Turkish producers returned the market late in the week ended Friday May 22, paying higher prices, while Asian buyers were in no hurry to purchase imported cargoes.Turkish mills purchase at higher pricesUS export market silentVietnam halts purchases after offers jumpTaiwanese prices peaking, sources sayIndian market remains steady.TurkeyTurkish producers were out of the spot market for most of this...Read More
Turkish steel producers continued their deep-sea scrap purchases at the end of the week at steady prices, sources said on Friday May 22.A steel mill in the Marmara region booked a Baltic Sea cargo comprising 13,500 tonnes of HMS 1&2 (80:20) at $250 per tonne, 9,000 tonnes of shredded at $255 per tonne and 6,500 tonnes of a mixture of bonus and busheling at $260 per tonne cfr.The same mill booked a...Read More
The price of austenitic stainless steel scrap prices in Europe moved slightly higher in the week to Friday May 22 on scarce availability despite demand remaining at low levels, sources told Fastmarkets. Fastmarkets' weekly stainless steel scrap 18/8 solids domestic, delivered merchants UK assessment was ?750-800 ($916-977) per tonne on Friday, up by ?20 per tonne on the low end from ?730-800 pe...Read More
The price of shredded ferrous scrap imported into India in containers was largely unchanged on Friday May 22, with the country looking to re-enter the market, sources have told Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets calculated the steel scrap, shredded, index, import, cfr Nhava Sheva, India, at $266.67 per tonne on Friday, little changed from $265.50 per tonne one week before.Trading in the country has been almo...Read More
Seaborne iron ore prices dipped slightly on Friday May 22 with the opening of China's twin sessions, in which, for the first time since 1994, no gross domestic product growth target was set by the Chinese government. Fastmarkets iron ore indices 62% Fe fines, cfr Qingdao: $97.65 per tonne, down $0.61 per tonne. 62% Fe low-alumina fines, cfr Qingdao: $100.28 per tonne, down $1.35 per tonne. 58% Fe...Read More
China's domestic rebar prices were unchanged on Friday May 22 due to mixed news emerging from a meeting of policymakers in Beijing.Domestic Eastern China (Shanghai): 3,560-3,590 yuan ($500-503) per tonne, unchangedNorthern China (Beijing) - weekly assessment: 3,550-3,600 yuan per tonne, up by 130-140 yuan per tonne Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said in the morning that there would not be a gross...Read More
Eastern China's hot-rolled coil prices narrowed downward on Friday May 22 after the Chinese government decided for the first time to drop its gross domestic product growth target for this year.DomesticEastern China (Shanghai): 3,560-3,570 yuan ($500-501) per tonne, narrowed downward by 10 yuan per tonneNorthern China (Tangshan): 3,510-3,520 yuan per tonne, unchangedPremier Li Keqiang confirmed at...Read More
A 14,350-tonne fresh cancellation of aluminium in London Metal Exchange-approved Asian sheds, as of 9am on Friday May 22, kept the metal's three-month price above thepsychological level of $1,500-tonne.The light metal's LME three-month contract was trading at around $1,506.50 per tonne during morning trading, down from the previous day's $1,521-per-tonne close.LME aluminium futures breached $1,500...Read More
Broad markets were weaker this morning, Friday May 22, led by a 4.8% fall in the Hang Seng; base metals prices on both the London Metal Exchange and the Shanghai Futures Exchange were down across the board. Given the dire economic situation as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, the last thing the global economy needs is an escalation in the United States-China trade war that the latter's plans to...Read More
An overview of the minor metals markets and the reasons for their latest price moves.Read More
An overview of the Chinese minor metals markets and the reasons for their latest price moves. Read More
The price of stainless steel in Europe was stable in the week to Friday May 22, but mills are expected to announce significantly higher alloy surcharges for June next week after Outokumpu published higher figures on its website this week.Outokumpu, which traditionally is the first to announce new surcharges each month, said its June alloy surcharge for grade-304 flat products will be ?,?1,363 ($1,...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 inter-merchant spot price for light iron scrap in the UK has been steady over past week and unchanged in May, supported by lower scrap arisings and material being delivered into yards amid a slowdown in heavy industry manufacturing, sources said.Market support looks likely in the near term as competition for scrap looks firmer among some major shredders for feed. While there is slower trade at...Read More
Traders dealing in containerized steel scrap are battling expensive freight rates, while holiday banking closures in Pakistan are causing additional concerns in the market.Container freight rates for scrap have continued to increase in recent months due to factors such as a renewed tightness of containers following bottlenecks at ports, together with shipping lines looking to recoup some of their...Read More
Prices for heavy melting scrap (HMS) imports in Taiwan have risen only slowly over the past seven days and may have peaked, sources said in the week to Friday May 22.Fastmarkets' daily price assessment for containerized cargoes of steel scrap, HMS 1&2 (80:20), US material import, cfr main port Taiwan, was $230-232 per tonne cfr on Friday, unchanged from Thursday May 21 having widened at the h...Read More
Demand for ferrous scrap imports in Vietnam faded toward the latter part of this week after sellers raised their offers from Thursday May 21 onward.Bids for bulk cargoes of Japanese H2 scrap were at $245 per tonne cfr southern Vietnam this week, with offers at $250 per tonne cfr southern Vietnam at the start of the week.There was a transaction at $248 per tonne cfr southern Vietnam to a Vietnamese...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Thursday May 21 that are worth another look.The recently opened anti-dumping investigation into Turkish exports of hot-rolled coil to the EU fails to comply with the principles of the Customs Union and Free Trade Agreements between Turkey and the European Commission (EC), the Turkish Steel Producers' Association (TCUD) told Fastmarkets on...Read More
Copper stocks in London Metal Exchange-registered warehouses in Rotterdam have been steadily rising over May, indicating weak European copper consumption during a period of heightened economic uncertainty. And with manufacturing in the region still reeling from the effect of Covid-19 on supply chains, market participants are pessimistic that improvements will come this year. Total LME stocks in Ro...Read More
The three-month zinc price on the London Metal Exchange tumbled at the close of trading on Thursday May 21, losing some 3.6% in an afternoon downturn, while a fall in US unemployment claims failed to boost market sentiment.Zinc's outright price on the LME closed at $1,983.50 per tonne on Thursday afternoon, falling from an intraday high of $2,048 per tonne, while turnover was strong at more than 9...Read More