The UK steel industry has welcomed a boost in infrastructure spending in the latest government budget, announced on March 12, but expressed disappointment about missed opportunities to tackle weaknesses in the sector.Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced investment of ?640 billion ($786.2 billion) in roads, railways, communications, schools, hospitals and power networks across the United Kingdom by 20...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Monday March 16 that are worth another look.A sharp decline in market sentiment, linked to the spread of the coronavirus (2019-nCoV), has halted activity and reduced prices in the Japanese construction steel sector, steelmaker Tokyo Steel said.Rio Tinto has slowed work on the underground project at its Oyu Tolgoi copper-gold mine in Mongol...Read More
European car manufacturers have announced temporary stoppages at production sites across Europe due to the 2019-nCoV coronavirus pandemic, Fastmarkets learnt on Monday March 16.Car manufacturer Groupe PSA - maker of the Peugeot, Citroen, Opel and Vauxhall brands - has decided to close its plants in Europe, it said on Monday.It opted to close a number of production sites until March 27 "due to the...Read More
Domestic prices for hot-rolled coil in Northern Europe have remained almost unchanged day on day with buyers remaining in "wait-and-see" mode until they can evaluate risks related to the pandemic of 2019-nCoV coronavirus, sources told Fastmarkets on Monday March 16.Fastmarkets' daily steel hot-rolled coil index, domestic, exw Northern Europe, was ?,?481.25 ($534.61) per tonne on Monday March 16, u...Read More
A key challenge for US primary aluminium production facilities is the high cost of electricity, which trade restrictions measures such as Section 232 do nothing to alleviate, according to a senior lawyer and former commissioner and vice chairman of the US International Trade Commission.According to Dean Pinkert, senior counsel at New York-based law firm Hughes Hubbard & Reed, trade measures are of...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Monday March 16 that are worth another look.A sharp decline in market sentiment, linked to the spread of the coronavirus (2019-nCoV), has halted activity and reduced prices in the Japanese construction steel sector, steelmaker Tokyo Steel said.Rio Tinto has slowed work on the underground project at its Oyu Tolgoi copper-gold mine in Mongol...Read More
If global financial markets had been operating under a pervading sense of uncertainty due to the impact of the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV), they now appear to be veering on panic.Oil prices have suffered their biggest one-day collapse since the 1991 Gulf War following Saudi Arabia's declaration of a price war on Russia through a shock move to hike oil production. S&P Dow Jones Indices was forced...Read More
The novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) is set to accelerate what the trade wars started: the diversification of global supply chains. Both events have demonstrated just how interconnected the global economy is and have provided a wake-up call to businesses worldwide that it might be time to reduce their reliance on China as the workshop of the world. Of course, that's easier said than done. China is th...Read More
Trade disputes and geopolitical uncertainties had already made the prospects for global economic growth uncertain. A coronavirus has now added to the challenges facing financial markets.The epicenter of the virus is Wuhan, an important commercial hub in China that is home to 11.9 million people, including the country's largest student population. It is also a manufacturing hub, with around 500 fac...Read More
Daniel Hisshion has joined Hong Kong-based minor metals company Fortis Metals as business development director, he confirmed to Fastmarkets. Fortis Metals, headquartered in Hong Kong, has a sister company Kite Metals in Europe, owns United States-based minor metals refiner and recycler Atlantic Metals & Alloys as well as Fortis Metals (Shenzhen) for operations in China.Hisshion - with over 25 year...Read More
The UK steel industry has welcomed a boost in infrastructure spending in the latest government budget, announced on March 12, but expressed disappointment about missed opportunities to tackle weaknesses in the sector.Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced investment of ?640 billion ($786.2 billion) in roads, railways, communications, schools, hospitals and power networks across the United Kingdom by 20...Read More
The three-month copper price on the London Metal Exchange continued its descent at the close of trading on Monday March 16, settling at its lowest level since November 2016 after breaching key support levels throughout the day.The rest of the base metals complex similarly depreciated over the day's trading.Copper's outright price on the LME closed at $5,290.50 per tonne on Monday afternoon, l...Read More
Key data from the alumina index, fob Australia pricing session on Monday March 16. Key drivers: Fastmarkets' daily fob Australia alumina index falls 2% on Monday March 16 from $303.71 per tonne on Friday March 13. One recent deal for 30,000 tonnes of Western Australian alumina concluded at $294.75 per tonne, with laycan between April 20-29.Market participants...Read More
The London Metal Exchange confirmed in a written statement on Monday that a ring-dealing member employee has contracted the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV), further jeopardizing trading activity at its open-outcry trading venue."The LME was informed on Sunday that one member of staff of an LME Ring-dealing member has been diagnosed with Covid-19. A number of precautionary measures have been taken, i...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 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
Brazilian flat steel producers have fully applied a price increase of around 10% to their domestic markets and a second 10% price increase was being planned for next month.All flat steel products were already being sold domestically at prices 10% higher than last month, in line with an announcement in February, with the exception of heavy plate, for which the increase was only 5%.Fastmarkets' pric...Read More
Trading activity in the export market for CIS-origin long steel products was nonexistent in mid-March because the market uncertainty caused by the 2019-nCoV coronavirus pandemic undermined demand that was already modest.And buying activity in the major sales outlets was reduced due to recent heightening of the political tensions in the Middle East, particularly in Turkey, Iraq and Lebanon.The Egyp...Read More
The United States' International Trade Commission (ITC) and Department of Commerce have launched separate investigations into imports of common alloy aluminium sheet from 18 countries, the Aluminum Association told Fastmarkets on Friday March 13.The investigations follow petitions filed by the Aluminum Association's Common Alloy Aluminum Sheet Working Group on March 9.The Aluminum Association, alo...Read More
The three-month copper price on the London Metal Exchange continued its descent at the close of trading on Monday March 16, settling at its lowest level since November 2016 after breaching key support levels throughout the day.The rest of the base metals complex similarly depreciated over the day's trading.Copper's outright price on the LME closed at $5,290.50 per tonne on Monday afternoon, l...Read More