The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.Aluminium: Poised for a technical breakoutFears over a second wave of Covid-19 continue to grow, forcing prices of aluminium and the other base metals to take a pause. Our base-case scenario is that countries will respond more efficiently to contain the virus spread, so economic activity and metal demand should continue to r...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.Depending on which market one looks at, prices of coated steels have either risen, fallen or remained roughly the same since mid-May. One crucial impact of the Covid-19 pandemic that has swept the world this year is the decoupling it appears to have created between global steel markets.In China, prices of most steel products...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.The recent announcement about Vale's resumption of operations in Brazil, along with new concerns about a slump in demand because of heavy rainfall in China, has resulted in the end of the iron ore price rally. There has also been pressure from tight steel spreads, with the operating margins for Chinese steel mills shrinking...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.Iron ore prices climbed further last week and we expect the elevated levels to remain into the next month. In particular, further upside will come from blast furnace (BF) capacity, which was reduced in Europe, Japan and the United States and has now come back online after restrictions started to be removed. With Covid-19 spr...Read More
Indian local secondary billet prices increased by 300 rupees per tonne week-on-week on Friday June 26 on improved demand from sustained buying by makers of finished steel products.The price of steel billet, domestic, ex-works India, was assessed by Fastmarkets on June 26 up by 300 rupees per tonne to 27,600-27,800 rupees ($366-369) per tonne, compared with last week's assessment at 27,300-27,500 r...Read More
Key data from the pricing sessions in Asia, Europe and the United States during the week ending Friday June 26. China The domestic market was propelled higher by continued tight availability, with increased spot demand from mill restocking ahead of the Dragon Boat Festival holiday on June 25-27.Export prices followed the domestic market up, despite major suppliers admitting...Read More
An overview of the battery raw materials markets and their latest price moves.Read More
The spot market for copper concentrate remained quiet in the week ended Friday June 26 due to Chinese market participants away for the national Dragon Boat Festival holiday. Fastmarkets' benchmark copper concentrate treatment and refining charge (TC/RC) index fell to $46.80 per tonne / 4.68 cents per lb on Friday from $47.30 per tonne / 4.73 cents per lb a week earlier. ...Read More
En+ Group is working to develop technology that will fundamentally change the aluminium smelting process with the goal of further reducing emissions and potentially becoming carbon negative, the company's chairman said in a digital interview with Fastmarkets. According to Lord Gregory Barker, the move is part of a drive to not just produce aluminium using clean energy sources but to find innovativ...Read More
The closure of the Chuquicamata copper smelter in Chile could last up to two weeks, Fastmarkets learned on Friday June 26. The exact duration of the closure will "depend on the number of [Covid-19] cases found," with tests being carried out on staff, a source with direct knowledge of the matter told Fastmarkets. Meanwhile, the refinery continues to operate at one third of capacity to process exist...Read More
A growth in investing based on environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues is rapidly advancing a widespread market appreciation of low-carbon products, including aluminium, the chairman of En+ Group said. Lord Gregory Barker said that while mainstream investors previously did not turn their attention to so-called "green investing," there is now an increasing recognition that a large, geopol...Read More
Carbon pricing will be a key driver in the transition to a decarbonized economy and will form a central part of the cost of aluminium in the future, according to the chairman of En+ Group.Gregory, Lord Barker, told Fastmarkets during a webinar interview this week that levying a tax on the carbon content of fuels would make it more expensive to produce or consume fossil fuels and products with a hi...Read More
The three-month nickel price on the London Metal Exchange was higher during morning trading on Friday June 26, topping gains across the complex despite thin turnover, while the ongoing drawdown of LME lead stocks saw the heavy metal's underlying price stay elevated.Nickel's outright price on the LME was recently seen at $12,665 per tonne, more than 1.5% higher than Thursday's closing price of $12,...Read More
Prices for hot-rolled coil in the United States ended the week mostly steady, but more sources expressed concerns over surging Covid-19 cases across the country, saying the rising number of infections may further hurt the steel industry and the economy as a whole.Fastmarkets' daily steel hot-rolled coil index, fob mill US was calculated at $24 per hundredweight ($480 per short ton) on Fr...Read More
European producers of hot-rolled coil have been pushing for higher prices even as demand remains poor, sources told Fastmarkets on Friday June 26.Fastmarkets' daily steel HRC index, domestic, exw Northern Europe was ?,?393.75 ($442.11) per tonne on Friday, down by ?,?0.63 per tonne from ?,?394.38 per tonne on June 25.Friday's index was based on workable...Read More
Brazilian steel slab prices continued to climb in the week to Friday June 26 with consumers in the United States buying the last available volumes from the fourth-quarter import quota, but sellers are looking elsewhere for the remainder of 2020.Fastmarkets assessed the price of steel slab export, fob main port Brazil at $375-400 per tonne on Friday, up $10 on the high end of the range from $375-39...Read More
The price for flat-rolled steel imported into South American main destinations has edged downward week on week, with Chinese offers remaining steady, while material from other origins was presented at lower prices.Demand was recovering at a slower pace than expected after the restrictions imposed to prevent the Covid-19 pandemic from spreading, according to market participants.While some Peruvian...Read More
Billet producers in the Commonwealth of Independent States have turned their attention to the Middle East region due to a slowdown in trading activity in Asia, particularly China, market sources said.The move had been expected as buying by China has declined sharply over the past fortnight, with some sources citing heavy rains and jitters about another wave of Covid-19 infections as the cause. As...Read More
Turkish domestic hot-rolled and cold-rolled coil prices weakened during the week to Friday June 26 on lower raw material prices, while demand was moderate, sources told Fastmarkets.Flat steel producers in the country are accepting orders for September.Scrap prices have fallen over the past week, with Fastmarkets' daily index for steel scrap, HMS 1&2 (80:20 mix), North Europe origin, cfr Turkey at...Read More
Indian steel exports to China are continuing unabated despiteincreased tensions between the two countries following a deadly military confrontation on the border, sources told Fastmarkets on Friday June 26.Following a lethal clash between Indian and Chinese soldiers at a disputed Himalayan border post on June 15-16, which left 20 Indian soldiers dead, politicians in India have...Read More