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.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.While downward pressure mounts on the steelmaking raw material markets, premiums for higher-grade iron ores have been sustained despite narrowing operating margins at Chinese steelmakers. Chinese mills are operating with shrinking margins since the end of last year but the premium for high-grade ores remains high. Historical...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.This week Fastmarkets' analysts and price reporters shared their views and recent findings in a webinar revealing some distinct fundamental tensions for steel, refining alloys and, of course, steelmaking raw materials such as iron ore.While the outlook for chrome and manganese ores and alloys is balanced, as far as market pa...Read More
The three-month copper price on the London Metal Exchange was the standout performer at the close of trading on Wednesday April 22, with its price action breaching nearby resistance at $5,100 per tonne, while nickel futures lost ground over the day. Copper's outright price on the LME closed at $5,126 per tonne on Wednesday afternoon, climbing from an intraday low of $4,973 per tonne, while turnove...Read More
An overview of the minor metals markets and the reasons for their latest price moves.Read More
A roundup of production suspension schedules at automotive facilities in the United States.Automakers began suspending production at their facilities in the United States in the second half of March. Those suspensions were driven by public health and safety orders from federal, state and local governments, and...Read More
Glencore' Katanga Mining subsidiary has cut its 2020 cobalt production guidance to 26,000 tonnes of cobalt contained in concentrates and hydroxides but has retained its copper guidance at 270,000 tonnes. The company had previously said it would produce 29,000 tonnes of cobalt this year. Katanga, which operates its 75%-owned subsidiary Kamoto Copper Company (KCC) in the Democratic Republic of Congo...Read More
Japanese carmaker Nissan will restart its operations in the UK later this week, conducting pilot activity before moving to restore full production at an unspecified future date, while its European plants will restart from April 27, the company announced on Wednesday April 22.As a result of worldwide shutdown measures to combat the Covid-19 pandemic, Nissan's vehicle production operations have been...Read More
Swiss commodities trader Glencore is to privatize its Katanga operations in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and have it delisted from the Canadian bourse.Glencore, which currently owns 99.5% stake, will buy the rest of the shares of the Toronto-listed Katanga Mining Ltd, according to a statement issued by the company on Wednesday April 22.Read More
Global nickel premiums were flat in the week to Tuesday April 21, with the impact of Covid-19 in all regions continuing to weigh heavily on spot demand for nickel and keeping already-low physical premiums at their current levels. China premiums steadied by lack of arbitrage opportunity. US premiums tempered by lack of liquidity. Europe premiums maintain low levels amid lackluster spot demand. Clos...Read More
Hot-rolled coil prices in the United States are still below $24 per hundredweight ($480 per short ton), but potential good news from the ferrous scrap export market could help flat-rolled sheet mills to put a bottom line on prices, sources said.Fastmarkets' daily steel hot-rolled coil index, fob mill US was calculated at $23.89 per cwt ($477.80 per ton) on Wednesday April 22, up by 0.5% from...Read More
ArcelorMittal plans to temporarily idle the second blast furnace (BF) and coking plant at its Fos-sur-Mer flat steel plant in France due to the economic downturn resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic, the company told Fastmarkets on Wednesday April 22.The hot idling of the equipment will "take a few weeks," the company said.The steelmaker had already stopped the other BF, and the converter and cont...Read More
Like all other flat-rolled steel products in the United States, coated products have also felt the burn from the Covid-19 pandemic with prices tumbling month on month. While crude oil prices have dropped sharply and automakers have put their production in North America on pause, flat-rolled steel markets as a whole have been hurt - despite mills' efforts to cut production and capaci...Read More
Prices for hollow steel sections in Europe moved downward this week, with demand almost non-existent despite restarts by Italian mills, sources told Fastmarkets on Wednesday April 22.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel sections (medium), domestic, delivered Northern Europe, was ?,?585-600 ($634-651) per tonne on Wednesday, down from ?,?590-610 per tonne one week before.This week, all ey...Read More
While some Type 300 stainless steel scrap prices in the United States rose slightly week on week due to an uptick in London Metal Exchange nickel prices and the continued shortage of material in the supply chain, sources were cautious about referring to the increase as a recovery while the Covid-19 pandemic continues."Supply is still the fundamental factor supporting stainless prices. Scrap flow h...Read More
Turkey has gone quiet in the international ferrous scrap export market, but exporters operating at docks in the United States have been scurrying to find enough material to fill vessels scheduled to ship in May and June.East Coast recyclers booked six scrap cargo sales to Turkey totaling an estimated 200,000 tonnes between Monday April 6 and Thursday April 16. Of this, an estimated 130,000 to...Read More
Turkish steel producers continued to stay away from the deep-sea scrap import markets amid weak finished steel demand and lower steel output because of the Covid-19 pandemic, sources said on Wednesday April 22.Having booked at least seven deep-sea cargoes last week, totaling almost 220,000 tonnes, market participants believe the mills have enough scrap for now."I can say there is no trad...Read More
Japanese ferrous scrap export prices rose again on Wednesday April 22 with lower availability and more sales to Taiwan driving prices up, market sources said.One scrapyard source reported gradually decreasing scrap supply in Japan amid slowing economic activity in a similar development to the low-availability environment in both the United States and Europe, Fastmarkets was told.Japan announced it...Read More
Seaborne coking coal prices mostly dropped slightly on Wednesday April 22, with some market sources expecting steel mills located outside China to offer materials to the East Asian country due to lackluster demand in other markets.Fastmarkets indicesPremium hard coking coal, fob DBCT: $124.02 per tonne, down by $1.03 per tonne.Premium hard coking coal, cfr Jingtang: $135.70 per tonne, up by $0.66...Read More