The London Metal Exchange's latest off-warrant stock data showed an increase of 3.9% in material held outside the LME warehouse network in November 2020. The amount of metal held off-warrant increased by 72,640 tonnes in November, a similar rise to that seen in October, when it rose by 78,092 tonnes. Data collected by the LME showed there was a total of 1.96 million tonnes of metal held off-warran...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Thursday January 14 that are worth another look.In 2020, the global pig iron market faced the threat of a demand slump due to the reduction in steel production from all major outlets under the pressure of the Covid-19 pandemic.Rio Tinto is...Read More
South Africa's chrome and manganese producers are facing competition with each other to secure trucking capacity amid Covid-19-related logistical disruptions and an impending rail shutdown, sources told Fastmarkets on Thursday January 14.Severe congestion at South Africa's Lebombo land border crossing in the past two weeks has led to delayed deliveries of chrome ore to the port of Maputo in Mozamb...Read More
Ammonium paratungstate (APT) exporters in China are facing rising costs due to higher domestic prices for the material, causing them to raise their offers again this past week even though foreign buyers have shown little interest in purchasing at these already elevated levels.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for tungsten APT 88.5% WO3 min, fob main ports China was $236-240 per metric tonne uni...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Thursday January 14 that are worth another look.In 2020, the global pig iron market faced the threat of a demand slump due to the reduction in steel production from all major outlets under the pressure of the Covid-19 pandemic.Rio Tinto is...Read More
Cobalt metal prices have continued to rally so far this week, with the latest round of Chinese buying tightening supply and emboldening sellers to hold out for higher prices. "Metal continues to move upward day by day, and you can't get the same low offers you got the day before," a distributor source told Fastmarkets. Fastmarkets' price assessment for cobalt standard grade, in-whs Rotterdam moved...Read More
Mills in Bangladesh purchased three bulk cargoes in the last week, with prices easing gently, sources told Fastmarkets on Thursday January 14.Low scrap inventory, together with continuing difficulties in obtaining containers and ballooning shipping rates, led several steelmakers in the South Asian country to inquire for tonnages in bulk.A Bangladeshi mill booked a 38,000-tonne composite cargo at a...Read More
British steel scrap suppliers have achieved hefty price increases for steel scrap grades delivered monthly to domestic consumers for January amid a surge in demand for exports, industry sources told Fastmarkets this week. The UK steel scrap consumer market has extended monthly prices increases for the third month in a row, citing reduced scrap generation for the past several months that is showing...Read More
Turkish steel producers continued to hold back from deep-sea scrap purchases with sentiment turning negative, sources told Fastmarkets on Thursday January 14.Since a number of steel scrap cargoes were booked at the end of last week, mills have been quiet.The number of offers from suppliers in the United States and Russia, however, has increased, according to sources."Suppl...Read More
Russian mining company Nornickel is to join the Responsible Sourcing Blockchain Network (RSBN), an industry collaboration across the minerals supply chain that uses blockchain to support responsible sourcing and production practises from mine to market.The move will see Nornickel's supply chains - including each stage of the company's vertically-integrated operations, from Russian mines to refiner...Read More
The base metals on the London Metal Exchange and on the Shanghai Futures Exchange were mixed this morning, Thursday January 14, with prices generally holding up in high ground but some weakness is showing up on the charts in the likes of zinc. But reports that US President-elect Joe Biden is considering a fiscal relief package that could be as large as $2 trillion may well underpin further gains i...Read More
In an era of historically low interest rates, investors are desperately looking for value. If current activity is anything to go by, they believe it lies in commodities.That is because prices of key commodities are steadily gaining; copper has hit eight-year highs above $8,000 per tonne, nickel is at six-and-half year highs near $18,000 per tonne, and iron ore prices are at levels last seen in 201...Read More
Cobalt metal prices have continued to rally so far this week, with the latest round of Chinese buying tightening supply and emboldening sellers to hold out for higher prices. "Metal continues to move upward day by day, and you can't get the same low offers you got the day before," a distributor source told Fastmarkets. Fastmarkets' price assessment for cobalt standard grade, in-whs Rotterdam moved...Read More
A summary of Australia-based spodumene concentrate miner Galaxy Resources' preliminary results for the fourth quarter of 2020, released on Wednesday January 13.In brief Galaxy produced 33,344 dry metric tonnes (dmt) of spodumene concentrate at a grade of 5.92% Li2O at its Mount Cattlin mine in Western Australia during the...Read More
The cobalt intermediates spot payable has surged to 90% on the high end - a fresh historical high - this week against the backdrop of tight supply and healthy demand. Fastmarkets' assessment for the cobalt hydroxide payable indicator, min 30% Co, cif China rose to 88-90% against the standard-grade cobalt metal price (low end) on Wednesday January 13, up by 2% from 86-88.5% on January 8. The l...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Thursday January 14 that are worth another look.In 2020, the global pig iron market faced the threat of a demand slump due to the reduction in steel production from all major outlets under the pressure of the Covid-19 pandemic.Rio Tinto is...Read More
Hot-rolled coil prices in the United States have reached their highest level in at least 60 years, Fastmarkets has learned. Fastmarkets' daily steel hot-rolled coil index, fob mill US was calculated at $58 per hundredweight ($1,160 per short ton) on Thursday January 14, up by 6.7% from $54.38 per cwt on Wednesday January 13 and an increase of 7.1% from $54.17 per cwt one week earlier on...Read More
Italian re-rollers have been targeting higher prices for heavy steel plate because of rising costs for steel slab feedstock, while German mills have kept their offers largely unchanged, sources told Fastmarkets on Thursday January 14.Official offers of heavy plate from Italian producers have been heard at ?,?620-650 ($755-792) per tonne ex-works. But no deals have been concluded in this range beca...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Thursday January 14 that are worth another look.In 2020, the global pig iron market faced the threat of a demand slump due to the reduction in steel production from all major outlets under the pressure of the Covid-19 pandemic.Rio Tinto is...Read More
Last week's price increases by domestic producers have propelled US rebar prices to their highest point in over nine years.Fastmarkets assessed the price of steel reinforcing bar (rebar), fob mill US at $39.50 per hundredweight ($790 per short ton) on Wednesday January 13, up 4.6% from $37.75 per cwt the week before and increase of 25.4% from $31.50 per cwt one year ago. US marketDomestic reb...Read More