The total traded volume for the high-grade 65% Fe iron ore futures on the Singapore Exchange (SGX) rose in January 2020, with 25,750 lots - or 2.575 million tonnes - being cleared as of January 20 at 2:30pm Singapore time. The latest total traded volume is the second highest recorded since its launch in December 2018, and represents a 13.9% increase from 2.26 million tonnes in September 2019, whic...Read More
Seaborne coking coal prices were largely stable on Monday January 20, with Chinese participants gradually withdrawing from the market ahead of a week-long break for the Chinese New Year that starts on Friday.Fastmarkets indicesPremium hard coking coal, fob DBCT: $152.23 per tonne, down $0.84 per tonnePremium hard coking coal, cfr Jingtang: $160.13 per tonne, up $0.23 per tonneHard coking coal, fob...Read More
Domestic prices for hot-rolled coil in Northern Europe have increased with support from good demand and a lack of competitive import offers, sources told Fastmarkets on Monday January 20.Fastmarkets' daily steel hot-rolled coil index, domestic, ex-works Northern Europe, rose to ?,?449.48 ($498.39) per tonne on January 20, up by ?,?5.70 per tonne from ?,?443.78 per tonne on January 17.The index was...Read More
Key data from the pricing sessions in Asia and Europe in the week to Friday January 17.ChinaKey drivers The price of antimony, MMTA standard grade II, ddp China, gained some upward momentum in the latest assessment period, ending Wednesday January 15, after many suppliers raised their offer prices amid a growing number of inquiries.Several antimony consumers, who had maintained low inventorie...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets MB stories you might have missed on Monday January 20 that are worth another look.High-grade iron ore derivative reaches second highest monthly traded volumes. The total traded volume for the high-grade 65% Fe iron ore futures on the Singapore Exchange (SGX) rose in January 2020, with 25,750 lots - or 2.575 million tonnes...Read More
The Chinese government published the long-awaited non-ferrous scrap metal renaming criterion on its website late on Friday January 17. This is the latest policy adopted by the world's biggest scrap metal importer. Copper scrap, of copper content ranging 94-99.9% and meeting certain impurities thresholds, will be renamed under five categories of renewable materials. Below is a table translated and...Read More
Industrial conglomerate GFG Alliance's existing aluminium portfolio will be consolidated with a focus on sustainable production under Alvance Aluminium Group, headquartered in Paris. The nuclear and hydro powered Dunkerque aluminium smelter, the largest aluminium smelter in Europe with around 280,000 tonnes per year of capacity, located in North France will now fall under the Alvance vertical. Its...Read More
The three-month lead price on the London Metal Exchange climbed by 0.5% during morning trading on Monday January 20, briefly breaching the $2,000 per tonne mark, while continued inflows of nickel have prompted minimal price reaction. Lead's outright price on the LME rose above $2,000 per tonne during morning trading before dipping back below the key resistance level to $1,985 per tonne. Trading vo...Read More
Fastmarkets will host a free web seminar on Wednesday February 26 at 10am London time, to discuss the current trends for alumina and the evolution of its pricing.Benchmark alumina prices have been static below $280 per tonne for the past month, with Chinese demand underpinning the market. Register here to join the webinar. Date Wednesday February 26, 2020Time 10am London timeJoin our market expert...Read More
Broader markets were generally firmer but quiet on Monday January 20, with equities in Asia mainly stronger, as were the base metals, while gold was holding up in high ground.Equities in Asia are consolidating recent gains, but multi-year highs in many regional equity indices suggests sentiment is bullish overall. Markets quiet ahead of the Lunar New Year holidays, which start on Friday in China....Read More
Base metals prices on the Shanghai Futures Exchange were broadly down at the close of morning trading on Monday January 20, with market activity slowing as participants begin to depart ahead of theweeklong break for Chinese New Year (January 24-30)."Shanghai is beginning to empty as the weeklong Chinese New Year holiday starts on Friday... Queues at my local train ticket office have recently been...Read More
Offers for CIS-origin billet started to slide on Monday January 20, following last week's drop in scrap prices and weakening sentiment in the finished long steel market.Fastmarkets' daily index for steel scrap, HMS 1&2 (80:20 mix), US origin, cfr Turkey, tumbled by around $15 to $288.80 per tonne last Thursday, after a steel mill in the Izmir region booked a US cargo of 35,000 tonnes of HMS 1&2 (9...Read More
A summary of the financial results for Russia's largest steelmaker, Novolipetsk Steel (NLMK), for both the fourth quarter of 2019 and the full year.In briefOutput and sales over the full year of 2019 were both affected by the major works being carried out on the company's blast furnace at Lipetsk, but these began to recover in the fourth quarter once the work was completed.Full year 2019 Steel out...Read More
China's steel refining and rerolling industry's capacity utilization rate was 80.2% in the fourth quarter of 2019, above the national industrial average of 77.5%, according to figures from the country's National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) released on Friday January 17.The country's industrial capacity utilization rate of 77.5% was 1.5 percentage points higher than the corresponding period a year e...Read More
Falling ferrous scrap prices have dulled sentiment in Singapore's rebar import market over the past week. The weekly Fastmarkets price assessment for steel reinforcing bar (rebar) import, cfr Singapore - which mainly looks at cargoes sold into Singapore on a theoretical-weight basis - was $455-465 per tonne for the week to Monday January 20, widening from $465 per tonne a week earlier.Turkish reba...Read More
Prices in Asia's hot-rolled coil market are poised for more upticks immediately after the Lunar New Year holiday, according to industry sources."There is a sense of tightness in HRC supply in Asia, especially with fewer cargoes heading to the region from March and April," a source at a major re-roller in Vietnam said.This is largely due to an expected decrease in shipments from Indian steelmakers...Read More
China's hot-rolled coil market was quiet on Monday January 20, with most traders and mills having already suspended trading ahead of the Chinese New Year holiday at the end of this week.DomesticEastern China (Shanghai): 3,860-3,880 yuan ($563-566) per tonne, unchangedNorthern China (Tangshan): 3,590 yuan per tonne, unchangedTrading was thin throughout the day since there were not many participants...Read More
Gusa Brasil, formerly knows as Sidepar, partly restarted operations in the state of Par?? in northern Brazil in early January, with the first pig-iron sale made in the middle of the month, sources told Fastmarkets.The restart will add a small tonnage to the pig iron market, however, so participants only expect a minor impact, Fastmarkets was told."Pig iron prices have improved so that makes it rea...Read More
The Turkish deep-sea scrap import markets remained quiet at the beginning of the week, following the sharp price decline that was seen late last week, sources said on Monday January 20.A steel mill in the Izmir region booked a US cargo of 35,000 tonnes of HMS 1&2 (95:5) at $295 per tonne cfr late on January 15.This would have put the HMS 1&2 (80:20) price at $288 per tonne, compared with a previou...Read More
Ferrous scrap prices in the global markets continued to weaken during the week ended Friday January 17, following the sharp decline in the Turkish market.Turkish prices decline sharply with fresh US tradeUnited States East Coast prices down; West Coast to followPrices in Taiwan and Vietnam fall steadily on soft demandInternational downturn drags down Indian pricesTurkeyPrices for ferrous scrap imp...Read More