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
China's domestic hot-rolled coil prices rose further on Friday May 15 on robust trading, while rising futures continued to encourage traders to actively seek out imports.DomesticEastern China (Shanghai): 3,430-3,450 yuan ($483-486) per tonne, up 10-20 yuan per tonneNorthern China (Tangshan): 3,420 yuan per tonne, up 30 yuan per tonneSellers in Shanghai offered HRC at 3,430 yuan per tonne in the mo...Read More
Domestic demand for rebar in China increased on Friday May 15, but prices remained unchanged with sellers being under pressure to destock. Domestic Eastern China (Shanghai): 3,460-3,490 yuan ($487-492) per tonne, unchangedNorthern China (Beijing) - weekly assessment: 3,420-3,460 yuan per tonne, down by 30-40 yuan per tonneEnd users raised their procurement rates ahead of the weekend, but the heigh...Read More
The three-month zinc price on the London Metal Exchange dropped during morning trading on Friday May 15, with the price continuing to trend lower against tight forward spreads and weak demand, while a large inflow and fresh cancellation in aluminium did little to budge the metal's rangebound price.Zinc's underlying price on the LME was recently seen at $1,946.50 per tonne, down from an intra-morni...Read More
Hopes that the global economic engine fires up on the first attempt may be asking a lot given second waves of Covid-19 infections emerging, and the fact global leaders are not pulling together is not helping underlying sentiment this morning, Friday May 15, with US President Donald Trump at loggerheads with China. On the economic front, data out of China supports our view that the supply side of t...Read More
An overview of the minor metals markets and the reasons for their latest price moves.Read More
Key data from the pricing sessions in Asia, Europe and the United States for the session ending Friday May 15.China Weakening sentiment stemming from falling portside ore and futures alloy prices weighed on seaborne manganese ore prices, especially 37% material. Portside ore prices continued to fall...Read More
An overview of the Chinese minor metals markets and the reasons for their latest price moves.Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.Falling demand, cheaper imports to put pressure on US domestic prices Prices at the start of May were essentially unchanged from April in the seamless OCTG and linepipe markets in the United States, amid minimal market activity. Mills were cutting output rather than prices. Demand, however, was deteriorating faster than supp...Read More
Key data from the pricing sessions in Asia, Europe and the United States for the session ended Friday May 15.China Domestic prices remained stable in an active spot market, with sentiment strengthening after the majority of steel mills raised their tender prices for May deliveries. Hesteel, China's second-largest...Read More
China's crude steel output was largely flat in April, but finished steel production significantly increased to exceed 100 million tonnes, according to data released by the country's National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Friday May 15.Steel outputAprilCrude steel: 85.03 million tonnes, up by 0.2% from a year earlier and up by 7.7% month on monthHot metal: 72.02 million tonnes, down 1.2%...Read More
The price of ferrous scrap imported into India moved upward on Friday May 15 with sentiment becoming more positive while production slowly restarts in the country, sources have told Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets calculated the steel scrap, shredded, index, import, cfr Nhava Sheva, India, at $265.50 per tonne on Friday, up from $257.98 per tonne on May 7.Despite trade activity remaining on pause due to t...Read More
Prices of bulk scrap cargoes sold to South Korea jumped over the last seven days to Friday May 15, but market participants also told Fastmarkets that such high prices are unlikely to persist in the coming weeks.South Korean scrap demand among electric arc furnace (EAF) mills has increased in the past few weeks after construction projects restarted following an easing of the country's Covid-19 lock...Read More
The price paid for heavy melting scrap (HMS) imports in Taiwan continued on an upward trend over the week to Friday May 15, sources said.Fastmarkets' daily price assessment for containerized cargoes of steel scrap, HMS 1&2 (80:20), US material import, cfr main port Taiwan was $230 per tonne cfr on Friday, increasing by $1-5 per tonne from Thursday May 14 and by $5-7 per tonne from May 8.Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Thursday May 14 that are worth another look.ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih, Ukraine's major long steel producer, has decommissioned the first section of its blooming plant as a part of a strategy for sustainable development, the company said on May 14.The European Commission's (EC) prior surveillance of imports of certain aluminium products orig...Read More
The three-month price of lead on the London Metal Exchange was higher at the close of trading on Thursday May 14, with buying momentum pushing the metal's outright price above the $1,600 per tonne threshold, while the LME nickel price held above $12,000 per tonne despite a 1.4% downturn over the afternoon.Lead's underlying price on the LME closed at $1,619 per tonne on Thursday afternoon, climbing...Read More
Primary aluminium stocks at the three main Japanese ports (MJP) of Osaka, Nagoya and Yokohama edged down 0.4% month on month at the end of March 2020, according to data released by major Japanese trading house Marubeni Corp.Total aluminium stocks at the three ports totaled 297,100 tonnes on March 31, down by 1,300 tonnes or 0.4% from the end of January, figures released on Friday April 3 showed. T...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Thursday May 14 that are worth another look.ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih, Ukraine's major long steel producer, has decommissioned the first section of its blooming plant as a part of a strategy for sustainable development, the company said on May 14.The European Commission's (EC) prior surveillance of imports of certain aluminium products orig...Read More
Daye Nonferrous has maintained its mission to construct a brand new copper smelting facility despite the uncertain outlook for commodity demand and price volatility, Fastmarkets understands.The Hubei-based company officially started the construction of a 400,000 tonne-per-year 'double flash' copper smelter on Tuesday May 12.A ceremony was held on the day, joined by representatives of its parent co...Read More