Chris Walton has joined Italian bank Unicredit to build out the company's metals financing book, Fastmarkets understands.Walton, who previously was director of base metals physical trading at ICBC Standard Bank, arrives...Read More
The novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) pandemic is starting to hit mine supply of metals after months of affecting refined demand, sources told Fastmarkets.Across South America, the world's largest copper-producing continent, countries including both Peru and Chile have closed borders to contain the outbreak, Fastmarkets understands.While mine disruptions are yet to be reported in Chile, the world's to...Read More
A summary of London Metal Exchange warrant premiums from across the globe for the week to Wednesday March 18.Please click...Read More
The LME copper price was sharply lower at the close of trading on Wednesday March 18, dropping by more than 8% because of broad-based risk-aversion, but the LME lead price surprisingly made gains over the afternoon. The three-month copper contract on the London Metal Exchange at its lowest since October 2016 at $4,745 per tonne in high volume-trading - on electronic trading platform LMEselect, mor...Read More
Nickel briquette premiums fall in the United States on declining spot demand, while all Chinese premiums rose on better arbitrage opportunities and European premiums were flat amid little trade in the week to Tuesday March 17.US briquette premiums slip while the World Health Organization declared Covid-19 a global pandemic on Wednesday March 10.Premiums rise in China, where the novel coronavirus (...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
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 mood in the European hot-rolled coil market has been negative since the announcements of plant closures by a number of major car manufacturers, sources told Fastmarkets on Wednesday March 18.This week, most major European car makers were set to close production units in response to the effects of the spread of 2019-nCoV coronavirus.Market activity, in the meantime, has been low due to risks re...Read More
Sales of passenger cars in the EU dropped by 7.41% year on year in February 2020, the second consecutive monthly decline.New car sales in Europe totalled 957,052 vehicles in February 2020, down from 1,033,608 units sold in the corresponding month of 2019, the European Automotive Manufacturers Association (ACEA) said on Wednesday March 18."This...Read More
Stainless steel scrap prices in the United States are being driven downward amid a major lockdown of essential industries as a result of efforts to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV).Scrapyards, like so many other businesses around the US, are feeling the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, with one large scrap facility closing retail buying, restricting all travel, requiring...Read More
Workers' trade union No1 for Escondida, the world's largest copper mine, has demanded that main owner and operator BHP adopt preventive measures for its employees in light of the 2019-nCoV coronavirus pandemic, and could go as far as requesting government intervention or going to court."We call on workers' organizations in general to demand that companies and the government prioritize health condi...Read More
Aurania Resources is pulling its staff from its copper and precious metals projects in Ecuador while the country enters lockdown mode in an effort to tackle the 2019-nCoV coronavirus pandemic. The company's flagship asset, the Lost Cities copper-gold project, is located in Cordillera de Cutucu in southeastern Ecuador.All employees have returned to their homes except for two field teams that were e...Read More
The LME copper price was sharply lower at the close of trading on Wednesday March 18, dropping by more than 8% because of broad-based risk-aversion, but the LME lead price surprisingly made gains over the afternoon. The three-month copper contract on the London Metal Exchange at its lowest since October 2016 at $4,745 per tonne in high volume-trading - on electronic trading platform LMEselect, mor...Read More
Automotive manufacturers in Europe have announced temporary production shutdowns at sites throughout the continent, because of the problems being created by the measures taken by governments to restrict the spread of the 2019-nCoV coronavirus outbreak.The latest suspensions followed a raft of announcements made at the beginning of this week.Rolls-RoyceUK-based Rolls-Royce Motor Cars will suspend p...Read More
Europe's top copper smelter, Aurubis, has said it aims to buy up to 10% of its own shares while announcing an equity buyback program on Wednesday March 18.Aurubis said it would spend up to ?,?200 million ($216 million) on purchasing its own shares in several tranches through stock market acquisitions. ...Read More
The pricing trend of coated products in the United States is not being driven by what is happening at the moment, but by what is expected to happen in the next few months or the rest of the year, market participants told Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets' monthly price assessment for steel coil Galvalume, fob mill US climbed to $39 per hundredweight ($780 per short ton) on Tuesday March 17, down b...Read More
Wire rod prices and demand in the United States remained steady for the second month in a row, while sources were wary of the potential market impact from the spread of the coronavirus (2019-nCoV).Fastmarkets' assessment for steel wire rod (low carbon) industrial quality, fob mill US held at $31-32 per hundredweight ($620-640 per short ton) on Tuesday March 17, unchanged from the previous month. F...Read More
Hot-rolled coil prices have continued to decline in the United States due to muted buying activity and concerns stemming from the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) outbreak.Fastmarkets' daily steel hot-rolled index, fob mill US was calculated at $28.23 per hundredweight ($564.60 per short ton) on Wednesday March 18, down by 1% ($0.29 per cwt) from $28.52 per cwt on Tuesday March 17 and...Read More
Prices for hollow steel sections in Europe were unchanged this week despite a slowdown in trading while the 2019-nCoV coronavirus spread across the region, sources told Fastmarkets on Wednesday March 18.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel sections (medium), domestic, delivered Northern Europe, was ?,?600-630 ($664-697) per tonne on Wednesday, unchanged week on week."It's becoming more a...Read More