The pig iron market in the United States has weakened during the week to Friday March 13, under pressure from the general economic uncertainty caused by the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV), sources told Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets' price assessment of pig iron, import, cfr Gulf of Mexico, US, was $345-347 per tonne on Friday, down from $360-363 per tonne a week ago."We are concerned about the effects...Read More
Most mill-grade aluminium scrap prices fell in the United States this past week, encouraged by weaker London Metal Exchange aluminium prices and uncertainty resulting from the spread of the novel coronavirus."The mill-grades are down this week. The LME dropped a lot, and scrap hasn't fallen as much but it's down a bit," one US scrap seller said.Fastmarkets assessed the segregated low copper alloy...Read More
The London Metal Exchange three-month copper price maintained its level on Friday March 13, closing at $5,460, with almost 31,000 lots traded on the day.The copper price touched a high of $5,589 per tonne but also fell to a low of $5,319.50, before consolidating around the $5,400-per-tonne mark.The copper price was also supported by the fresh cancellation of 1,150 tonnes on Friday, bring...Read More
An overview of the battery raw materials markets and their price moves from the past week.Read More
A summary of UC Rusal's financial results for the full year to December 31, 2019. In brief: Rusal recorded a net profit of $960 million in the 12 months to December 31, 2019 compared with $1.698 billion in 2018, a fall of 43.5%. The company's revenue fell by 5.5% to $9.711 billion from $10.28 billion over the same period of 2018. Rusal attributed the fall in profit to a 15.1% decrease...Read More
A summary of Hydro's financial results for 2019 up to December 31. In brief: Hydro's underlying earnings before interest and taxes (Ebit) decreased to 3.36 billion Norwegian kroner ($336 million) from 9.07 billion Norwegian kroner for 2018. The decrease mainly reflects lower aluminium and alumina prices. It was partly offset by increased production in Brazil, lower raw material costs a...Read More
The Institute of Scrap Recycling Institutes (ISRI) has decided to cancel the annual recycling event in Las Vegas next month, the biggest of its kind in the scrap industry, citing concerns over the spread of the coronavirus (2019-nCoV).ISRI Convention and Exposition - the largest event in the recycling industry - was originally scheduled to take place on April 25-30 in Las Vegas, United States. The...Read More
The three-month nickel price on the London Metal Exchange recouped the previous day's losses during morning trading on Friday March 13, while zinc futures also made a 3.6% recovery to push back above nearby resistance levels. Nickel's outright price on the LME was recently at $12,545 per tonne, with trading volumes over the morning exceeding 8,300 lots, second to copper's 15,300 lots exchanged as...Read More
Hot band prices in the United States took a drop on Friday March 13, with market participants unsure about how to navigate the potential impact of the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV).Fastmarkets' daily steel hot-rolled coil index, fob mill US was calculated at $28.25 per hundredweight ($565 per short ton) on Friday March 13, down by 2.9% from $29.09 per cwt the day before and down 6.5% fro...Read More
Prices for cold-rolled and galvanized sheet in the United States weakened after the spread of coronavirus and financial-system volatility convinced market participants that inventory buys will dry up until American businesses can better measure health and economic outcomes.Some sources said they spent more time this week assessing the impact of the broader economic events on their companies than t...Read More
The hot-rolled coil market in Northern European weakened slightly on Friday March 13 on negative sentiment due to uncertainty relating to the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) outbreak, sources told Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets' daily steel hot-rolled coil index, domestic, ex-works Northern Europe, was ?,?481.18 ($540.29) per tonne on Friday March 13, down by ?,?1.32 per tonne from ?,?482.50 per tonne on M...Read More
Domestic rebar prices in Poland have been largely unchanged this week on flat scrap values and stable demand, sources told Fastmarkets on Friday, March 13.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel reinforcing bar (rebar), domestic, ex-works Poland, was unchanged at 1,900-1,930 zloty ($502-520) per tonne on Friday March 13.The assessment includes deals and offers heard in the market at 1,930-1...Read More
Trading activity in the CIS export billet market remained quiet in the week ended Friday March 13 despite the fact that most CIS mills have reduced their offer prices.Offers from Russia and Ukraine were heard mainly within the range of $390-395 per tonne fob Black Sea, down by $5 per tonne week on week. One Russian producer even offered billet as low as $380 per tonne fob Black Sea, but the offer...Read More
Indian hot-rolled coil (HRC) producers have dropped their export prices of the commodity after the Indian rupee continued to weaken against the dollar. Fastmarkets' price of steel HRC export, fob main port India fell to $465-470 per tonne on Friday March 13, a drop of $15 per tonne or 3.1% from last week's assessment of $480-485 per tonne fob...Read More
Global trade is being slowed down by the sluggish recovery of China's logistics sector, with a build-up of containers at the country's ports creating problems around the world.Subsequent to the outbreak of the 2019-nCoV coronavirus that began in China's Wuhan province, not all of the country's workers have returned to their jobs after the extended break for the lunar new year holiday. This has slo...Read More
German steelmakers have settled their monthly contracts for ferrous scrap in March with a month-on-month increase of ?,?10-15 ($11-17) per tonne, following the rise in the international market, sources told Fastmarkets on Friday March 13.The steelmakers, however, had wanted lower prices for scrap due to the fall in long steel demand that has resulted from the uncertainties related to the 2019-nCoV...Read More
The pig iron export price from the Commonwealth of Independent States has rolled back under pressure from the bearish mood caused by the global spread of the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV). Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for high-manganese pig iron, export, fob main port Black Sea, CIS, was $320-327 per tonne on March 12, down from $329-340 per tonne a week earlier."Crashed oil pric...Read More
The inter-merchant spot market for light iron scrap in the UK was steady for a fifth consecutive week, but there may be losses in the near term as other grade spot prices delivered to British steelmakers dropped after monthly settlements were agreed up on February, sources told Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel scrap 5C, loose old light, domestic, delivered inter-merchant,...Read More
Activity in the Italian ferrous scrap market has almost vanished due to the country's lockdown to deal with the outbreak of 2019-nCoV coronavirus, sources told Fastmarkets on Friday March 13.On March 11, Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte signed a decree tightening the country's lockdown from the conditions set out in a previous decree on March 9. While there were no explicit measures to restri...Read More
The price of ferrous scrap imported into India moved down further this week, with market conditions continuing to worsen, sources told Fastmarkets on Friday March 13.Fastmarkets calculated the steel scrap, shredded, index, import, cfr Nhava Sheva, India, at $297.50 per tonne on Friday, down from $302.54 per tonne one week earlier.There were no deals heard for shredded material this week, but offer...Read More