Key data from the Wednesday November 6 pricing session in London. Key drivers: Liquidity above $18 per lb thins for both standard grade and alloy grade cobalt after recent weak spot demand entices cheaper offers. Swift rally from $12 per lb to $18...Read More
Fastmarkets invites market feedback on a consultation on a proposed increase in the frequency of its benchmark prices for cobalt standard grade and cobalt alloy grade, in-whs Rotterdam, to daily. This pricing notice was originally published on October 9. Feedback is invited until November 27. Fastmarkets currently assesses both prices on Wednesday and Friday each week.Initial feedback suggests tha...Read More
Southwestern China's Kunming Intermediate People's Court is auctioning the 19,228.05 tonnes of bismuth once held by the defunct Fanya Metal Exchange, according to an official notice published via the Alibaba judicial online platform on Thursday November 7.The auction is scheduled to begin at 10am Shanghai time on November 22 and will...Read More
Austrian steelmaking group Voestalpine has reported a fall in its earnings for the first half of the business year 2019/20 due to a "substantial damping of sentiment in its economic environment," the company said in its latest results statement.The economic downturn in Europe which has been gathering speed in key markets, and the conditions in the European steel market, had depressed earnings, the...Read More
Hebei Steel, China's second largest steel mill, has announced its purchase price for silico-manganese will be 6,100 yuan ($870) per tonne for November delivery, down by 1,200 yuan per tonne from its October tender price, market sources told Fastmarkets on Thursday November 7. This compares with the October delivery tender price set at 7,300 yuan per tonne in late September. Hebei Steel releas...Read More
U.S. equity index futures were lower this morning. S&P 500 futures were down 3 points in pre-opening trade. The Canadian Dollar slipped 0.17 to 75.58 U.S. following release of the October Canadian Employment Report at 8:30 AM EST. Consensus is an increase in employment of 15,000 versus a gain of 53,700 in September. Actual was a decline of 1,800. Consensus for the October Unemployment Rate was...Read More
The three-month lead price on the London Metal Exchange was lower at the close of trading on Wednesday November 6, settling at its lowest level since early October, while tin's outright price was the only positive move over the day's trading.Lead's futures price on the LME closed at $2,115 per tonne in the afternoon, its lowest closing price since October 1, while turnover was moderate at just und...Read More
Following a month-long consultation period and several months of pre-consultation research, Fastmarkets will launch a fortnightly price assessment for non-exchange-deliverable equivalent-grade (EQ) copper cathode premiums/discounts starting from Tuesday November 19.The cif Europe and cif China price assessments will support Fastmarkets' current benchmarks in Grade A exchange-deliverable markets.De...Read More
Discounts for full-plate nickel cathodes in China swung back into premiums in the week to Tuesday November 5 and a newly-opened arbitrage import window refreshed spot appetite for material in the region, while buyers in Europe and the United States remained firmly on the sidelines. Asian nickel once more traded at a premium while an open arbitrage window enlivened spot activity in the regionEurop...Read More
The latest ferro-tungsten and ammonium paratungstate (APT) transactions, bids, offers and assessments in Europe, Vietnam and China, with blue tungsten oxide (BTO) and yellow tungsten oxide (YTO) deals taken into consideration.To view the latest price assessments, please follow the links below:China- APT 88.5% WO3 min, fob main ports China, $/mtu WO3Europe- APT 88.5% WO3 min Europe, cif Rotterdam d...Read More
First Quantum has agreed to supply South Korean copper smelter LS Nikko with copper concentrates from its Cobre Panama project over a period of 15 years, sources with direct knowledge of the matter confirmed with Fastmarkets. The Canadian miner will ship 122,000 tonnes per year of copper concentrates from Cobre Panama to Korea under an offtake contract decided two years ago that was finally signed...Read More
Chinese refined copper demand will not grow next year, according to the industry's most prominent statistical body. Refined copper demand will remain flat at the 2019 level of 12.09 million tonnes, the International Wrought Copper Council (IWCC) forecast on Monday November 4. China is the world's largest user of copper, consuming 50% of global output, and any slowdown in demand for the...Read More
Chinese buyers' appetite for imported cobalt metal is likely to shrink in the near future because domestic supply is increasing and there is little room for demand to increase, market participants told Fastmarkets. Cobalt production in China is estimated to reach 9,300 tonnes in 2019, up 17% from last year, Zhanrong Kong, senior analyst from Antaike told delegates at Antaike's International Nickel...Read More
Despite a recent slowdown in the development of nickel-rich lithium ion batteries for use in the electric vehicle (EV) sector, certain types of these batteries will continue to penetrate the market due to so called "driving range anxiety", according to the chairman of Ningbo Ronbay New Energy Technology Co.Addressing delegates at the China International Nickel & Cobalt Conference in Yichang, centr...Read More
A Turkish steel mill purchased a cargo of ferrous scrap material from the United States at broadly stable prices on Wednesday November 6, following the trend seen in several other cargoes purchased earlier this week, sources have told Fastmarkets.A steel mill in the Iskenderun region purchased a US-origin cargo comprising 22,000 tonnes of HMS 1&2 (90:10) at $262 per tonne and 9,000 tonnes of shred...Read More
China has approved a sixth copper scrap import quota to allow an additional 11,110 tonnes of copper scrap into the country by the end of this year, the environmental ministry said on Tuesday November 5.The latest quota, 81% lower than the previous quota covering 57,365 tonnes announced on October 18, brings the total volume of copper scrap imports allowed into China in the second half of 2019 to 5...Read More
Broader markets were little changed this morning, Wednesday November 6, while participants await further news on the likelihood of a "phase one" trade deal between the United States and China. For now it seems as though the market has priced in as much as it wants to, given how trade rhetoric can flip-flop so easily.Asian equities were mixed, suggesting some consolidation has started to set in.Chi...Read More
Chinese buyers' appetite for imported cobalt metal is likely to shrink in the near future because domestic supply is increasing and there is little room for demand to increase, market participants told Fastmarkets. Cobalt production in China is estimated to reach 9,300 tonnes in 2019, up 17% from last year, Zhanrong Kong, senior analyst from Antaike told delegates at Antaike's International Nickel...Read More
Despite a recent slowdown in the development of nickel-rich lithium ion batteries for use in the electric vehicle (EV) sector, certain types of these batteries will continue to penetrate the market due to so called "driving range anxiety", according to the chairman of Ningbo Ronbay New Energy Technology Co.Addressing delegates at the China International Nickel & Cobalt Conference in Yichang, centr...Read More
Domestic prices for hot-rolled coil (HRC) in Europe have been stable over the past week, but offer prices for material were expected to move upward, sources told Fastmarkets on Wednesday November 6.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel HRC, domestic, exw Northern Europe, was unchanged over the week at ?,?415-425 ($461-472) per tonne on November 6.The corresponding assessment for steel HRC...Read More