The Turkish steel producers have continued their deep-sea scrap purchases because they managed to agree lower prices, sources said on Friday March 13.A steel producer in the Izmir region booked a US cargo, comprising 14,000 tonnes of HMS 1&2 (80:20) at $275 per tonne, 16,000 tonnes of shredded at $280 per tonne and 2,000 tonnes of bonus at $285 per tonne cfr late...Read More
The main coking coal exports hub of Dalrymple Bay Coal Terminal (DBCT) in Queensland, Australia, declared force majeure after vessel loading operations were suspended earlier this week, market sources told Fastmarkets on Friday March 13.Fastmarkets indicesPremium hard coking coal, fob DBCT: $162.13 per tonne, up $2.57 per tonnePremium hard coking coal, cfr Jingtang: $166.68 per tonne, up $1.82 per...Read More
Seaborne iron ore prices moved higher on Friday March 13 as portside iron ore stocks fell, steel and steelmaking raw materials futures rose, China's central bank provided another boost to the economy and global equities market found a footing following a rout earlier this week.Fastmarkets iron ore indices62% Fe fines, cfr Qingdao: $91.71 per tonne, up $0.96 per tonne. 62% Fe low-alumina fines, cfr...Read More
Copper recorded the largest percentage increase in stocks in Shanghai Futures Exchange-approved warehouses in the week ending Friday March 13, with inventories soaring by 10% week on week. Copper stocks rose for about the fifth consecutive week, with total inventories at 380,005 tonnes, up from 345,126 tonnes last week. China Reserve Shanghai Dachang Branch warehouse in Shanghai recorded the large...Read More
The Dow Jones Industrial Average Index (DJIA) closed down by 10% on Thursday March 12, taking the loss from the February high to 28.3%, while the London Metal Exchange three-month base metals at their recent lows have been down by an average of 16% - ranged between 10.4% for aluminium and 22.2% for zinc.DJIA futures were up by 1.6% in pre-market trading at 6.45am on Friday morning, although most A...Read More
The Chinese alumina price edged downward for the first time in four weeks on Thursday March 12, following further declines in aluminium futures over the past week.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for alumina metallurgical grade, ddp China slipped to 2,470-2,570 yuan ($353-367) per tonne on Thursday, down by 50-70 yuan per tonne from 2,540-2,620 yuan per tonne a week earlier.The latest drop fol...Read More
Base metals prices on the Shanghai Futures Exchange were down across the board at the close of morning trading on Friday March 13, with the complex tracking pronounced weakness in broader markets overnight and this morning. Heightened fear among investors that the novel coronavirus (2019-nCOV) outbreak will wipe out economic growth led to further steep losses in the US stock market overnight, with...Read More
An overview of the Chinese minor metals markets and the reasons for their latest price moves.Read More
The price of stainless steel in the domestic European market was unchanged in the week ended Friday March 13 amid stable market conditions, but participants were bracing for a substantial downturn driven by the measures to contain the outbreak of 2019-nCoV coronavirus, sources have told Fastmarkets."So far... demand is unchanged, but a decrease might come," a Scandinavian distributor said. "Can we...Read More
Key data from the pricing sessions in Asia, Europe and the United States for the week ended Friday March 13.China Spot domestic Chinese ferro-chrome prices have dropped after leading mill Tsingshan Group lowered its March tender price by 2.6%.The lower tender and...Read More
The Bureau of International Recycling (BIR) has postponed its conference scheduled to be held in Istanbul in May due to concerns over the spread of the 2019-nCoV coronavirus, the organisation said on Friday March 13.The three-day convention will now be held on October 12-14 in Istanbul. The orginal dates were May 18-20.The conference is a popular event...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Thursday March 12 that are worth another look.Two more steel producers in Italy have stopped operations following the recent nationwide extension of the country's coronavirus-related quarantine area, and more stoppages were expected, sources told Fastmarkets on March 12.Ball Corporation is to acquire Tubex Industria E Comercio de Embalagen...Read More
The London Metal Exchange three-month price for nickel fell by more than 5% on Thursday March 12, a trading day that saw a 16,000-tonne rewarranting, with the price reaching a high of $12,495 per tonne then crashing to a low of $11,735 per tonne, before closing at $11,830 per tonne.Almost 13,700 nickel lots were traded over the day, which was marked by the rare rewarranting of more than 16,000 ton...Read More
The benchmark alumina price remained above $300 per tonne on Thursday March 12 but liquidity on a fob Australia basis remained low. Fastmarkets calculated the daily alumina index, fob Australia at $303.17 per tonne on Thursday, little changed from $304.63 per tonne the previous day. The index has been above $300 per tonne since February 27. Key drivers: Liquidity remains low but partici...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Thursday March 12 that are worth another look.Two more steel producers in Italy have stopped operations following the recent nationwide extension of the country's coronavirus-related quarantine area, and more stoppages were expected, sources told Fastmarkets on March 12.Ball Corporation is to acquire Tubex Industria E Comercio de Embalagen...Read More
The benchmark alumina price remained above $300 per tonne on Thursday March 12 but liquidity on a fob Australia basis remained low. Fastmarkets calculated the daily alumina index, fob Australia at $303.17 per tonne on Thursday, little changed from $304.63 per tonne the previous day. The index has been above $300 per tonne since February 27. Key drivers: Liquidity remains low but partici...Read More
Aurubis' copper refining facility in Belgium has to operate at 50% of its full capacity due to an earlier incident, diverting intermediate-product copper anodes to the spot market, Fastmarkets has learned.Last November, a transport crane collapsed in the electrolysis section of Aurubis' copper tankhouse in Olen, Belgium, which transforms anodes into cathodes of 99.995% copper content. The Ole...Read More
Noranda Income Fund (NIF) is assessing whether capital investments at its facilities could help improve its production capacity and profitability in light of a decline in the quality of global zinc concentrates.NIF, which owns the Canadian Electrolytic Zinc (CEZ) facility in the province of Quebec, said the decline in concentrates quality has been in terms of the zinc grade and the level of impuri...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Thursday March 12 that are worth another look.Two more steel producers in Italy have stopped operations following the recent nationwide extension of the country's coronavirus-related quarantine area, and more stoppages were expected, sources told Fastmarkets on March 12.Ball Corporation is to acquire Tubex Industria E Comercio de Embalagen...Read More
A substantial increase to air-freight costs from China into Europe and the US is weighing on negotiations for indium, germanium and gallium, which are usually shipped as air freight on commercial aircrafts, sources said."Since the coronavirus outbreak started, the cost of shipping by air has almost doubled for all air shipments," a Chinese germanium producer said.Air freight rates generally range...Read More