Seaborne coking coal prices in the fob market on Tuesday September 21 continued to climb from the previous day amid firm demand, market sources said.Fastmarkets indicesPremium hard coking coal, cfr Jingtang: $565.77 per tonne, unchangedHard coking coal, cfr Jingtang: $491.97 per tonne, unchangedPremium hard coking coal, fob DBCT: $399.29 per tonne, up by $13.18 per tonne ...Read More
Mexican ferrous scrap prices posted widespread declines in the week ended on Friday September 17 despite steady demand in the country.Almost all scrap buyers reduced their prices during the week, with most reductions ranging from 300-500 pesos ($15-25) per tonne, market participants said.The movement was believed to be a lagged response to lower ferrous scrap prices in the United States due t...Read More
The world's largest cobalt supplier is the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), which leaves a growing market dependent on a region that poses challenges, among them the risk of human rights abuses.Cobalt is a key ingredient in batteries that power electric vehicles (EVs), and its use is expected to grow exponentially as the world shifts to a greener economy. As a result, in recent years, market s...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Tuesday September 21 that are worth another look.ArcelorMittal is preparing to invest $100 million from its innovation fund into a company founded by Bill Gates, best known as the founder of Microsoft, to develop decarbonization technologies, it announced on Monday September...Read More
Seaborne iron ore prices were largely flat on Tuesday September 21 with limited trading activity in the physical market taking place amid a Chinese holiday. Fastmarkets iron ore indices 62% Fe fines, cfr Qingdao: $93.03 per tonne, up $0.05 per tonne62% Fe low-alumina fines, cfr Qingdao: $93.96 per tonne, down $0.11 per tonne58% Fe fines high-grade premium, cfr Qingdao: $64.87 per tonne, up $0.14 p...Read More
Zinc producers in China's southwestern province of Yunnan should be able to fully resume their operations by mid-June, sources said.Yunnan will remove its power restrictions by the end of June that have stunted local zinc output, the provincial energy bureau said.A few zinc smelters in Yunnan have already resumed production, however, sources that spoke to Fastmarkets said.Production capa...Read More
Standard-grade cobalt metal was trading at a premium over alloy-grade for the first time since March on Monday September 20 amid spot demand in Europe for tightening briquette and broken cathode supply.Fastmarkets' daily price assessment for cobalt standard grade, in-whs Rotterdam was $24.60-25.00 per lb on Monday, up from $24.45-25.00 per lb on the previous Friday.This marks the first time t...Read More
Mexican ferrous scrap prices posted widespread declines in the week ended on Friday September 17 despite steady demand in the country.Almost all scrap buyers reduced their prices during the week, with most reductions ranging from 300-500 pesos ($15-25) per tonne, market participants said.The movement was believed to be a lagged response to lower ferrous scrap prices in the United States due t...Read More
Flat steel buyers in the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia preferred to wait for prices to stop coming down before they placed any new orders, sources told Fastmarkets on Tuesday September 21.Most imported flat steel prices to the two countries have decreased during the past week, because of lower offer prices. End-user demand remained weak because of the lack of big new projects, sources adde...Read More
Manganese semi-carbonate prices have risen in the past week on renewed liquidity, although inventories continued to weigh heavily on the market, limiting any potential gains.Fastmarkets' latest calculation of the manganese ore index, 37% Mn, cif Tianjin, was $4.56 per dry metric tonne unit (dmtu) on Friday September 17, up by 8 cents per dmtu (1.79%) from $4.48 per dmtu the previous week.Fresh liq...Read More
An overview of the chrome ore and alloy markets in Asia, Europe and the United States on Tuesday September 21 and their latest price moves.China The imported charge chrome market rose strongly on supply tightness in China, due to falling domestic production following electricity restrictions. The UG2 chrome ore market stayed stable, with cost support holding prices in balance against falling consu...Read More
The Malaysia Smelting Corporation, one of the largest tin producers in the world, is currently operating its main smelter with 80% of its staff present, one company representative confirmed to Fastmarkets on September 21. MSC declared force majeure in early June after the third wave of Covid-19 cases began to rapidly affect the country. The spokesperson for the company noted that the force ma...Read More
European steel companies must scale up their decarbonization technologies within the coming decade or risk exhausting their allocated emissions allowances early, according to a report released on Tuesday September 14.The report, "Steeling for Net Zero," by climate researcher Industry Tracker, found that selected European steel companies have less than 26% of their carbon budget remaining and must...Read More
Base metals prices have generally been under pressure in recent days while broad-based risk-off has weighed on the market, but the metals were looking more mixed on the morning of Tuesday September 21, suggesting consolidation after Monday's average loss of 1.6% across the London Metal Exchange base metals. The risk-off sentiment seems to be tied in with concerns about whether Chinese property gia...Read More
The export market for flat steel products from the Commonwealth of Independent States went down again in the week to Monday September 20 because buyers were still cautious and were still expecting a further reduction in prices.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel HRC, export, fob Black Sea, CIS, was $840-865 per tonne on Monday, down from $850-870 per tonne a week before."Overall market...Read More
The market for steel rebar and billet in the United Arab Emirates was silent in the week to September 21 because buyers were waiting for new local rebar prices to be announced, sources told Fastmarkets.Most market participants expect prices to follow the global downtrend.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel reinforcing bar (rebar), export, fob Black Sea, CIS was $700-710 per tonne on Sep...Read More
Turkish steel mills continued to ignore the deep-sea scrap market on Tuesday September 21, with no transactions heard so far this week, market participants told Fastmarkets.While mills have not yet booked any new transactions so far this week, another transaction emerged from last week, which sources said was a top-up shipment for a cargo booked two...Read More
CIS wire rod export prices had an up-and-down week in the seven days to Monday 20 September, particularly in Russia, where mill offer prices went in different directions, sources told Fastmarkets.Russia's Abinsk Electric Steel Works continued to drop its offer prices to attract customers and outflank competitive offers from Turkey.The most recent offers from the mill were heard at $767-772 per ton...Read More
Turkish steel mills continued to ignore the deep-sea scrap market on Tuesday September 21, with no transactions heard so far this week, market participants told Fastmarkets.While mills have not yet booked any new transactions so far this week, another transaction emerged from last week, which sources said was a top-up shipment for a cargo booked two...Read More
Base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange were down across the board on Tuesday September 21 with uncertainty related to Chinese construction company Evergrande continuing to cast a shadow over the market."This week's sell-off was triggered by a sharp negative turn in global risk sentiment, with the world keeping a close eye on the collapse of Chinese property developer Evergrande and trader...Read More