1...Read More