Turkish steel mills continued to accept higher prices for deep-sea scrap cargoes on Thursday December 17 due to limited supply of the material, with prices rising by more than $7.50 per tonne day on day.A steel mill in the Marmara region booked a Baltic Sea cargo, which originated from St Petersburg, priced at $444 per tonne for an 80:20 mix of No1 and No2 heavy melting scrap and at $454 per tonne...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.The bullish price run in the iron ore market continued for a sixth week in a row with the 62% Fe benchmark soaring to a near eight-year high. Looking ahead, iron ore demand in 2021 is projected to be stronger than initially expected earlier in the year. We not only anticipate continued demand growth in China, but a recovery...Read More
Seaborne iron ore prices increased on Thursday December 17, amid rising concerns over limited supplies and low steel inventories, sources told Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets iron ore indices 62% Fe fines, cfr Qingdao: $158.49 per tonne, up $2.04 per tonne62% Fe low-alumina fines, cfr Qingdao: $158.89 per tonne, up $2.18 per tonne58% Fe fines high-grade premium, cfr Qingdao: $147.10 per tonne, u...Read More
Steel billet and rebar prices in Egypt increased during the week ending Thursday December 17 because of restocking after recent price increases, although demand for billet imports was not strong, market sources told Fastmarkets.Buyers did not accept any offered price for imported billet since locally produced billet was enough to meet rebar producers' demand.Demand for rebar and billet has been sl...Read More
Offers for billet exports from the Commonwealth of Independent States are being held at high levels this week amid a surge in scrap prices and long steel prices in Turkey.But with buyers largely quiet, the gap between offers and bids remains wide, market participants told Fastmarkets on Thursday December 17.Producers from Russia were heard offering billet at $580-600 per tonne fob this week.At the...Read More
Sales of passenger cars in the EU dropped by 11.99% year on year in November 2020, due to a second wave Covid-19 lockdown measures being introduced in several member states.New car sales in the European Union totalled 897,692 vehicles in November 2020, down from 1.02 million units sold in the corresponding month of 2019, the European Automotive Manufacturers Association (ACEA) said on Thursday Dec...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
The year 2020 showed how resilient steel mills are and how important it is to diversify products, the chief executive officers of three major steel producers in the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) countries said during the keynote CEO panel of Fastmarkets' Middle East Iron & Steel virtual conference on Tuesday December 15. CEOs on the panel Ravi Singh of Bahrain's structural steel producer Su...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Thursday December 17 that are worth another look.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.The Shanghai...Read More
The global direct-reduced (DR) iron-ore pellet market - which has traditionally faced shortages - may face a material oversupply by 2025, Chris Barrington, chief advisor of the International Iron Metallics Association (IIMA), said during Fastmarkets' Middle East Iron and Steel virtual conference on Wednesday December 16. "There will be significantly more than enough potential supply to meet demand...Read More
Alcoa is halting plans to curtail its San Cipri??n aluminium smelter in Spain after a Spanish court ruled in favor of the workers on Thursday December 17."The workers' representatives filed a lawsuit with the High Court of Justice of Galicia... In the court's ruling, it declared the collective dismissal process 'null...Read More
Hot-rolled coil prices in the United States continued to climb toward $50 per hundredweight ($1,000 per short ton), with little spot availability and relatively long lead times maintaining record-high prices, according to market participants. Fastmarkets' daily steel hot-rolled coil price, fob mill US was calculated at $49.22 per cwt ($984.40 per ton) on Thursday December 17, up by 0.68% from $48....Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Thursday December 17 that are worth another look.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.The Shanghai...Read More
Jakob Stausholm will become the new chief executive officer of mining major Rio Tinto at the start of next year, the company announced on Thursday December 17.Currently chief financial officer, Stausholm joined Rio Tinto in 2018, having previously held senior positions at shipping company AP Moeller-Maersk and at oil producer Shell. The appointment comes as Rio Tinto faces a series of corpora...Read More
The Shanghai Futures Exchange aluminium price will maintain its upward momentum in the first half of 2021 due to strong demand before trending gradually lower in the second half of the year on increased supply, market participants and analysts told Fastmarkets.The aluminium front month contract demonstrated great resilience in 2020 by recovering quickly from the impact of Covid-19 on consumption t...Read More
China's raw materials policies - including the ban of coking coal imports from Australia and the new recycled raw materials classification - will likely be among the key drivers of the global ferrous markets in 2021, market sources told Fastmarkets. Uncertainty over import policies caused by geopolitical tensions and supply have resulted in shifts in the consumption patterns of steelmaking raw mat...Read More
The London Metal Exchange three-month aluminium and tin prices set new year-to-date highs during trading on Thursday December 17, while the whole complex is continuing to hold high prices on hopes of a positive outcome in negotiations for a United States economic stimulus package to deal with the Covid-19 pandemic. The aluminium price hit a new 2020 high of $2,096 per tonne at around 2pm on Thursd...Read More
Seaborne iron ore prices increased on Thursday December 17, amid rising concerns over limited supplies and low steel inventories, sources told Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets iron ore indices 62% Fe fines, cfr Qingdao: $158.49 per tonne, up $2.04 per tonne62% Fe low-alumina fines, cfr Qingdao: $158.89 per tonne, up $2.18 per tonne58% Fe fines high-grade premium, cfr Qingdao: $147.10 per tonne, u...Read More
Fastmarkets' premium hard coking coal cfr index jumped by more than $5 per tonne on Thursday December 17, while the fob price stayed flat due to no transactions being reported.Fastmarkets indicesPremium hard coking coal, fob DBCT: $101.46 per tonne, unchangedPremium hard coking coal, cfr Jingtang: $188.42 per tonne, up $5.78 per tonneHard coking coal, fob DBCT: $93.56 per tonne, unc...Read More