China's Zhejiang Yongjin Metal Technology plans to build a stainless steel cold-rolling mill in Thailand as part of a joint venture with Foshan Lianhongyuan Stainless Steel, the company said on April 20. The company is in the process of obtaining approvals from the relevant authorities and...Read More
The European charge and high carbon ferro-chrome benchmark has jumped by 13 cents, or 12.9%, to $1.14 per lb for the second quarter of 2020. The settlement is announced every quarter by Merafe Resources, which operates a chrome joint venture with trader-miner Glencore in South Africa. The benchmark is settled via negotiations between a leading South African ferro-chrome producer and a major Europe...Read More
The Covid-19 pandemic could nudge Chinese steelmakers toward using more electric-arc furnaces (EAF) to produce steel, market sources say.This is especially due to the huge market uncertainty caused by the ongoing global economic crisis. EAF-based production could offer mills - most of which are still heavily reliant on blast furnaces (BFs) - the flexibility they need in such circumstances to reduc...Read More
Vietnam's Formosa Ha Tinh Steel Corp will not announce its monthly offer prices for its steel supply for the first time in history."The company will engage in private price negotiations with individual customers based on their demand and inventory levels," a source told Fastmarkets on Wednesday April 22.Formosa Ha Tinh Steel Corp is one of two major blast furnace-based producers in Vietnam, togeth...Read More
Base metals prices on both the London Metal Exchange and Shanghai Futures Exchange are firmer this morning, Thursday April 23, but the price pullbacks in recent days have questioned the robustness of the earlier rebounds. Oil futures’ dip into negative territory raised concerns, especially in financial markets, because it meant there was no longer a finite amount of risk in holding the commod...Read More
U.S. equity index futures were slightly higher this morning. S&P 500 futures were up 5points in pre-opening trade.Index futures were virtually unchanged following release of the Weekly Jobless Claims report at 8:30 AM EDT. Consensus was 4.300 million versus 5.245 million last week. Actual was 4.427 millionTarget (TGT $106.84) is expected to open higher after reporting higher than consensus sam...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Tuesday April 21 that are worth another look.The lockdowns imposed due to the Covid-19 pandemic were offering automotive manufacturers a rare opportunity to take a step back and to re-evaluate their long-term strategies, the chief executive officer of Eurasian Resources Group has said.Italian long steel producer Alfa Acciai Group has resum...Read More
Miners are cautious about a full ramp-up in production even as Peru's Covid-19 pandemic-related state of emergency is expected to lift after Sunday April 26.An immediate ramp-up to pre-quarantine levels will not be possible for small to mid-size miners in Peru, a producer told Fastmarkets, given that restrictions on the movement of people as well as logistical disruptions are expected to continue...Read More
Tantalum prices have found support due to tightness of supply and concerns about obtaining material during the continued lockdowns in central African countries imposed to control the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic.Prices have been moving up over the past month, with buyers struggling to find cheap prompt units due to the increased worries about the future availability of material, market sources...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Tuesday April 21 that are worth another look.The lockdowns imposed due to the Covid-19 pandemic were offering automotive manufacturers a rare opportunity to take a step back and to re-evaluate their long-term strategies, the chief executive officer of Eurasian Resources Group has said.Italian long steel producer Alfa Acciai Group has resum...Read More
A summary of base metals premiums from across the globe for the week to Tuesday April 21.Please click...Read More
Glencore's Mopani Copper Mine in Zambia could continue to operate under certain conditions after the company's decision to shut the mine led to strong opposition from the the country's government.A company statement, dated Monday April 20, said that the mining operations could restart if an agreement were reached between government officials and Glencore, but did not give details of the necessary...Read More
Over two million tonnes of copper mine supply could be temporarily lost this year due to disruptions related to the Covid-19 pandemic and other non-virus factors, the chief executive officer of Eurasian Resources Group Benedikt Sobotka said.This is equivalent to around 10% of 2020 copper mine supply and is double the roughly 5% of planned copper mine production that is typically lost due to unfore...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Tuesday April 21 that are worth another look.The lockdowns imposed due to the Covid-19 pandemic were offering automotive manufacturers a rare opportunity to take a step back and to re-evaluate their long-term strategies, the chief executive officer of Eurasian Resources Group has said.Italian long steel producer Alfa Acciai Group has resum...Read More
Tantalum prices have found support due to tightness of supply and concerns about obtaining material during the continued lockdowns in central African countries imposed to control the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic.Prices have been moving up over the past month, with buyers struggling to find cheap prompt units due to the increased worries about the future availability of material, market sources...Read More
Mexican steel scrap prices decreased in the week ended April 17, with some buyers applying the first round of a series of price cuts planned for the month, and a second group of buyers keeping their prices stable.In Mexico's central Baj?-o region, steelmakers applied price cuts of 200-400 pesos ($8-17) per tonne last week, and have announced a second round of price cuts of 200 pesos per tonne to s...Read More
The Turkish steel producers went through the second working day of the week with no deep-sea bookings and they were expected to remain quiet for the rest of the week, sources said on Tuesday April 21.The mills in the country booked at least seven deep-sea cargoes last week, totaling almost 220,000 tonnes.Market participants believed that those cargoes will be enough to cover mills' urgent needs."I...Read More
Base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange and Shanghai Futures Exchange were weaker this morning, Tuesday April 21, and Asian-Pacific and pre-market major western equity indices were weaker too. On Monday we had thought poor corporate earnings data had the potential to rattle markets, but it seems that negative oil futures prices were the catalyst that caused traders concern. The soon-to-exp...Read More
The lockdowns imposed due to the Covid-19 pandemic were offering automotive manufacturers a rare opportunity to take a step back and to re-evaluate their long-term strategies, the chief executive officer of Eurasian Resources Group has said.Benedikt Sobotka said that although the world is currently facing distressing times, it was also a chance to restructure supply chains and to take more decisiv...Read More
Chinese lithium producer Tianqi is exploring asset or equity sales, or the possibility of bringing in new domestic or foreign investors, due to continuing problems with liquidity, it has announced.The Shenzhen-listed firm said on Saturday April 18, however, that a final decision had yet to be taken.Earlier in April, the company announced that it expected to report a net loss of 450-510 million yua...Read More