Seaborne iron ore prices rose again on Friday May 15, supported by demand for crude steel production and increases in swaps and futures markets. Fastmarkets iron ore indices 62% Fe fines, cfr Qingdao: $93.65 per tonne, up $1.48 per tonne. 62% Fe low-alumina fines, cfr Qingdao: $96.33 per tonne, up $1.83 per tonne. 58% Fe fines high-grade premium, cfr Qingdao: $79.63 per tonne, up $1.25 per tonne....Read More
Fastmarkets' Shanghai benchmark copper premium surged to its highest level since September 2015 on May 15, with traders looking for overseas material to tap arbitrage gains. sources said. Fastmarkets assessed the copper grade-A cathode premium, cif Shanghai at $95-120 per tonne on May 15 Friday, compared with $95-115 per tonne the day before. The premium, widely used by the copper industry fo...Read More
Import prices for flat-rolled steel were either stable or higher in South America during the week to Friday May 15, with Chinese mills presenting more expensive offers while customer interest remained lackluster amid lockdowns due to Covid-19."There were no consultations for potential imports in the past few weeks in Brazil," a trader source said. "I call clients and they don't even want to listen...Read More
Key data from the pricing sessions in Asia, Europe and the United States for the session ended Friday May 15.China The UG2 chrome ore market rose once again after Chinese alloy producers with low stocks accepted higher offers. Import charge chrome prices moved up on supply tightness affecting availability. Domestic ferro-chrome spot prices climbed up on bullish sentiment following increases in...Read More
Most secondary aluminium alloy prices in the United States, including the benchmark A380.1, edged down on Thursday May 14, with producers expecting a slow recovery in demand despite automakers restarting production this month.Fastmarkets assessed aluminium alloy A380.1, delivered Midwest at 66-67 cents per lb on May 14, narrowing downward by a penny from 66-68 cents per lb one week...Read More
The stainless sector in the United States and Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region will consume 13% less nickel this year, while that in China will fall by just 4% versus 2019, according to Nornickel. Nornickel expects the stainless sector - the key end market for nickel - in the US to log a 13% drop in demand for the metal this year, far exceeding the 6% global decline vers...Read More
The US Midwest aluminium premium declined on the high end of its range on Friday May 15, with participants valuating the premium lower while demand in this market remains frail.Fastmarkets assessed the aluminium P1020A premium, ddp Midwest US at 8-9.5 cents per lb on Friday, down by a half-cent on the top end of the range from 8-10 cents per lb previously, where the premium had held since April 24...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
The three-month copper price on the London Metal Exchange fell by 0.54% to close at $5,181.50 per tonne on Friday May 15.All the base metals remained under pressure on Friday and despite copper reaching an intraday high of $5,272 per tonne, it failed to maintain momentum and closed below the $5,200-per-tonne threshold with a turnover of just under 14,000 lots.Total copper stocks stood at 278,750 t...Read More
Copper concentrate treatment and refining charges (TC/RCs) on the spot market were now at their lowest level for the past eight months.Fastmarkets' copper concentrates TC index, cif Asia Pacific, dropped to $49.60 per tonne/4.96 cents per lb on Friday May 15. This was the first time the index has dipped below $50 per tonne/5 cents per lb since September last year.The index was calculated at $50.40...Read More
Hot-rolled coil prices in the United States inched up after small-volume deals at higher prices were reported to Fastmarkets, while most market participants indicated pricing had not changed much week on week.Fastmarkets' daily steel hot-rolled coil index, fob mill US, was calculated at $24.69 per hundredweight ($493.80 per short ton) on Friday May 15, up by 1.7% from $24.28 per cwt a day earlier...Read More
Prices for cold-rolled and galvanized steel sheet in the United States held steady while market participants gauged the impact of North American automakers resuming production and the pace of rebound in other steel-dependent manufacturing.Two sheet mill sources said the recent round of price increases has mostly been accepted even though some distributors were slow to restock. For that reason, Jun...Read More
Domestic prices for ferrous scrap in Italy have jumped over the past month due to low scrap collection in Europe, sources told Fastmarkets on Friday May 15.Fastmarkets' monthly price assessment for steel scrap, No E8 (thin new production steel scrap), domestic, delivered mill Italy was ?,?240-250 ($259-270) per tonne on May 15, up from ?,?210-230 per tonne in the middle of April. The assessment is...Read More
Domestic prices for hot-rolled coil in Northern Europe have been under downward pressure from limited demand, sources told Fastmarkets on Friday May 15.Fastmarkets' daily steel hot-rolled coil index, domestic, exw Northern Europe, was ?,?411.88 ($444.86) per tonne on Friday, down by ?,?1.45 per tonne from ?,?413.33 per tonne on Thursday.Friday's index was calculated based on "workable" prices and...Read More
The prices of hot-rolled coil exports from India increased by $20-25 per tonne in the week ended Friday May 15 because most mills have filled their order books for the month of June, Fastmarkets has heard.Indian mills expect domestic demand to increase in the coming weeks because the Covid-19-related lockdown was being gradually eased across the country.The price of steel HRC (commodity), export,...Read More
Domestic prices for ferrous scrap in Germany have been supported by tight scrap availability in the European market, sources told Fastmarkets on Friday May 15.Supply has been reduced due to lower scrap collection volumes and reduced new scrap availability from the automotive industry because of the measures used to battle the spread of Covid-19.The construction industry in Germany remained fairly...Read More
The market for pig iron in the United States stabilized during the week to Friday May 15 after active restocking earlier in May.Fastmarkets' price assessment for pig iron, import, cfr Gulf of Mexico, US was $304-305 per tonne on Friday, unchanged week on week. "The market has stalled at the level of the latest deals. Everyone bought what they needed [earlier this month]...Read More
The market for pig iron exports from southern Brazil improved in the week to Friday May 15, with suppliers almost sold out for July.Fastmarkets' price assessment for pig iron, export, fob port of Vitoria/Rio, Brazil, was $280-285 per tonne on Friday, up by $5 per tonne from $275-280 per tonne a week earlier. ...Read More
Turkish deep-sea scrap import prices fell on Friday May 15, with a steel mill managing to book a European cargo at a lower price than shipments earlier in the week, sources told Fastmarkets. 15.A steel mill in the Marmara region booked a European cargo, comprising 20,000 tonnes of HMS 1&2 (80:20) at $238 per tonne, 6,000 tonnes of shredded at $243 per tonne and 6,000 tonnes of bonus at $248 per to...Read More
The market for deliveries of steel scrap to domestic consumers in the UK has increased for monthly settlements in May, paring losses seen the previous month on tighter availability due to a fall in arisings, market sources told Fastmarkets on Friday May 15.The move follows weaker market conditions in steel scrap generation due to the Covid-19 pandemic, which has led to a slump in the automotive an...Read More