An overview of the battery raw materials markets and their latest price moves.Read More
China's domestic spot battery-grade lithium compound prices tumbled week on week on Thursday November 7 after producers cut their offers to stimulate downstream buying, while the European and US carbonate price fell by $0.50 per kg after buyers faced little resistance to lower bids amid a well-supplied market. Chinese producers reduced offer prices for battery-grade lithium carbonate to combat slo...Read More
The majority of steel import prices in South America fell slightly during the week ended Friday November 8, because the region had not yet caught up with the recent Chinese upturn and the latest deals had been settled at lower levels.Fastmarkets' most recent price assessment for steel hot-rolled coil, import, cfr main ports South America, was $450-470 per tonne on Friday, falling from $455-475 per...Read More
Indian producers of hot-rolled coil increased their export prices for the commodity by $10-15 per tonne in the week ended Friday November 8, with some mills claiming to have their order books full for the current calendar year.The price of steel HRC (commodity), export, fob main port India, was assessed by Fastmarkets at $415-425 per tonne on Friday, an increase of $10-15 per tonne compared with l...Read More
Turkish prices for hot-dipped galvanized coil (HDG), and color-coated coil or pre-painted galvanized iron (PPGI), increased in the week to Friday November 8, despite demand remaining weak, sources told Fastmarkets.The rise in raw materials prices is the reason for the higher steel prices, they added.Fastmarkets' daily index for steel scrap, HMS 1&2 (80:20 mix), Northern Europe origin, cf...Read More
Domestic rebar prices in Poland have been largely stable over the past seven days, but mills expect to increase their offer prices next week in response to rising scrap costs, sources told Fastmarkets on Friday November 8.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel reinforcing bar (rebar), domestic, exw Poland, was 1,950-1,970 zloty ($506-511) per tonne on November 8, compared with 1,950-1,970...Read More
Restrictions on international trade may lead to a further decline in the volumes of steel exports from Turkey to the EU, with the country's exports to the United States already near zero, according to Ugur Dalbeler, chief executive officer of Turkish steelmaker ??olakoglu Metalurji.Dalbeler is also a member of the board of directors of the Turkish Iron & Steel Producers' Association (T???oeD). He...Read More
Salzgitter expects a significant decrease in its earnings for the first nine months of 2019, the German steelmaker said.It forecasts preliminary earnings before taxes at ?,?40.7 million ($45.01 million) for the first nine months of 2019, down by 85.7% from ?,?284.6 million in the corresponding period of 2018.Sales outside the group declined down by 4.55% to ?,?6.6 billion in January-September 2019...Read More
Prices for 18/8 stainless steel scrap increased this week in Europe despite market participants insisting that demand was still at "rock bottom", sources told Fastmarkets on Friday November 8. While mills continued to enjoy high discounts for the nickel component of the scrap, traders said the recent fall in alloy scrap prices had happened too quickly and that scrap merchants were u...Read More
The inter-merchant spot market for light iron scrap in the UK moved up by ?5 ($6) per tonne in the week ended Friday November 8, repeating the increase by a similar amount the week before, on steady domestic demand and higher European export prices.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel scrap 5C, loose old light, domestic, delivered inter-merchant, UK, was ?70-90 ($90-116) per tonne on F...Read More
The pig iron import market in the United States strengthened in the week ended Friday November 8 on higher scrap prices, sources told Fastmarkets. Fastmarkets' price assessment for pig iron, import, cfr Gulf of Mexico, US, was $320-325 per tonne, up from $310-312 per tonne a week earlier."The scrap price has rebounded by $20 [per gross ton]; that will support pig iron prices," one buyer in the US...Read More
Slab export prices from Brazil were unchanged on Friday November 8 amid high iron ore costs and improved sentiment in the United States.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel slab exports, fob Brazil, remained at $355-360 per tonne on Friday.Offers to the US continued to be reported at $350-360 per tonne fob, as high costs for iron ore continued to pressure...Read More
CIS billet producers continued to insist on the prices that were offered to foreign customers earlier this month for December-rolling material, despite the lack of trading activity this week, Fastmarkets learnt on Friday November 8.The material was available mainly from Russian mills for around $380 per tonne fob.Meanwhile, most Ukrainian mills were absent from the market. Three mills - Dneprovski...Read More
Prices for imported and domestically produced billet in Turkey increased in the week to Thursday November 8, following the rise in the segment of scrap.Offers for imported billet from the CIS region were mainly within the range of $390-400 per tonne cfr, depending on the region, sources told Fastmarkets.There were also offers at $405-410 per tonne cfr, but these were considered too high by market...Read More
Stainless steel prices in Europe stabilized on Friday November 8 after falling ?,?100 per tonne a week ago, but market participants told Fastmarkets that poor demand and plentiful supplies were still a major issue.Fastmarkets' price assessment for stainless steel cold-rolled sheet, 2mm, grade-304, transaction domestic, delivered North Europe, was ?,?2,200-2,250 ($2,433-2,489) per tonne on November...Read More
Key data from the pricing sessions in Europe, Asia and the United States for the week ending Friday November 8. China The high-grade manganese ore index recovered some of the recent losses after a number of large sales were made above the previous week's index. Seaborne low-grade manganese ore prices slid amid persistently weak market sentiment and lower producer offers. An incre...Read More
China's import quota system, which has restricted the inflow of scrap metal this year, will remain in place for another year, with a significant drop expected in the total quantity of quotas granted, the China Nonferrous Metals Industry Association (CMRA) said on November 7. The CMRA statement, seen by Fastmarkets, was given to delegates attending a conference from November 7-9 in Ningbo, a major...Read More
ArcelorMittal reduced its forecast for apparent steel consumption growth in Brazil in 2019 because of weak performance in the infrastructure sector as well as other industries in the supply chain.The steelmaker now expects apparent steel use to grow by 0.5-1%, compared with a previous range of 1.5-2.5%, the company said on Thursday November 7. The cut in the guidance range is due to dela...Read More
If you are a producer or consumer, or are active in the physical markets, then you had better be aware of a new set of regulations that will make it all the more important for you to choose the right logistics partner from next year.The International Maritime Organization (IMO) has ruled that from January 1, 2020, the marine sector will have to reduce sulfur emissions by more than 80% by switching...Read More
Slab export prices from Brazil were unchanged on Friday November 8 amid high iron ore costs and improved sentiment in the United States.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel slab exports, fob Brazil, remained at $355-360 per tonne on Friday.Offers to the US continued to be reported at $350-360 per tonne fob, as high costs for iron ore continued to pressure...Read More