The state of the global iron ore supply remains a key risk factor for market participants in 2020 due to mining operations being affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, sources said.Market sentiment is mixed about whether the tight supply situation will persist in the second half of 2020, especially after Vale said its output for this year was likely to reach just the lower end of its forecast range."I...Read More
Three-month base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange were collectively lower at the close of trading on Thursday July 30, with LME nickel's 1.3% price dip leading the complex-wide decline, while a tightening of copper's forward curve led to thin volumes and a negative close on the day.Weighing equally heavily on the base-metals complex, the US economy shrank by 32.9% over the second quarter...Read More
Three-month base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange were subdued during morning trading on Thursday July 30, with thin volumes indicating bearish sentiment, while a low dollar and continued outflows did little to stop copper futures from leading on the downside. Copper's outright price on the LME was recently trading at $6,419.50 per tonne, sliding by just under 1% from Wednesday's closing...Read More
Base metals prices were for the most part firmer this morning, Thursday July 30, while broader markets were more mixed.The United States Federal Reserve provided more liquidity to international markets at its meeting that ended on Wednesday, but did not make any major changes. It also said that the path of the US economic recovery would depend on the course of Covid-19 in the country. Given the la...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view. We also review our price forecasting accuracy for the second quarter 2020.Q2 2020 price forecast performance review According to the results of Fastmarkets' Apex for the second quarter of 2020 published this week, Fastmarkets' base metals research team was the second most accurate price forecaster for nickel (99.06%), lead...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.Aluminium: Comfortable consolidationAluminium appears comfortable consolidating for the moment, and this will leave prices in a stronger position to challenge overhanging long-term trend-line resistance from the May 2018 high, which stands at $1,670 per tonne currently.Copper: Consolidation unlikely to lastCopper reached its...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.This year has come with several unexpected events which increased the bullish case for iron ore prices, while the Chinese government's spending on infrastructure is likely to boost iron ore demand and add upside support to prices. But supply disruptions and a demand surge which caused price spikes are now easing. We do not e...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' teamof analysts are ready to view.Chinese crude steel production outperformed our expectations with its recovery since the Covid-19 pandemic lockdowns. Crude steel output was up by 2.3% year-on-year in the first half of 2020 to 503 million tonnes, and we have revised upward what was initially a more bearish forecast for this year. We now estimate that product...Read More
Three-month base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange were collectively lower at the close of trading on Thursday July 30, with LME nickel's 1.3% price dip leading the complex-wide decline, while a tightening of copper's forward curve led to thin volumes and a negative close on the day.Weighing equally heavily on the base-metals complex, the US economy shrank by 32.9% over the second quarter...Read More
ED&F Man's Ed Meir clinched the top spot on the base metals predictions leaderboard for the second quarter of 2020 with 98.87% accuracy while ING's Wenyu Yao took the top spot for precious metals predictions over the period with a 98.75% accuracy rating.For steel raw materials, Casper Burgering of ABN Amro topped the leaderboard with a 90.89% accuracy score. Click on the image below to download th...Read More
Brazilian miner Vale is expecting copper prices to remain at high levels through the remainder of 2020, because it sees strong signs of demand resilience amid expectations of reduced supply, especially from South America, the company's top executives said on Thursday July 30."We are firm believers in the copper price uptrend," chief executive officer Eduardo Bartolomeo told analysts and investors...Read More
The declining quality of global zinc concentrate has left Noranda Income Fund's (NIF) residue handling section at capacity despite ongoing work to optimize its electrolytic processing facility in Quebec, Canada, the company said.Two belt filters will be added to the handling section as part of a recently announced expansion project. They are expected to help improve production capacity and overall...Read More
A summary of Brazilian mining company Vale's financial results for the second quarter of 2020, as stated in its earnings report released on Wednesday July 29.In briefFerrous division: Iron ore fines' realized price - after adjustments on both a cfr and fob basis - was $88.90 per tonne in the second quarter, down by 6% from $94.60 per tonne a year before. Pellet's realized price was $129.40 per ton...Read More
Nickel is expected to go into shortage in the coming years because current market prices are below the incentive levels needed to spur the development of new projects, according to Canadian producer Sherritt International.But before the market reaches this stage, the consenus is that the commodity will face a surplus, given the current substantial increase in nickel pig iron output, the company sa...Read More
Brazil's largest flat-rolled steel producer by capacity, Usiminas, is looking to correct the current domestic price discount to imports in the short term, commercial vice-president Miguel Homes said on Thursday July 30.Even after steelmakers raised prices by around 10% earlier in July, Homes said, local products remained at a 10% discount to imports. But he did not provide any additional informati...Read More
A summary of production figures and financial results from Brazilian steelmaker Usiminas in the second quarter of 2020, as stated in its earnings report published on Thursday July 30.In brief April steel figures were the most badly affected by tumbling demand due to restrictions under the Covid-19 pandemic, and second-quarter domestic sales fell much more sharply than exports on an annual basis. B...Read More
Brazilian steelmaker Companhia Sider??rgica Nacional (CSN) is working to get its recently idled No2 blast furnace (BF) ready to restart before the end of November, chief financial officer Marcelo Ribeiro said in the second-quarter earnings conference call on Wednesday July 29.The resumption of BF operations will require $10-15 million in investments, the executive said, but the company will only r...Read More
Brazil's largest producer of flat-rolled steel, Usiminas, intends restarts in August for some of the operations it halted in April because of the restrictions imposed in the country to prevent the Covid-19 pandemic from spreading, the company said on Thursday July 30.The company will resume activities at its blast furnace (BF) No1 and steelworks No1 at the Ipatinga mill, in the southeastern state...Read More
Turkish rebar export prices have increased over the past week amid rising imported scrap costs, although demand for material was still limited, sources said on Thursday July 30.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel reinforcing bar (rebar), export, fob main port Turkey, was $420-430 per tonne on Thursday, up from the $415-425 per tonne of last week.The mills in Turkey raised their offers t...Read More
Prices in Egypt for steel billet imports and domestically produced steel rebar increased in the week to Thursday July 30 because of higher offers, despite soft demand, sources have told Fastmarkets.CIS-origin billet was offered this week at $415-425 per tonne cfr, up from offers at $405-410 per tonne cfr last week.Traders said that it was impossible to import billet because of the low rebar prices...Read More