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 licenses for an additional 30,000 tonnes of duty-free aluminium imports that were added to the annual quota by the authorities in Brazil have already been completely used by the industry, Fastmarkets heard on Tuesday November 10."The additional 30,000-tonne quota is, indeed, exhausted for new import licenses at the moment," a spokesperson for the foreign trade and international affairs secreta...Read More
Aluminium stocks at Shanghai-bonded warehouses surged by over 200% year on year in October on a profitable import arbitrage, while copper inventories grew on both annually and quarterly comparisons.Open arb window, good demand support aluminium stocks increaseFastmarkets assessed Shanghai-bonded aluminium stocks at 30,000-30,500 tonnes on Friday October 30, up by 203% from 9,500-10,500 tonnes in t...Read More
Huasheng alumina refinery in Guangxi province, southern China, has started operations on its second production line that will add 1 million tonnes per year of alumina capacity to an already oversupplied market, sources told Fastmarkets on Monday November 9. "I heard their second operation line was ready for production and they began putting raw material into the newly-built operation line in late...Read More
LME three-month base metals prices held slim gains in the morning session on Tuesday November 10, buoyed by bullish sentiment arising from Joe Biden's US presidential win and Pfizer's Covid-19 vaccine announcement on Monday.However, some industry analysts were not optimistic that the recent rally across London Metal Exchange base metals prices was sustainable, and suggested that prices have b...Read More
Domestic prices for hot-rolled coil in Northern Europe increased day on day on Tuesday November 10, due to long lead times for domestic material and lack of import offers, sources told Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets calculated its daily steel hot-rolled coil index, domestic, exw Northern Europe, at ?,?521.67 ($618.77) per tonne on Tuesday, up by ?,?8.54 per tonne from ?,?513.13 per tonne on Monday.The in...Read More
Flat steel import prices in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have increased over the past week because of a shortage of hot-rolled coil, sources said on Tuesday November 10.Local demand was strong for flat steel in India and China, the main exporters of flat steel to the UAE and Saudi Arabia, so only China made a limited quantity of offers at high prices.UAEOffer prices for HRC from Chinese supplier...Read More
The recovery of demand for imports of steel billet into China that started last week, and pushed up the prices in the wider Asian region, has played to the advantage of CIS exporters.CIS mills were already almost sold out for December-shipment volumes and were now hoping for higher prices for January-shipment cargoes. Late last week, billet from the CIS region was available within the range of $42...Read More
Steel billet and rebar prices in the United Arab Emirates remained stable while demand was weak, sources said on Tuesday November 10.Domestic rebarThe country's steel producers were offering rebar at 1,936 dirhams ($527) per tonne ex-works for orders to be produced in November, unchanged since September 15.Deal prices were reported to Fastmarkets at around...Read More
A summary of the financial results for Turkey's largest integrated long steel producer, Kardemir, for the first three quarters of 2020, covering the period January 1-September 30.In briefThe company managed to increase its earnings, as well as its steel output, despite the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on the steel market.Kardemir also increased its sales...Read More
In the export market for flat steel from the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) offers increased again during the week to Monday November 9 on a global shortage, sources said.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel hot-rolled coil, export, fob Black Sea, CIS was $515-525 per tonne on November 9, up from $475-495 per tonne a week earlier."Stocks are low in Turkey no...Read More
The Turkish steel mills remained out of the deep-sea scrap markets on the second working day of the current week, but were expected to resume their bookings with support from fresh rebar export sales, sources said on Tuesday November 10.Turkish steelmakers booked 11 deep-sea cargoes last week but stepped away from the market at the beginning of this week, when the exchange-rate value of the countr...Read More
Seaborne premium hard coking coal prices in the fob market edged up on Tuesday November 10 on active trading, while cfr hard coking coal prices jumped because of Chinese restrictions on Australian coal.Fastmarkets indicesPremium hard coking coal, fob DBCT: $108.09 per tonne, up $1.31 per tonne Premium hard coking coal, cfr Jingtang: $146.70 per tonne, up $2.36 per tonneHard coking coal,...Read More
Seaborne iron ore prices were up on Tuesday November 10 amid strong demand for rebar in China, but some market participants told Fastmarkets that the long-term outlook is not looking so positive.Fastmarkets iron ore indices 62% Fe fines, cfr Qingdao: $122.27 per tonne, up $0.52 per tonne62% Fe low-alumina fines, cfr Qingdao: $122.74 per tonne, up $0.49 per tonne58% Fe fines high-grade pr...Read More
China's hot-rolled coil sellers maintained their offers on Tuesday November 10 despite a weakening of trading activity.DomesticEastern China (Shanghai): 4,080-4,090 yuan ($617-618) per tonne, narrowing downward by 10 yuan per tonneA Shanghai-based trader said buyers stopped restocking amid falling futures, although spot prices largely held up.A second Shanghai-based trader said most sellers kept t...Read More
China's domestic rebar market maintained its upward momentum on Tuesday November 10 on good demand and falling inventories. DomesticEastern China (Shanghai): 4,060-4,090 yuan ($614-619) per tonne, up by 30 yuan per tonneDemand from the construction sector remained strong during the day, which pushed up rebar prices further. The daily transactions averaged 262,000 tonnes in the first 10 days of Nov...Read More
Base metals prices on both the London Metal Exchange and Shanghai Futures Exchange were mainly lower this morning, Tuesday November 10, while prices consolidated after Monday's double dose of positive news - that of Joe Biden winning the US presidential election and Pfizer announcing progress toward a potential Covid-19 vaccine. Asian Pacific equities mainly higher on the back of the vaccine news....Read More
First Cobalt Corp and Glencore have agreed to discuss a long-term feed purchase contract instead of the tolling arrangement originally contemplated. The Canada-headquartered company, which is working to recommission and expand a currently idled cobalt refinery in Canada, said it had decided to be a market purchaser of feedstock, rather than a toll refiner.The change in approach towards feed purcha...Read More
The European titanium markets look set to remain buoyant through 2021 and well into 2022, with a shortage of titanium scrap underpinning both feedstock and alloy prices, according to industry sources.The titanium scrap market may be in deficit until at least early 2022, sources said, and aerospace - a key supply sector - is expected to struggle to recover output after the Covid-19 p...Read More
The Cobalt alloy grade, in-whs Rotterdam, $/lbtrade log including business, bids and offers reported to Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets publishes trades logs for its key price assessments and indices to bring more transparency into the markets it covers and the pricing process it...Read More