Turkish deep-sea scrap import prices continued to increase on Friday December 18, with two fresh shipments coming to light from the previous day, sources told Fastmarkets.Late on Thursday December 17, a steel producer in the northern Turkey booked a Baltic Sea cargo, comprising 13,500 tonnes of HMS 1&2 (80:20) at $450 per tonne, 14,000 tonnes of shredded at $460 per tonne, 3,000 tonnes of bonus al...Read More
Base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange were higher across the board on the morning of Friday December 18, with copper trading above $8,000 per tonne earlier for the first time since 2013. Infrastructure spending pledges, hopes for more stimulus, falling or low stocks and low Capex levels across the industry for several years all make for a bullish long-term backdrop for the...Read More
An overview of the new energy raw materials markets and their latest price moves.Susan Zou, Sybil Pan, and Sally...Read More
The Chinese domestic battery-grade lithium carbonate price continued its bullish run in the week to Thursday December 17 after most producers insisted on higher sale prices and buyers reported difficulty acquiring material below the new range.China's battery-grade lithium carbonate price rose again on continued material shortage and higher offers from producers. China's industrial-grade lithium ca...Read More
Hot-rolled coil prices in the United States have climbed above $49.50 per hundredweight ($990 per short ton), while buyers have voiced concerns that the rapid run-up in prices may mean a potential inventory devaluation in the future. Fastmarkets' daily steel hot-rolled coil index, fob mill US rose to $49.56 per cwt ($991.20 per ton) on Friday December 18, up by 0.69% from $49.22 per cwt on Thursda...Read More
New rounds of price increases during the week ended Friday December 18 fueled the uptrend in South America's flat steel import market that has been seen throughout the fourth quarter, market participants told Fastmarkets.Chinese mills were no longer offering cargoes to the region for February shipment, and some had even denied orders for March and were awaiting the new year to offer cargo for Apri...Read More
Coated coil prices hit at least $1,000 per tonne ex-works in the Turkish domestic and export markets in the week to Friday December 18 while supply remained limited, sources told Fastmarkets.Some coated coil producers sold a limited quantity of product during the week before closing their orderbooks.The reason for the limited supply is low stock of hot-rolled coil, the base product for coated coil...Read More
Crude steel output in Germany increased by 14.8% year on year in November, marking the second consecutive month of growth, German steel federation WV Stahl said on Friday December 18. In November, German crude steel production totaled 3.38 million tonnes, up from 2.94 million tonnes in the corresponding period of 2019. But this growth was against a weak comparison basis last year, WV Stahl said. O...Read More
Domestic steel rebar prices in Poland continued to move up on daily basis in the week to Friday December 18 on limited availability, good buying and surging scrap costs, sources told Fastmarkets....Read More
Crude steel output in Italy moved up by 3.17% year on year in November 2020 despite a drop in flat steel production, Italian steel association Federacciai said on December 17.The country's crude steel production amounted to 2.05 million tonnes in November, up from 1.99 million tonnes in the corresponding month of 2019.Flat steel output, meanwhile, dropped by 7.43% year on year to 810,000 tonnes in...Read More
Steel scrap prices have risen again across all major consumer markets over the past week, driven by solid demand and constrained supplies.Turkish import scrap prices hit an eight-year high after new bookings confirmed Recent US export scrap sales shrouded in secrecy Vietnamese scrap prices buoyed by strong Japan market Taiwanese import market hits historical high India prices jump on difficult mar...Read More
Deals for Brazil-origin pig iron boosted the US import pig iron price by 6.8% in the week to Friday December 18. Fastmarkets' price for pig iron, import, cfr Gulf of Mexico, US to $495-520 per tonne on Friday, up from $470-480 per tonne a week earlier. Two deals on pig iron with February and March shipment were done at about $495-500 per tonne early this week. Another Brazil-origin...Read More
Turkish deep-sea scrap import prices continued to increase on Friday December 18, with two fresh shipments coming to light from the previous day, sources told Fastmarkets.Late on Thursday December 17, a steel producer in the northern Turkey booked a Baltic Sea cargo, comprising 13,500 tonnes of HMS 1&2 (80:20) at $450 per tonne, 14,000 tonnes of shredded at $460 per tonne, 3,000 tonnes of bonus al...Read More
Global mining and metals company Rio Tinto and Japanese steelmaker Nippon Steel Corp have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to jointly explore and develop technologies to transition to a low-carbon emission steel value chain, the companies said in a press release on Tuesday December 15. Both companies have the shared goal of significantly reducing carbon emissions across the entire steel...Read More
Usiminas increased its output and domestic sales volumes over the past 45 days from first-quarter and 2019 volumes, the Brazil-based flat steel producer said in a filing to Brazilian securities and exchange commission CVM.It produced 533,000 tonnes of rolled steel between November 1 and December 15, or around 11,800 tonnes per day, up by 0.2% from the daily average in January-March this year and b...Read More
The European Commission has calculated preliminary anti-dumping duties for Turkish hot-rolled coil at 4.80-7.60%, it said in a letter sent to interested parties, market sources told Fastmarkets on Thursday December 17. Provisional measures in the case, if any, will be imposed by January 14 next year, and the calculated duties can be changed at any time up to this deadline. Definitive duties are sc...Read More
Uncertainty surrounding Brexit - with no trade deal agreed yet between the United Kingdom and the European Union - has prompted spot activity in some minor metals and ferro-alloys markets, with market participants finding difficulties in moving their material across the borders. Traders in the UK have increased their orders in the last few weeks ahead of potential import duties that might be comin...Read More
Key data from Fastmarkets' pricing session in Europe on Friday December 18, during which the European aluminium pressure diecasting ingot, DIN226/A380 price climbed to its highest level since August 2015.Key drivers: European sellers continued to report strong export demand from Asia and raw materials shortages across the continent as the key tailwind for higher offers of 226 ingots, with scrap un...Read More
Following a six-week consultation period, Fastmarkets will change the frequency of its zinc spot concentrate treatment charges (TC) price assessment to fortnightly from its present monthly timing.Fastmarkets will change the frequency of its price assessment from January 2021 for MB-ZN-0110 zinc spot concentrate TC, cif China, $/tonne after receiving overwhelmingly positive feedback from our reader...Read More
Hot-rolled coil prices in the United States have climbed above $49.50 per hundredweight ($990 per short ton), while buyers have voiced concerns that the rapid run-up in prices may mean a potential inventory devaluation in the future. Fastmarkets' daily steel hot-rolled coil index, fob mill US rose to $49.56 per cwt ($991.20 per ton) on Friday December 18, up by 0.69% from $49.22 per cwt on Thursda...Read More