Three-month base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange were trading in positive territory at the close on Tuesday April 7, bolstered by reports that daily-reported Covid-19 cases were abating, giving rise to a spate of short-covering. Other market participants attributed today's gains to a risk-off rally induced by China's gradual return to market amid a fresh slew of supply disruptions to ke...Read More
Improved market sentiment due to the containment of Covid-19 across the United States and Europe boosted buying momentum in copper and pushed the three-month copper price higher during morning trading on Tuesday April 7. Copper's outright price was recently at $5,074.50 per tonne, climbing more than 3% from an intra-morning low of $4,937 per tonne, while trading volumes topped 10,000 lots as of 9:...Read More
Base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange and Shanghai Futures Exchange were up across the board this morning, Tuesday April 7, with gains averaging 1.2% and 1.4% respectively.Broader markets are in a firmer tone following a 7.7% rise in the Dow Jones Industrial Average on Monday and after this morning's announcement of a record breaking 108 trillion yen ($990 billion) stimulus package by Ja...Read More
The latest forecast from Fastmarkets' team of analysts is ready to view.Aluminium: Downside momentum maintainedThe aluminium price has continued to decline, with LME cash even falling below the $1,500 per tonne mark at the start of this week. Downside pressure and momentum remains in the short term while ex-China demand plummets amid auto production line closures and while smelters resist capacity...Read More
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
Copper has attempted to rebound since early September following a marked sell-off in the summer months where macro and fundamental forces have been prevalent.On the macro front, copper has benefited from a slight easing in US-China trade tensions and more monetary policy easing across the globe - including China, where copper consumption is the most exposed - that has shored up investor sentiment....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.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 is ready to view.Although China is slowly returning to pre-outbreak activity, the same cannot be said for the rest of the world, which is grappling with the Covid-19 outbreak, with a fifth of the global population and counting under lockdown. Average blast furnace activity in China is recovering but iron ore demand from outside China is expec...Read More
The increasing consumption of scrap and a potential shift toward the electric-arc furnace (EAF) steelmaking route from the basic oxygen furnace (BOF) route in China are medium- to long-term threats to demand for steelmaking raw materials, while in the near team coking coal import volumes will continue to be affected by iron ore procurement strategies.This was the basis of Fastmarkets research team...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
Import offer prices for hot-rolled coil in Europe have been moving downward, adding negative sentiment to the market, sources told Fastmarkets on Tuesday April 7.Fastmarkets' daily steel hot-rolled coil index, domestic, exw Northern Europe, was ?,?468.75 ($506.37) per tonne on Tuesday, down by ?,?4.25 per tonne day on day from ?,?473.00 per tonne on April 6.Tuesday's index was calculated based on...Read More
The second tranche of the European Union's steel product import quotas has reached the point where some have become exhausted. Fastmarkets looks at the progress of quota take-up country by country, and reviews the likely dates for exhaustion that were calculated at the end of 2019.BackgroundOn February 2, 2019, the European Commission (EC) imposed definitive safeguard measures on a list of importe...Read More
The premium for duty-paid aluminium in Rotterdam plummeted further on Tuesday April 7 to the lowest level since January 2010.Fastmarkets assessed the aluminium P1020A premium, in-whs dp Rotterdam at $90-105 per tonne on Tuesday, down from $100-120 per tonne on April 3. Multiple deals so far this week were concluded in the new range, although some participants even reported being able to...Read More
Glencore-owned Mopani Copper Mines is to transition its operations to care-and-maintenance status from Wednesday April 8 but will continue to process on-site material at the associated Zambian smelter and refinery until further notice.Mopani cited the repercussions of the Covid-19 pandemic along with a weaker copper price for the decision, which it made after a number of meetings with government m...Read More
Hong Kong trading house Noble Group Holdings will close its base metals and rare earths trading desks as part of widespread board-mandated staffing cuts, informed sources told Fastmarkets. Noble's board is said to have agreed on a directive for a major cut to headcount across the business, with traders informed that they would be let go on Monday and Tuesday this week. "They are blaming Covid-19 b...Read More