The new issue of Aluminium Market Tracker is now online at metalbulletinresearch.com.In this edition, Fastmarkets' research team delivers key insights and forecasts into aluminium markets around the world.Aluminium price down 2.3% week-on-week amid stock market sell-offGlobal markets remain rattled by the spread of the novel coronavirus (2019-nCOV) across Europe and the United States. Panic-sellin...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 new issue of the Seamless OCTG & Linepipe Market Tracker is now online at metalbulletinresearch.com.In this edition, Fastmarkets' research team delivers analysis of seamless OCTG and linepipe across international markets:Covid-19 underscores pipe outlookUnsurprisingly, the concern in the seamless pipe markets across the regions is the effect of the spread of Covid-19 on public health and econo...Read More
The new issue of the Steel Market Tracker is now online at metalbulletinresearch.com.In this edition, Fastmarkets' research team delivers key insights and forecasts into the long and flat products markets.This week's risks to our latest flat-rolled forecasts:The Chinese government is stepping up help to the economy, increasing banks' liquidity. But the spread of the coronavirus worldwide is likely...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.This month's key ferro-alloy forecast highlights:While the ferro-alloy industry's initial response to the Covid-19 outbreak was marked by rising prices primarily in response to supply-side concerns, focus has now shifted somewhat. As Chinese activity slowly returns to more normal levels, for alloys with a strong Chinese prod...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 latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.A 6% decline in the daily average 62% Fe iron ore fines benchmark last week contributed to the lowest quarterly price rise for the first quarter in five years, in spite of clear evidence of supply-side constraints. Although there were clear demand-related obstacles to iron ore suppliers raking in more typical, seasonal price...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.Coronavirus continues to shape scrap markets but tighter supply may partly offset lower demandWe have downwardly revised our ferrous scrap price forecasts for the following few months and, as a result, for the whole year of 2020, with the Covid-19 outbreak outside China stalling the markets. The Fastmarkets' daily benchmark...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.Having first hit Asia during early 2020, the Covid-19 viral outbreak is now having an even bigger impact on European countries and the US. Widespread lockdown measures have been put in place on people and industry, and economic activity has slowed markedly.For now, stainless steel markets in Europe and the US are yet to show...Read More
Domestic prices for hot-dipped galvanized coil (HDG) have decreased over the past week in Northern Europe due to poor demand, sources told Fastmarkets on Thursday April 16.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel HDG, domestic, exw Northern Europe, was ?,?550-560 ($601-612) per tonne ex-works on April 15, down by ?,?30 per tonne week on week from ?,?580-590 per tonne ex-works.The assessment...Read More
The three-month copper price on the London Metal Exchange was little changed at the close of trading on Thursday April 16, holding above nearby support levels despite a 10-day low in turnover, while aluminium futures continued to find support above the $1,500 per tonne threshold.Copper's underlying price on the LME closed at $5,138.50 per tonne, climbing by just over 0.5% from Wednesday's closing...Read More
A supply crunch continues to restrict flows in the copper scrap market, with more retail yards closing due to the Covid-19 pandemic in the United States.Along with supply woes, end demand for copper scrap products has also been hit as the overall metals sector suffers in the aftermath of the novel coronavirus outbreak."Most retail yards are not accepting material, and industrial accounts are slowi...Read More
German carmaker Volkswagen has become the first European car manufacturer to announce the restart of operations in the region following several weeks of suspended activity under lockdown measures brought in to help stem the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic.VW announced on March 15 that it would suspend output at its production site in Bratislava, Slovakia, on March 23 but did not give a scheduled r...Read More
Key pricing data from the pricing session for Fastmarkets' alumina index, fob Australia on Thursday April 16. Fastmarkets' daily alumina index, fob Australia was little changed from the previous day and steady from $225.40 per tonne a week prior. But the current index level remains 24% lower than a month ago. Key drivers: Fresh deal concluded on March 15 at $225 per tonne fob Australia with...Read More
Canadian minerals company Strongbow Exploration has announced the final assays at the United Downs project in Redruth, Cornwall, after a high-grade copper-tin mineralization was discovered in a previously unmined area of the county in south-west England earlier this month.Three samples were taken at the untapped site, which was discovered by Cornish Lithium on April 7 this year. A 14.96 meter inte...Read More
Australian miner Panoramic Resources has suspended activity at its domestic Savannah nickel mine in the west of the country amid the mounting pressure of the Covid-19 pandemic on operations there, the company said on Wednesday April 15. The impact of the virus has hampered transportation, the availability and cost of the site's workforce and equipment availability, the company said, adding it has...Read More
Rebar prices in the United States declined after the Covid-19 pandemic trimmed ferrous scrap input costs and raised concerns that construction investment may become constrained. Fastmarkets' price assessment for steel reinforcing bar (rebar), fob mill US slid to a new range of $29-30 per hundredweight ($580-600 per short ton) on Wednesday April 15 from $29.75-30.75 per cwt ($595-615 per ton)...Read More
With declining demand, fast-falling prices and short lead times at domestic steel mills, along with already existing tariffs and quotas on imports, foreign mills interested in the US market face a dilemma: whether or not to lower their prices to match the US level, sources said.If the answer is yes, how low would the price of foreign products have to be in order to attract buyers? That...Read More