Base metals prices were mixed on the morning of Wednesday September 29 while they consolidated against a backdrop of numerous headwinds.Uncertainty has picked up regarding how high US treasury yields and the dollar will go and what will the fallout be if China’s Evergrande starts defaulting on foreign-owned debt.China’s power rationing set to hit metal production and manufacturing, and i...Read More
Aluminium and tin had risen the most on the London Metal Exchange by the close on Tuesday September 28, while nickel and copper were both under pressure.Aluminium's three-month price closed at $2,945 per tonne on Tuesday, up from its close on Monday of $2,883.50 per tonne, which was the lowest since September 21. The metal stayed above the 20-day moving average of $2,847 per tonne, a key tech...Read More
Further reductions in Chinese steel mill operations due to ongoing power shortages are likely to hamper demand for imported semi-finished steel and steel scrap in the country, sources told Fastmarkets this week.Draconian restrictions on power supplies in China have led to a raft of electric arc furnace (EAF) steelmakers and re-rollers in key provinces such as Jiangsu, Yunnan and Zhejiang to either...Read More
U.S. equity index futures were higher this morning. S&P 500 futures were up 17 points in pre-opening trade.Dollar Tree added $0.64 to $86.92 after announcing an additional $1.05 billion share buyback program.NetApp advanced $3.19 to $95.00 after JP Morgan raised its target price from $95 to $108.HP Inc slipped $0.23 to $28.35 after JP Morgan downgraded the stock from Overweight to Neutral. Tar...Read More
If any member was going to leave the London Metal Exchange ring trading floor, the exchange was probably hoping it wouldn't be Triland Metals Ltd.The company, a wholly owned subsidiary of Japanese conglomerate Mitsubishi, is one of the exchange's longest serving Category 1 members, having joined in 1972 after being founded in the prior year. Having a unit of Japan's largest trading company as a ri...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.Fastmarkets analysts were invited to present our outlook for the coking coal market at Coaltrans Asia, held online on November 23-25. One of the key topics at the event was the trade tensions between China and Australia, which overtook Mongolia to become the largest coking coal exporter to China this year...Read More
Pessimistic buyers caused the downtrend in the export market for flat steel products from the Commonwealth of Independent States downtrend to continue in the week to Monday September 27.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel hot-rolled coil, export, fob Black Sea, CIS was $830-855 per tonne on Monday, down by $10 from $840-865 per tonne a week before."Buyers think that offers will go lower...Read More
Domestic steel rebar prices in Russia's Central Federal District around Moscow were largely unchanged in the week ended Monday September 27, amid high purchasing interest from distributors with low inventories and an expectation that prices have reached a bottom, sources told Fastmarkets. Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel reinforcing bar (rebar), domestic, cpt Moscow, Russia was...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.This month's key ferro-alloy forecast highlights:Bulk and noble alloys both moved largely in line with our price forecasts globally over the past month, though several markets surprised to the upside, exceeding our forecast gains. Stronger-than-forecast pricing momentum was primarily triggered by supply shortages in numerous...Read More
Turkish steel mills continued to book deep-sea scrap on the second working day of the week, market participants told Fastmarkets on Tuesday September 28.A steel mill in the Marmara region booked a European cargo at $426 per tonne cfr for HMS 1&2 (80:20). And a steel producer in the same region booked a Venezuelan cargo at $434 per tonne cfr also on HMS 1&2 (80:20) basis - although this deal...Read More
Seaborne cfr prices improved on Tuesday September 28 due to tight seaborne coking coal supply in the cfr spot market and active trading in China's ports, sources told Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets indicesPremium hard coking coal, cfr Jingtang: $597.06 per tonne, up $2.50 per tonneHard coking coal, cfr Jingtang: $538.65 per tonne, up $8.83 per tonnePremium hard coking coal, fob DBCT: $405.14 per tonne, d...Read More
Pessimistic buyers caused the downtrend in the export market for flat steel products from the Commonwealth of Independent States downtrend to continue in the week to Monday September 27.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel hot-rolled coil, export, fob Black Sea, CIS was $830-855 per tonne on Monday, down by $10 from $840-865 per tonne a week before."Buyers think that offers will go lower...Read More
(Updates number of rescued workers) Sept 28 (Reuters) - Vale SA said on Tuesday that35 of its employees who were trapped in a Canadian mine hadreturned to the surface and four more were on their way out.On Monday, the Brazilian miner said 39 mine workers had beentrapped underground since Sunday at its Totten mine in Sudbury,Canada. Vale said earlier on Tuesday it expected all employees tosurface b...Read More
Tin's futures contract fell by 3.9% on Monday September 27, and most other London Metal Exchange prices were also lower on the day, with somewhat bearish sentiment still holding in the complex.Tin's three-month price was at $35,100 per tonne on Monday at 5pm in London, decreasing from $36,539 per tonne at the same time on Friday.Amid concerns surrounding the supply of the metal given ongoing...Read More
Fastmarkets proposes changes to the name and specifications of its UG2 chrome ore price index.Fastmarkets proposes to change the specification for its chrome ore South Africa UG2 concentrates index basis 42%, cif China to include MG material and to amend some qualities, including to clarify a base chrome iron ratio and to implement a normalization process to meet this base level. Fastmarkets...Read More
The latest data for the global manganese ore market for the week ended September 27, 2021.Read More
Fastmarkets proposes to amend the publication timing of its ferro-chrome benchmark indicator and its ferro-chrome cif China price.For its ferro-chrome lumpy Cr benchmark indicator, charge basis 52% (and high carbon), Europe and ferro-chrome 50% Cr import, cif main Chinese ports price assessment, Fastmarkets proposes changing the publication time.The proposed specifications would be (proposed...Read More
Swiss trading firm SiderAlloys has hired Matteo Chareun this month as manager of its commercial division, Chareun told Fastmarkets.Prior to this role, Chareun spent seven years as commercial division manager at Swiss trading house Euromet SA, a position in which he...Read More
For aluminium market participants globally, the global energy shortage is one of the many shortages producers of the light metal are facing.Market participants say the energy crunch, caused by a lack of incentive to produce additional supply when energy prices hit lows in 2020, will particularly be felt by producers who have large exposures to the spot energy markets, although many say that most s...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Monday September 27 that are worth another look.Brazil's Usiminas is halting its No2 blast furnace at Ipatinga for another 90-150 days after an incident on Friday, the flat steel producer said on Monday September 27.For aluminium market participants...Read More