Turkish deep-sea scrap import prices remained largely unchanged on Thursday February 20, despite the market going quiet after this week's buying spree, sources told Fastmarkets. Steel mills in the country have booked at least six deep-sea cargoes so far this week, totaling around 180,000 tonnes. The most recent deals put the price for Baltic Sea-origin HMS 1&2 (80:20) at $279 per tonne c...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Thursday February 20 that are worth another look.US-based metallurgical coal producer Warrior Met Coal has announced plans to develop a hard coking coal project in Alabama with a capacity of 3.9-million-tonnes per year, through an investment of around $550-600 million over the next five years.Alcoa Corp has been certified by the Aluminium...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
The latest bids, offers and deals in the global markets for rebar, wire rod, steel beams and other long steel products.Latest transaction: rebarRebarEast China, domestic, grade III 16-25mm...Read More
The London Metal Exchange will on February 1 introduce a reporting process that will increase transparency into levels of off-warrant stocks. The exchange announced the plans in November 2019 and aims to attract more metal back in LME sheds. It is controversial, but its passage into the LME rulebook on February 1 follows a consultation last year. Some market participants are now saying the LME sho...Read More
Chinese steelmakers are rushing to export their products due to stagnant domestic demand caused by downstream industries struggling to return to work amid the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) outbreak in China.Hebei-based Anfeng Iron & Steel, a mill that had previously focused heavily on domestic sales, exported tens of thousand tonnes of hot-rolled coil in early February, a Shanghai-based trader sai...Read More
The three-month zinc price on the London Metal Exchange was lower at the close of trading on Thursday February 20, falling by more than 1% but holding above the nearby support level, while nickel failed to reduce its losses despite low turnover.Zinc's outright price on the LME closed at $2,112 per tonne in the afternoon, with daily trading volumes the second-highest across the base-metals complex...Read More
Alumina prices on an fob Australia basis have gone up over the past week due to a high-priced deal for material destined for China, but market participants were still searching for clarity on market conditions on Thursday February 20.Fastmarkets calculated the daily alumina index, fob Australia, at $289.84 per tonne on Thursday, up from $281.69 per tonne a week earlier.It was now at its highest le...Read More
Trading activity involving second-tier seaborne coking coal pushed up prices on Thursday February 20, though doubts lingered over recent strength of the market.Fastmarkets indicesPremium hard coking coal, fob DBCT: $158.29 per tonne, unchangedPremium hard coking coal, cfr Jingtang: $167.13 per tonne, up $0.19 per tonneHard coking coal, fob DBCT: $141.63 per tonne, up $8.13 per tonneHard coking coa...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
European refined zinc consumption fell to a five-year low in 2019, with refined production down to a three-year low, according to data released by the International Lead Zinc Study Group (ILZSG).Refined zinc consumption in Europe totaled 2.348 million tonnes in 2019, down by 81,000 tonnes or 3.3% from 2018, according to the ILZSG. Production in the continent came to...Read More
Domestic prices for hot-rolled coil in Northern Europe have been fairly stable due to limited trading activity, sources told Fastmarkets on Thursday February 20.Fastmarkets' daily steel hot-rolled coil index, domestic, ex-works Northern Europe, was ?,?481.07 ($519.45) per tonne on Thursday February 20, down by ?,?0.18 per tonne from ?,?481.25 per tonne on February 19.The index was calculated based...Read More
Copper output by global miner Anglo American was down slightly in 2019, which the company attributed to the year being one of the driest on record in Chile, it said on Thursday February 20.Output of the red metal dropped by 5% year-on-year to 638,000 tonnes, compared with 668,300 tonnes a year earlier, according to Anglo's 2019 results statement.Production by the Los Bronces copper asset shrank by...Read More
The three-month nickel price on the London Metal Exchange was lower during morning trading on Thursday February 20, with price action pressured by continued inflows of material into LME-registered warehouses, while aluminium futures neared the $1,700-per-tonne support level. Nickel's outright price on the LME was recently at $12,760 per tonne, a drop of some 0.7% from Wednesday's closing price of...Read More
Equity markets remain buoyant in Asia, but pre-market western equity indices have started to weaken, while metals are mixed this morning, Thursday February 20.It seems as though equities are focused on how well the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) is being contained, while the metals are taking a more cautious stance as they wait for the market to assess the impact on supply and demand. Indeed, given...Read More
The Shanghai Futures Exchange will delist the Norilsk Combine H-1 brand of refined nickel cathode produced by Russia's Nornickel, effective from March 17, 2020, the bourse announced on Tuesday February 18.That same day, the SHFE said it approved another of Nornickel's brands - produced on the Kola Peninsula in Siberia and called simply Nornickel - to be physically deliverable against its nickel fu...Read More
Turkish steel billet prices have increased over the past week thanks to rising imported scrap costs and improving demand, sources said on Thursday February 20.In response to the rising scrap import prices in Turkey, the suppliers in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) region have raised their billet offer prices to $405-415 per tonne from last week's $400-405 per tonne.A steel mill in...Read More
Turkish domestic long steel prices have increased over the past week on further weakness of the country's lira, rising scrap costs and improving demand that was itself triggered by the upturn in prices, sources said on Thursday February 20.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel reinforcing bar (rebar), domestic, exw Turkey, was 3,150-3,190 lira ($518-525) per tonne on Thursday, up from the...Read More
Turkish rebar and wire rod export prices have continued to increase in line with rising scrap costs although demand, especially for rebar, was still not strong enough for the mills, sources said on Thursday February 20.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment on Thursday for steel reinforcing bar (rebar), export, fob main port Turkey, was $430-440 per tonne on an actual weight basis, up from last week...Read More