Australia-based global miner BHP has raised its offer in a bidding war to acquire prospective Canadian nickel producer Noront Resources.The Toronto-based junior miner recommended to its shareholders in July that they accept BHP's offer, worth at that time C$325 million ($263 million), instead of a competing offer from another Australian miner, Wyloo Metals.Wyloo counteroffered, and BHP raised its...Read More
Steel rebar producers in Egypt increased their prices by around E ?400-600 ($25-38) per tonne with effect from Wednesday October 20, Fastmarkets has heard.The country's biggest producer, Ezz Steel, was now offering rebar at E ?15,000 ($952) per tonne ex-works including 14% VAT, rising from the previous E ?14,600 per tonne. The price was previously unchanged since May 17.Rebar producers in Egypt...Read More
Japanese local and export buyers have been locked in a fight for steel scrap in the week to Wednesday October 20, pushing up prices across the board, sources told Fastmarkets.Major electric arc furnace (EAF) mill Tokyo Steel on Wednesday announced it would raise its scrap buy prices by ?500-1,000 ($4.38-8.75) per tonne at some of its works starting Thursday October 21. This marks the second price...Read More
Russian steel mills increased their prices for November deliveries of hot-rolled (HR) and cold-rolled (CR) steel sheet in the country's Central District around Moscow on Monday October 18, despite buying interest being cooler with the end of the construction season, Fastmarkets has heard.The good demand and active purchasing by stockists at the end of September, for October deliveries, were now sl...Read More
An overview of the specialty steel raw materials markets in Europe and their latest price moves.Janie Davies, Alex Cook...Read More
Domestic and imported steel reinforcing bar prices in the United States were sideways on Wednesday October 20, but sources noted growing uncertainty around what the rest of the quarter may look like.Fastmarkets' assessment for steel reinforcing bar (rebar), fob mill US was $49.25 per hundredweight ($985 per short ton) on October 20, unchanged since August 11 at its highest since late 2008. Notably...Read More
Wire rod prices in the United States rose by $40 per short ton ($2.00 per cwt) in October, to hit record highs for domestic and imported low-carbon wire rod, high-carbon wire rod and cold-heading quality wire rod.Fastmarkets' monthly assessment for steel wire rod (low carbon) industrial quality, fob mill US was $59.50-62.50 per hundredweight ($1,190-1.250 per short ton) on Tuesday October 19, up 3...Read More
Fastmarkets sees upside risk to Chinese graphite prices in the fourth quarter of 2021, largely reflecting rising electricity costs and reduced power supply, as well as insufficient inventories and inadequate availability of feedstock for spherical graphite processing.High power costs and limits on energy consumption in China may make it increasingly difficult for graphite producers to stockpile ma...Read More
Taiwan's import prices for containers of steel scrap were expected to continue to rise because of a huge premium for bulk import prices over material arriving in containers, market sources told Fastmarkets on Wednesday October 20.?EUR?Taiwanese buyers continue to book containerized cargoes?EUR?Chinese market muted by wide bid-offer gaps?EUR?China's ferrous scrap import volumes down by 49% month on...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Wednesday October 20 that are worth another look.Workers at steelmaker ArcelorMittal's plant in Ghent, Belgium, might go on strike from Thursday next week in a dispute over salaries, Fastmarkets heard on October 20.Trafigura has been drawing...Read More
Turkish steelmakers continued to pay higher prices for deep-sea ferrous scrap cargoes scheduled for shipment in December, market sources told Fastmarkets on Wednesday October 20.A steel mill in the Iskenderun region booked a Baltic Sea cargo, comprising 32,000 tonnes of an 80:20 mix of No1 and No2 heavy melting scrap at $502 per tonne and 3,000 tonnes of bonus-grade scrap at $522 per tonne cfr.Pre...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Wednesday October 20 that are worth another look.Workers at steelmaker ArcelorMittal's plant in Ghent, Belgium, might go on strike from Thursday next week in a dispute over salaries, Fastmarkets heard on October 20.Trafigura has been drawing...Read More
Lead's three-month price set a new year-to-date peak of $2,427 per tonne on the afternoon of Wednesday October 20, together with nickel, which rose by almost 6% to more than $21,000 per tonne, with sentiment on the London Metal Exchange still bullish.Lead's three-month price closed at $2,417 per tonne on Wednesday, a 1.7% increase from its Tuesday closing price of $2,376 per tonne. "We envisage a...Read More
A summary of Brazilian miner Vale's iron ore results for the third quarter of 2021, as stated in its latest production and sales report published on Tuesday October 19.In brief?EUR? Vale produced 89.4 million tonnes of iron ore fines in July-September, up by 0.8% year on year and 18.1% higher compared with April-June. ?EUR? It attributed the increases to high production at its Serra Norte and S11D...Read More
Vietnam's Hoa Phat Steel is close to obtaining certification from the United Kingdom Certification Authority for Reinforcing Steels (Cares), which would allow it to sell its rebar to the key markets of Singapore and Hong Kong, sources told Fastmarkets this week.Obtaining the certification means that a mill is able to produce construction steel to certain standards. For instance, in Singapore, reba...Read More
An overview of the consumer electronics markets and their latest price moves.Janie Davies in...Read More
Suppliers in China's domestic spot ferro-chrome market lowered their offer prices during the week to Tuesday October 19, while trading remained light due to very limited supply, Fastmarkets heard.Fastmarkets' assessment of ferro-chrome, spot, 6-8% C, basis 50% Cr, ddp China fell by 4.8% to 10,700-11,300 yuan ($1,673-1,767) per tonne on Tuesday, from 11,100-12,000 yuan per tonne one week earlier.Th...Read More
Base metals prices were down across the board on both the London Metal Exchange and Shanghai Futures Exchange this morning, Wednesday October 20, with relatively high volume being seen on the LME.After the upward spikes in LME cash prices, ahead of the October prime data, it is perhaps not surprising a reality check is underway......but once again let us see how far the pullback goes.Broader marke...Read More
Domestic prices for hot-rolled coil in northern Europe and Italy continued to slide on Wednesday October 20 due to reduced automotive demand and higher availability of material, sources told Fastmarkets.A bearish mood in the market made buyers cautious about making new purchases, sources said, although demand has started to pick up due to distributor restocking for the first quarter of next year....Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Wednesday October 20 that are worth another look.Workers at steelmaker ArcelorMittal's plant in Ghent, Belgium, might go on strike from Thursday next week in a dispute over salaries, Fastmarkets heard on October 20.Trafigura has been drawing...Read More