The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.US flat product prices outperformed our expectations over the past month. In an attempt to lend the market confidence that sheet prices had reached a floor, US steel mills announced price increases of $50-60 per ton at the end of April. In the announcement, mills cited the expectation of higher scrap prices, tight domestic s...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.The Covid-19 pandemic and the associated impacts on steel production, mining and manufacturing activity, end-use consumption, and trade and transportation continue to dominate ferro-alloy markets. US steel mills are operating at around 50% of capacity, with similarly low operating rates evident in Europe as well. Chinese ste...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.Iron oreSentiment in the iron ore market continues to be dominated by concerns about supply disruptions in Brazil. Prices spiked above $100 per tonne after reports that there had been a recent surge of Covid-19 cases at Vale's three mines in Itabira. A...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.Ferrous scrap consumption rates of Chinese integrated mills appear to have declined this year on a per-tonne basis. This year has seen the ratio of pig iron to steel output tighten, leaving increasingly less room for scrap consumption. Over the first four months of 2020, the pig iron-to-steel ratio has been above the pr...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.Lockdowns and restrictions of movement in several cities in Brazil have increased worries about the potential impact on iron ore export volumes. The situation has already had an impact on the market sentiment. These concerns, combined with strong demand from China, have boosted iron ore prices. The fall in shipments from Bra...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.Activity in China has picked up, and although the impact from the Covid-19 did not spare the country with its gross domestic product contracting at its largest rate since recording began in the 1990s, the latest crude steel output figures for April from China's National Bureau of Statistics show a strong recovery, albeit sti...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts is ready to view.Stainless steel prices are on the increase in June. As far as this market is concerned, it appears as though the Covid-19 pandemic has had little impact so far, with prices on the most common grades of stainless steel just 2-4% lower than they were at the turn of the year in most markets.Even in Asia, a region often talked ab...Read More
China continued to show strong demand for pig iron in the week ended Friday June 5, supporting a global uptrend in prices for the raw material.Four cargoes of pig iron with a total volume of at least 180,000 tonnes were bought for the Chinese market from Brazil and the Commonwealth of Independent States during the week.One booking of Russia-origin material was heard at $334 per tonne cfr. Another...Read More
Key data from the pricing sessions in Asia, Europe and the United States for the week ending Friday June 5. Japan and South Korea Indian suppliers further pushed up offer prices on increased raw material expenses and tight supply caused by the country's Covid-19 lockdown. The higher offer prices underpinned high-carbon ferro-chrome prices in Japan and...Read More
New Day Aluminum Holdings, the parent company of Noranda Bauxite, Noranda Alumina, and Niche Industrial Chemicals, on June 2 announced the appointment of John Habisreitinger as chief operating officer.New Day produces bauxite for metallurgical and non-metallurgical applications in Jamaica, and...Read More
The three-month copper price on the London Metal Exchange rose by 2.3% day-on-day to close at $5,690 per tonne on Friday June 5, after a strong day of trading with a turnover of more than 23,300 lots.LME three-month copper had its best week since September 2018 in the week ended June 5, reaching a high of $5,698 per tonne on Friday. On Monday, it had opened at $5,400 per tonne, but on Friday it op...Read More
Fastmarkets' benchmark copper concentrates treatment and refining charge (TC/RC) index edged down marginally on Friday June 5 with more tonnages offered by miners for spot sale. The index stood at $49.6 per tonne/4.96 cents per lb, compared with $49.7 per tonne/4.97 cents per lb a week ago. Smelters have been buying cargoes at $52-55 per tonne with bids as high as $60 per tonne. Buying interest i...Read More
An overview of the battery raw materials markets and their latest price moves.Read More
Aluminium stocks in Shanghai Futures Exchange-approved warehouses showed the largest drop in percentage terms in the week to Friday June 5, falling by 10.0% or 29,717 tonnes to 266,588 tonnes.The outflow mainly came from warehouses operated by Nanchu in Guangdong and Minmetals Wuxi in Jiangsu, with respective declines of 5,173 tonnes and 4,287 tonnes from 18,053 tonnes...Read More
The China alumina market firmed this week on higher offers from sellers who expect increased demand from new aluminium projects. Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for alumina metallurgical grade, ddp China was 2,200-2,250 yuan ($309-314) per tonne on Thursday June 4, narrowing upward by 50 yuan from 2,150-2,250 yuan per tonne a week earlier. The price had widened last week from 2,180-...Read More
Prices for galvanized steel sheet in the United States slipped, reverting to the level of two weeks ago, while cold-rolled coil held steady for the fourth straight week, demonstrating that the two items are being outpaced by the price increases seen in hot-rolled coil.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel hot-dipped galvanized coil (base), fob mill US fell to $34 per hundredweight ($680 p...Read More
Flat-steel import prices were mostly up in South America this past week, as Chinese mills made higher offers ahead of negotiations for August shipments.Demand, however, has not significantly recovered in the region, as some countries are still enforcing quarantines to prevent Covid-19 from spreading. On the other hand, higher customer interest was reported in Brazil after foreign exchange rates tu...Read More
Slab export prices from Brazil increased during the week ended June 5 because of higher costs of iron ore and freight, combined with continued high demand from China.Fastmarkets' weekly assessment for steel slab export, fob main port Brazil, increased by $10 from the previous week, to $355-365 per tonne from $345-355 per tonne.Offers to China have been reported around $400 per tonne cfr and above,...Read More
Turkish prices for hot-dipped galvanized coil (HDG) and color-coated coil increased in the week to Friday June 5 and some producers have stopped accepting new orders because of increasing production costs, sources told Fastmarkets.Demand is strong due to restocking and expectations that prices will rise further.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel HRC, domestic, exw Turkey was $430-440 p...Read More
Vehicle production increased in Latin America during May, when compared with the all-time lows reported in April, but continued to represent a sharp year-on-year decrease while most plants remained closed or are just starting to reopen following Covid-related halts.Mexico, Brazil and Argentina are the region's top auto producing countries, Fastmarkets understands.MexicoMexican light vehicle output...Read More