Chilean copper producer Codelco signed a new 36-month labor agreement with supervisors and overall management at its Chuquicamata division, the company said on Tuesday December 22.The parties agreed to no pay raises and a 3.6 million Chilean pesos ($4,944) bonus, according to the miner. The new contract will go into effect on April 1, 2021.This followed a series of labor deals signed with no salar...Read More
A summary of base metals premiums from across the globe for the week to Tuesday December 22.Please click on the thumbnail...Read More
LME nickel's three-month price saw the biggest drop in the base metals complex on Tuesday December 22, with most metals correcting down from their recent 2020 highs in reaction to news of a new variant of Covid-19. Nickel's forward price fell 3.8% on Tuesday to $16,614 per tonne, down from Monday's 5pm close of $17,267 per tonne. On December 15, nickel set a year-to-date h...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Tuesday December 22 that are worth another look.Russia is set to impose early next year a temporary increase to its export duty on ferrous scrap exports to combat the threat of a shortage of steelmaking raw...Read More
Now is not the time for Freeport-McMoRan to be thinking about mergers and acquisitions, the mining company's chief executive officer says.According to Richard Adkerson, the company - which is just over half-way through a mega-project to transform its giant Grasberg copper-gold mine in Indonesia from an open-pit to an underground operation - is on the verge of creating huge shareholder value."I jus...Read More
Shipping problems faced by commodity market participants are likely to get worse ahead of Chinese New Year on February 12, 2021, sources told Fastmarkets.Freight rates for both bulk vessels and containers have soared to record highs in recent months amid a perfect storm of higher global shipping demand and rising crude oil costs.Those involved in the container trade have been particularly hurt, fa...Read More
The premium hard coking coal in the fob market continued to be active while the seaborne premium hard coking coal cfr price began to lose its price advantage over its Chinese domestic counterpart on Tuesday December 22. Fastmarkets indices Premium hard coking coal, fob DBCT: $102.68 per tonne, up $0.29 per tonne Premium hard coking coal, cfr Jingtang: $190.20 per tonne, unchanged Hard coking coal,...Read More
Seaborne iron ore prices fell from their record highs on Tuesday December 22, after the market began "cooling off" following the introduction of new counter-speculation measures at the Dalian Commodity Exchange (DCE), sources told Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets iron ore indices 62% Fe fines, cfr Qingdao: $164.53 per tonne, down $11.92 per tonne62% Fe low-alumina fines, cfr Qingdao: $165.07 per...Read More
Nickel's three-month price on the London Metal Exchange was down by 1.6% during morning trading on Tuesday December 22, with the rest of the complex mostly trading lower given the spread of a new variant of Covid-19 across Europe. The LME nickel price was the most affected on Tuesday morning, dropping to $16,980 per tonne from Monday's 5pm close of $17,267 per tonne.The stainless-steel additive st...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of base metals analysts are ready to view.Aluminium: SHFE tailwind for LME pricesAs we are entering the traditional strong demand season, we expect Chinese aluminium demand to show further recovery, and we expect demand from existing end-user sectors, new infrastructure projects and the export sector to show some increases. As a result, we believe that S...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of base metals analysts are ready to view, including an upgrade to our aluminium price forecasts.Aluminium: Price forecasts raisedWe correctly expected the macro reflationary theme to raise the prices for all base metals but, with it being the base metal with by far the weakest fundamentals, we had expected the price of aluminium to underperform relative...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.This month's key North American steel forecast highlights:US flat product prices maintained momentum through November, with increases accelerating in early December in response to supply shortfalls, rising scrap prices, and improving demand.While we correctly forecast further pricing gains in November, actual prices surpasse...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.Chinese domestic and export flat steel prices surged in November 2020, with the export hot-rolled coil index rising to $592 per tonne during the month from $519 per tonne previously, and the monthly average increasing by 7.5% over October.Economic activity in China continued to expand, with manufacturing output rising by 7.5...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.This month's key North American steel forecast highlights:?EUR? Flat steel product prices in the United States moved largely in line with our expectations in October, although the increases slightly outpaced our projections. US hot-rolled coil prices averaged $655 per ton in October, exceeding our forecast price of $640 per...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.Flat product prices in the US moved largely in line with our expectations in October, posting impressive gains across the product range, and slightly exceeding our forecasts for coil products.Domestic hot-rolled coil prices averaged $722 per tonne in October, exceeding our forecast of $705 per tonne forecast price.Although w...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.Key ferro-alloy forecast highlights for the coming months:?EUR? A strong recovery in both bulk and noble alloys is expected in 2021 but the markets are unlikely to return to the levels seen before the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic. We have seen a quicker-than-expected recovery across various regions amid the economic fal...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.Prices for most ferro-alloys maintained their upward momentum into October, solidifying previous gains and reflecting the improved demand from steelmakers, the rebuilding of depleted inventories, and the supply-side concerns following both planned and unplanned outages. Gains were noted for ferro-silicon, silicon metal, mang...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.This month's key ferro-alloys forecast highlights:Prices across most ore and alloy markets trended higher in September, buoyed by improving demand from steelmakers with the end of the summer holiday season in Europe and the United States, as well as maintained demand from Chinese steel mills. Tightening of alloy inventories...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.Fastmarkets analysts were invited to present our outlook for the coking coal market at Coaltrans Asia, held online on November 23-25. One of the key topics at the event was the trade tensions between China and Australia, which overtook Mongolia to become the largest coking coal exporter to China this year...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.Iron ore remains the most bullish commodity of the year, with prices fuelled by Chinese demand and supply disruptions in Brazil, along with bullish sentiment. But prices are expected to come down because Brazilian exports have begun to recover, and have reached their highest level since the Brumadinho dam disaster in 2019. W...Read More