Key data from Fastmarkets' pricing session in Shanghai, New York and Galway on Friday May 1.China China's domestic prices climbed on a more active spot market, with mills restocking ahead of the Labor Day holiday from May 1-5.Production costs for ferro-silicon will increase...Read More
Key data from the pricing sessions in Asia, Europe and the United States for the week ended Friday May 1.China The rise in UG2 chrome ore prices slowed down after China's major stainless steel mills all raised their ferro-chrome tender prices by a lower-than-expected amount. The imported charge chrome price ticked upward by $0.01 per tonne on improving sentiment and with availability of material f...Read More
Brazil's Vale expects the price premium for high-grade iron ore fines to decrease in the second quarter compared with those in the first, with production in China resuming.Brazilian 65% Fe iron ore has been fetching around $20 per tonne more than reference prices for 62% Fe material. This difference is mainly due to supply issues, which reduced inventories in China, the mining major's executive di...Read More
A summary of Brazilian mining company Vale's financial results for the first quarter of 2020.In brief Pro forma adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (Ebitda) down by 26% year on year due to depreciation of Brazilian Real.Net income of $239 million, compared with a net loss of $1.6 billion in the first quarter of 2019. Investments totaled $1.12 billion, up by...Read More
A summary of Latin American steel group Ternium's financial results for the first quarter of 2020.In brief Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (Ebitda) down by a third year on year due to restrictions related to the Covid-19 pandemic. Net loss of $19.40 million, compared with a net profit of $224.90 million in the first quarter of 2019. Higher sales volumes in Mexico, Te...Read More
An overview of the battery raw materials markets and their price moves from the past week.Read More
The monthly alloy surcharges for stainless steel in Europe have decreased for May because of lower alloy component costs, Fastmarkets heard on Friday May 1.Transaction prices for finished stainless steel remained unchanged, meanwhile, following decreases last week that were made in anticipation of the lower May surcharges.Fastmarkets' calculation of the stainless steel cold-rolled sheet, 2mm, grad...Read More
The London Metal Exchange three-month nickel price sank below$12,000 to close at $11,955 per tonne on Friday May 1, shedding 1.73% of its price after a low turnover of 3,207 lots traded.Base metals prices fell across the complex, with the LME three-month copper price falling 1.57% on Friday to close at $5,110 per tonne, despite a fresh cancellation of 6,600 tonnes across LME-registered wareho...Read More
Key data from Fastmarkets' pricing session in Shanghai, New York and Galway on Friday May 1.China China's domestic prices climbed on a more active spot market, with mills restocking ahead of the Labor Day holiday from May 1-5.Production costs for ferro-silicon will increase...Read More
The sharp decline in emerging market currencies combined with a collapse in oil prices are providing a twin saving grace for many metals and mining companies during the Covid-19 pandemic. For producers of energy-intensive metals like aluminium, and in particular the low-cost ones, the benefit is even greater. It's an emerging trend that is starting to be reflected in the earnings of corporates in...Read More
The Covid-19 pandemic may well provide Freeport-McMoRan with a silver lining it had never expected. The US copper producer is discussing with the government of Indonesia what should be done with the planned smelter in the Gresik region in the province of East Java. It has been forced to delay the completion timeline of December 2023 for the plant, due both to Covid-19-related disruptions to the wo...Read More
When the oil price fell into negative price territory at the start of the week ended April 24, it fueled fears that a similar situation could materialize in metals. The good news for users of the London Metal Exchange is the exchange's delivery mechanism that makes it virtually implausible, while its contract structure makes it even more unlikely. Here's why. The reason the West Texas In...Read More
The London Metal Exchange three-month nickel price sank below$12,000 to close at $11,955 per tonne on Friday May 1, shedding 1.73% of its price after a low turnover of 3,207 lots traded.Base metals prices fell across the complex, with the LME three-month copper price falling 1.57% on Friday to close at $5,110 per tonne, despite a fresh cancellation of 6,600 tonnes across LME-registered wareho...Read More
The global tin market is experiencing a glut of supply entering the market amid coronavirus-related uncertainty, Fastmarkets understands.But even with global verifiable tin stocks now estimated to be at approximately seven days' consumption, many participants believe the industry's meagre demand conditions could cripple the tin market for the remainder of the year.Meanwhile, the prospective resump...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.Aluminium: OversoldAluminium has been the hardest hit base metal over the past week, after relentless selling pressure took it to fresh multiyear lows while its LME peers generally consolidate or try to rebound. Aluminium is seeing far less in the way of supply restraint or disruptions than the other metals. But this market...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