JFE Steel Corp and an affiliate of China's largest steelmaker Baowu Steel is setting up a joint venture to tap into demand for high-grade special steel bar from the Chinese automotive sector.The move will see JFE Steel take a 50% share in Baosteel Special Steel Shaoguan Co, while the latter's existing parent Guangdong Shaoguan Iron & Steel Songshan Co (SGIS) will hold the other half of the stake,...Read More
Tata Steel has outlined proposals to build a stronger and more sustainable business in Europe, which include cutting up to 3,000 jobs, the company said on Monday November 18.The programme is needed to "ensure the business can thrive despite severe market headwinds which have led to a sharp decline in profitability", the company said.In the first six months of its current financial year, which comm...Read More
The three-month nickel price traded on the London Metal Exchange continues to languish below $15,000 per tonne at the close on Tuesday November 19 while fresh inflows continue to pressure nickel futures. LME nickel stocks have fallen by 60% in just over two months to 66,174 tonnes from 166,680 tonnes on September 12 but the LME three-month nickel price has been on a general downtrend over the same...Read More
Strategic & Precious Metals Processing's (SPMP) antimony and gold processing facility in Sohar, Oman, has produced its first commercial grade 99.65% antimony metal and has met keen interest from potential buyers looking to diversify their supply sources, parent company Tri-Star Resources said on Tuesday November 19. The producer is now focused on achieving full-scale commercial production and is t...Read More
Turkish steel producers made no new deep-sea bookings on Tuesday November 19, as they paused to digest the latest upturn in prices, market sources said.A European cargo sent the daily scrap indices up by almost $5 per tonne at the start of the week, but mills were still worried about the limited demand for long steel products.A steel mill in the Iskenderun region booked the European cargo, which c...Read More
CIS export wire rod prices surged in the week to Monday November 18, buoyed by the strength of global prices and raw materials and semi-finished steel costs, even as demand remained limited.Fastmarkets' price assessment for steel wire rod (mesh quality), export, fob Black Sea, CIS, was $435-445 per tonne on Monday November 18, up by $15 per tonne week-on-week.Wire rod from Russia and Ukraine sched...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets MB stories you might have missed on Tuesday November 19 that are worth another look.Flat-rolled steel sales volumes from Brazilian distributors rose by 18.3% year on year in October, outpacing purchases and leading to a decline in stocks, steel distributors' association Inda said on November 19.Next year will be a "transitional year" for the nickel market ahead of a shift...Read More
The three-month nickel price traded on the London Metal Exchange continues to languish below $15,000 per tonne at the close on Tuesday November 19 while fresh inflows continue to pressure nickel futures. LME nickel stocks have fallen by 60% in just over two months to 66,174 tonnes from 166,680 tonnes on September 12 but the LME three-month nickel price has been on a general downtrend over the same...Read More
Import hurdles that emerged in some ports in China last week do not appear to have had much of an effect on the seaborne coking coal market, with a cargo of premium low-vol product fetching $145 per tonne cfr China on Tuesday November 19.Fastmarkets indicesPremium hard coking coal, fob DBCT: $131.91 per tonne, down $1.81 per tonnePremium hard coking coal, cfr Jingtang: $144.14 per tonne, down $3.6...Read More
The three-month nickel price on the London Metal Exchange continued its downtrend during morning trading on Tuesday November 19, with price action coming under downward pressure from fresh inflows. Nickel's outright price was recently at $14,575 per tonne, while just over 2,000 lots were exchanged as of 9:15am London time. The metal's underlying price has been falling since reaching a 2019-high of...Read More
Flat steel import prices in the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia rose this week on higher offers, improved demand and expectations that prices will increase further, sources told Fastmarkets on Tuesday November 19.Buyers placed some bookings during the week and expect further price increases in the coming days.UAEOffer prices for hot-rolled coil from Japan were heard in the UAE at $460 per to...Read More
Domestic prices for hot-rolled coil in Southern Europe have moved up due to reduced output and a rise in import offers, sources told Fastmarkets on Tuesday November 19.At the same time, Northern European transaction prices have been largely stable after the region's steelmakers announced a price rise at the end of last week.Southern EuropeSouthern European mills have been targeting prices of ?,?40...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets MB stories you might have missed on Tuesday November 19 that are worth another look.Flat-rolled steel sales volumes from Brazilian distributors rose by 18.3% year on year in October, outpacing purchases and leading to a decline in stocks, steel distributors' association Inda said on November 19.Next year will be a "transitional year" for the nickel market ahead of a shift...Read More
A summary of base metals premiums from across the globe for the week to Tuesday November 19.Please click...Read More
Next year will be a "transitional year" for the nickel market ahead of a shift into a structural deficit in 2021, Denis Sharypin, head of market intelligence at Norilsk Nickel, told delegates at Fastmarkets' International Ferro-alloys Conference in Budapest, Hungary, this week. The market will strengthen as demand ramps up, especially with annual consumption from the battery sector swelling to 500...Read More
The three-month nickel price on the London Metal Exchange continued its downtrend during morning trading on Tuesday November 19, with price action coming under downward pressure from fresh inflows. Nickel's outright price was recently at $14,575 per tonne, while just over 2,000 lots were exchanged as of 9:15am London time. The metal's underlying price has been falling since reaching a 2019-high of...Read More
While equity markets in the United States have pushed up to and are holding near record highs, the industrial metals are by comparison weak.This suggests global industry is still unsure about whether a post-trade war rebound is on the cards, or whether a trade deal will even emerge. Haven assets are back in demand while trade uncertainty dominates.London Metal Exchange three-month nickel price fal...Read More
Base metals prices on the Shanghai Futures Exchange were all down during the morning trading session on Tuesday November 19, with uncertainty over United States-China trade negotiations continuing to weigh on the complex. Market sentiment was subdued this morning following overnight reports that China was growing pessimistic about a trade deal due to US President Donald Trump's reluctance to remov...Read More
US hot-rolled coil prices remained roughly flat on Tuesday November 19 amid deepening concerns among buyers that a recent upward trend might be running out of steam.Fastmarkets' daily steel hot-rolled coil index, fob mill US was calculated at $26.60 per hundredweight ($532 per short ton) on November 19, roughly unchanged from $26.64 per cwt on November 18 but up by 2% from $26.08 per cwt a we...Read More
Flat-rolled steel sales volumes from Brazilian distributors rose by 18.3% year-on-year in October, outpacing purchases and leading to a decline in stocks, steel distributors' association Inda said on Tuesday November 19.Sales reached 317,700 tonnes, compared with 268,500 tonnes in October 2018. Growth of 9.6% was seen when compared with September's sales volume of 290,000 tonnes.Distributors purch...Read More