The price range for high-carbon ferro-chrome widened in Europe in the week ended Friday May 22, with industry sources reporting deals agreed for more than 500 tonnes of material.The price spread widened to $0.15 per lb after deals were reported that raised the higher end of the assessment.Trading activity was said by most sources to be quiet, with only one supplier reporting deals done. But the pr...Read More
Key data from Friday May 22 pricing session in Shanghai.Key drivers- Chinese exporters held their offers firm due to a strong domestic market amid tightened supply; very few plants in China are producing grade-553 silicon.- Market sources said interest from abroad had...Read More
Key data from the pricing sessions in London and Shanghai on Friday May 22.Key drivers:- Buyers in China continue to replenish stocks that have run thin from refineries, bridging a gap in shipments from Africa in March and April that was a result of South Africa's Covid-19 lockdown. Outflows...Read More
Broad markets and the metals were mixed this morning, Wednesday May 27, while participants brace for what United States President Donald Trump’s response will be to China’s plans to impose national security laws in Hong Kong, which he said will be announced by the end of the week. China’s CSI 300 and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng indices were weaker this morning, while in other areas t...Read More
U.S. equity index futures were higher again this morning. S&P 500 futures were up 33 points in pre-opening trade. Disney gained $2.80 to $123.75 after announcing plans to re-open its Orlando, Florida properties. Novavax added $0.67 to $48.84 after announcing start of first phase clinical testing of its coronavirus vaccine. Bank of Montreal and Royal Bank are expected to open lower after releas...Read More
Brazilian iron ore exports are not being affected by the increase in Covid-19 cases in the country, despite recent data showing a slowdown, Usiminas' mining arm director Carlos Rezzonico said in a conference call on Friday May 22.Minera????o Usiminas (Musa), a 70:30 joint venture between Usiminas and Japanese group Sumitomo Corp, has been operating normally during the pandemic, the executive told...Read More
Swedish steelmaker SSAB plans to extend temporary layoffs for its Finnish sites until September at least in a response to a downturn in the European steel market, the company said in a release on Wednesday May 20. In April, SSAB agreed temporary layoffs at its Finnish sites averaging three weeks in April-June with its employees and announced steelmaking output cuts. With economic conditions a...Read More
Dilip Oommen, chief executive officer of ArcelorMittal Nippon Steel India (AMNS), has been appointed as president of the Indian Steel Association (ISA).The decision was made in an extraordinary board meeting held on Tuesday May 19, the ISA said. Oommen takes the position from TV Narendran, CEO and MD of Tata Steel. He starts the role after more than 37 years of experience in the international stee...Read More
How long it will take the global economy to recover from the Covid-19 pandemic is anyone's guess right now.Could the world's major economic regions be in for an "LUV" recovery similar to the one they saw after the global financial crisis of 2008-09?That was the format of recovery that was expected in 2009 by former Rio Tinto chief executive officer Tom Albanese, who was at the helm of the mining g...Read More
The Covid-19 pandemic is likely to lead to another casualty: the mega mine. The volatility created by crises like Covid-19 is adding a layer of uncertainty to the development of large-scale projects that take a decade or more to progress and are highly capital intensive, according to Tom Albanese, the former chief executive officer of Rio Tinto.This means that mining projects are likely to be deve...Read More
Alcoa Corp has called on the aluminium industry to assess the cost effectiveness of its smelting capacity and make cuts where appropriate - or face a ratcheting up of inventories and a protracted period of low prices. Roy Harvey, the US producer's chief executive officer, said that while curtailments were costly, both financially and in terms of job losses, they were more than necessary at this mo...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.Aluminium: Early signs of post-lockdown demand recoveryWith major economies outside China reopening after the easing of their Covid-19-related restrictions on movement and industrial activity, last week's jump in the number of cancelled aluminium warrants on the London Metal Exchange may be an early sign that the post-lockdo...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.Aluminium: 'Sell the rally' mentality here to stayAlthough the London Metal Exchange aluminium price has managed to recover modestly from recent lows, we suspect this is mostly short-covering. The lack of producer restraint, growing exchange inventories, a weak demand outlook and the 7 million tonnes of oversupply forecast f...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.Aluminium: 4-million-tonne surplus for 2020We have made further downward revisions to our aluminium demand expectations for 2020 and, although there have been smelter capacity reduction in China too, the net effect is that our forecast for the global surplus this year has swelled to 4 million tonnes, from 2.7 million tonnes...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.Average LME aluminium price down by 2.5% week on weekAlthough LME aluminium began this week on the rebound, prices extended their recent downtrend further last week, approaching the $1,400-per-tonne level. The weekly average LME aluminium cash price was down 2.5% last week to $1,432.50 per tonne from previous week's $1,469.6...Read More
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
Global markets are contracting in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic, and the prices for flat steel products continue to retreat, with prices for coated steels down by a further 5% since late March in most of the markets that Fastmarkets tracks.The latest edition of Fastmarkets' Galvanized Steel and Tinplate Market Tracker, for April 2020, is now available to view.Further price falls are almost cer...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.Despite these unprecedented times, US sheet prices moved in line with our expectations over the past month. While we maintain our view on the direction of pricing during 2020 and the length of the pricing downturn, as the Covid-19 crisis deepens we have increased the magnitude of the price declines through the second quarter...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.As oil price stumbles, outlook for welded markets weakensIn February, oil prices, already hit by the economic slowdown in Asia, turned lower on the failure of OPEC+ to reach an agreement on production cuts. This was enough to shake oil markets, but the collapse of global demand due to the pandemic has driven Brent below $30/...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