China's iron ore imports rose by 1.5% year on year to 176.84 million tonnes in January-February 2020 amid the Lunar New Year shutdown and coronavirus (2019-nCoV) spread, the country's General Administration for Customs said.Before the Chinese New Year holiday, iron ore demand from China is typically quite good because steel mills prefer to restock material while blast furnaces (BFs) continue to wo...Read More
Turkish steel mills remained inactive in the deep-sea scrap import markets on Wednesday March 11 because of firm prices and weak billet and rebar markets, sources said.Although there have been no new bookings so far this month, suppliers have kept their offers largely stable.Offers for HMS 1&2 (80:20) from the United States remained at $280 per tonne cfr, while offers for similar material increase...Read More
Japanese export ferrous scrap prices have declined for a second consecutive week with a stronger yen making material from the East Asian country less attractive, sources told Fastmarkets on Wednesday March 11.Fastmarkets' price assessment for steel scrap H2 export, fob main port Japan, settled at ?22,500-23,000 ($215-220) per tonne on Wednesday, down by ?500-800 per tonne week on week from ?23,...Read More
Seaborne iron ore prices retreated on Wednesday March 11, with fresh concerns about weather-related disruptions to Australian supplies adding to worries over deliveries from Brazil.Fastmarkets iron ore indices 62% Fe fines, cfr Qingdao: $90.05 per tonne, down $2.04 per tonne. 62% Fe low-alumina fines, cfr Qingdao: $91.09 per tonne, down $2.31 per tonne58% Fe fines high-grade premium, cfr...Read More
Seaborne premium hard coking coal prices were relatively stable on Wednesday March 11, with market participants focused on possible weather-related disruptions to supply and the state of demand from China.Fastmarkets indicesPremium hard coking coal, fob DBCT: $158.22 per tonne, up $0.93 per tonnePremium hard coking coal, cfr Jingtang: $165.67 per tonne, down $0.99 per tonneHard coking coal, fob DB...Read More
Join Fastmarkets' free webinar on how the steel supply chain in Asia has responded to the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) outbreak, and what the next moves could be for the steel industry and its upstream raw materials. Register here for the webinar.Date Wednesday April 8 Time 9:30-10:30am (London time) Topics The impact of the coronavirus outbreak on China's and Asia's steel industry as w...Read More
The Shanghai grade-A copper premium increased in the week to Tuesday March 10 on improved arbitrage opportunities following a sharp drop in London Metal Exchange copper earlier in the week, while markets participants in Europe and the US struggle against robust copper cathode availability.Shanghai market participants capitalize on import arbitrage opportunitiesLME warrant availability hampers dip-...Read More
LME three-month base metals prices were broadly trading down in the morning session on Wednesday March 11 while the complex oscillates between positive news from China and more precautionary economic measures taken in other regions to quell the impact of novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV). In the United Kingdom, the Bank of England cut interest rates by 0.5% to its lowest-ever rate of 0.25% - ...Read More
China's domestic hot-rolled coil prices gained strength on Wednesday March 11 amid improved sentiment generated by government measures encouraging businesses to return to work.DomesticEastern China (Shanghai): 3,510-3,520 yuan ($505-506) per tonne, up 20 yuan per tonneNorthern China (Tangshan): 3,340 yuan per tonne, up 30-50 yuan per tonneA Shanghai-based trader said trading activity picked up on...Read More
An overview of the minor metals markets and the reasons behind the latest price moves.Read More
Key data from Fastmarkets' pricing session in Europe on Wednesday March 11.Key drivers:Price range widens, marking the first move in five weeks, with the bottom end dropping ten cents amid no trades reported in Europe. One sale of around 50 tonnes reportedly done in China at...Read More
Key data from the pricing session in Shanghai on Wednesday March 11. Key drivers Cautious downstream buying following a plunge in futures prices on Monday pushed the metal price down, though most consumers have resumed normal operations.Market participants anticipate an oversupply in the domestic market...Read More
Metal mining might not be the first thing that comes to mind when people think of green economics but Boliden chief executive officer Mikael Staffas thinks European lawmakers should pay heed to the industry while they begin to stake out policies designed to reduce carbon emissions on the continent."Everybody wants to do something with the climate and drive an electric car, but no one wants to have...Read More
Base metals were mixed this morning, Wednesday March 11, while the pre-market Dow Jones Industrial Average Index (DJIA) was off by 700 points, this after a 1,167-point rise on Tuesday.Markets were disappointed that US President Donald Trump did not announce concrete stimulus/support measures on Tuesday, but measures are still expected in the United States sometime soon and the Wednesday's annual b...Read More
China-based minor metals producer Vital Materials has started to double production of infrared lenses, the company told Fastmarkets.Vital's monthly production capacity of infrared lenses is more than 100,000 units of lenses and this will be doubled, with the company targeting 200,000 components by the end of the month.Each lens contains between 10g and 500g of infrared germanium, depending on the...Read More
Key data from the pricing sessions in the United States, Europe and Asia for the week ended Tuesday March 10.China Despite a strengthening yuan, soft overseas demand weighed on the Chinese export price.Foreign consumers were in no hurry to place orders because they had already procured...Read More
The Dow Jones Industrial Average Index (DJIA) closed down by 5.9% on Wednesday, and in the pre-market this morning, Thursday March 12, the DJIA futures are down by around 4.4% - such is the continued fear in the market. Base metals on the London Metal Exchange and on the Shanghai Futures Exchange were down across the board by an average of 1% and 1.7% respectively, as of 7:50am London time. * Asia...Read More
U.S equity index futures were lower this morning. S&P 500 futures were down 139 points. Index futures are responding to growing coronavirus fears.Index futures were virtually unchanged following release of economic news at 8:30 AM EDT. Consensus for the February Producer Price Index was a slip of 0.1% versus a gain of 0.5% in January. Actual was a decline of 0.3%. Excluding food and energy, co...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Tuesday March 10 that are worth another look.The recent extension of the 2019-nCoV coronavirus quarantine area to all of Italy has resulted in trading activity falling to nearly zero and has caused some minor disruptions to deliveries, sources told Fastmarkets on March 10.A falling aluminium price on the Shanghai Futures Exchange below pro...Read More
A summary of base metals premiums from across the globe for the week to Tuesday March 10.Click on the above image to view this...Read More