Customers in some of the major outlet markets for CIS-origin steel slab have reduced their bids significantly in the past week due to the drop in demand and uncertainty in the global market caused by the spread of the 2019-nCoV coronavirus.No indications of fresh offers were heard from CIS producers on Tuesday March 10 because mills were said to be assessing the market.A source in Italy expected n...Read More
China's domestic rebar prices picked up on Tuesday March 10 on a pick-up in trading activity due to rising futures.Eastern China (Shanghai): 3,410-3,440 yuan ($491-495) per tonne, up 40 yuan per tonne Northern China (Beijing): 3,270-3,310 yuan per tonne, up 10 yuan per tonneMore transactions were concluded during the day compared with Monday, with rebar futures charting big gains, sources said.End...Read More
International, regional and local factors are impacting global tube & pipe markets - some positively and others negatively. In a global overview, Fastmarkets research analyst Kim Leppold identifies the key trends.The extended Chinese New Year holiday in reaction to the novel coronavirus (201-nCoV) outbreak resulted in a steep decline in steel prices in China in the first quarter, but pipe prices w...Read More
International, regional and local factors are impacting global tube & pipe markets - some positively and others negatively. In a global overview, Fastmarkets research analyst Kim Leppold identifies the key trends.The extended Chinese New Year holiday in reaction to the novel coronavirus (201-nCoV) outbreak resulted in a steep decline in steel prices in China in the first quarter, but pipe prices w...Read More
Chinese steel company Hebei Jingye Group has completed its acquisition of British Steel, the company said on Monday March 9, but the deal does not include the French operations at Hayange.The deal, which is believed to have cost ?50 million ($55.51 million), brings to an end a nine-month search for a new owner of the UK's second-largest steelmaker.Assets included in the deal include British Steel...Read More
Market sources have been puzzled by the gradual upward trend in China's steel prices after the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) broke out in a big way after the Lunar New Year holiday. Spot prices gained further momentum in the first few days of March, even though the number of infections in China has continued rising, and steel inventories have surged.Fastmarkets' price assessment for stee...Read More
Northern China's steel hub of Tangshan will cut 1.6 million tonnes of hot metal production at 20 steel mills in March to improve air quality, market sources in the country told Fastmarkets on Monday March 9.This round of production cuts will affect around 56 blast furnaces in the city, according to Fastmarkets' estimation, which will ease the pressure of high inventories at steel mills and in the...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
The London Metal Exchange may switch from open outcry to electronic price discovery if the 2019-nCoV coronavirus makes it impossible for ring-trading to continue safely, it has said.At the moment, the ring is continuing to operate from London, and the exchange has adopted various precautionary measures intended to halt the spread of the virus, including the creation of a split-team arrangement for...Read More
Ferrous scrap prices in Mexico were unchanged in the week ended March 6, with rising inventories held by some steelmakers and uncertainty in the United States market.Fastmarkets' weekly assessment of the steel scrap No1 heavy melt, consumer buying price, delivered mill Monterrey, remained at 5,050 pesos ($238) per tonne on Tuesday March 10, while the steel scrap No1 busheling, consumer buying pric...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
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 ambitious expansion of copper and zinc smelters in China is boosting not only the production of metal but output of the sulfuric acid by-product, and this is now in oversupply due to the knock-on effects of the outbreak of the 2019-nCoV coronavirus."It is a rainy night and smelters have leaky roofs," Du Fei and Lily Li said in a jointly published report. Both are analysts with Jinrui Futures,...Read More
The London Metal Exchange may switch from open outcry to electronic price discovery if the 2019-nCoV coronavirus makes it impossible for ring-trading to continue safely, it has said.At the moment, the ring is continuing to operate from London, and the exchange has adopted various precautionary measures intended to halt the spread of the virus, including the creation of a split-team arrangement for...Read More
Three-month prices of base metals trading on the London Metal Exchange rebounded at the close on Tuesday March 10 due to suggestions that the worst of the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) in China may be over. "Although the start of the new trading week was all out bearish, bargain-hunting activity prevails today and LME base metals look to be paring losses," Fastmarkets research analyst Andy Farida...Read More
A falling aluminium price on the Shanghai Futures Exchange below production costs has weakened sentiment for China's alumina market, sources told Fastmarkets this week. Market participants had been bullish about the Chinese alumina price due to reduced production during the height of the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) outbreak in the country early this year. Smelters had removed almost 6 milli...Read More
Prices for flat steel in Russia's Central Federal District around Moscow started to move up this week after the rouble lost value against the US dollar, sources told Fastmarkets on Tuesday, March 10. Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel hot-rolled sheet, domestic, cpt Moscow, Russia, was 42,000-43,000 roubles per tonne on March 10, including 20% VAT, up from 41,000-42,000 roubles per ton...Read More
Sherritt International Corp is to exit the Ambatovy joint venture in Madagascar, but its decision will not affect nickel or cobalt production at the mine, the Canadian company confirmed to Fastmarkets on Tuesday March 10. The Canadian miner announced on February 26 that it would not fund its 12% stake in the Ambatovy JV, with Japan's Sumitomo Corp and South Korea's Korea Resources Corp (Kores...Read More
Three-month prices of base metals trading on the London Metal Exchange rebounded at the close on Tuesday March 10 due to suggestions that the worst of the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) in China may be over. "Although the start of the new trading week was all out bearish, bargain-hunting activity prevails today and LME base metals look to be paring losses," Fastmarkets research analyst Andy Farida...Read More