Key data from the October 25 pricing session in London. Key drivers- Sellers undercut previous offers in thin trading, in order to lock in business, while a greater focus is placed on contract negotiations for 2020. Some traders opt to lock in a profit, with prices at their highest since...Read More
An overview of the minor metals markets and the reasons for their latest price moves.Read More
An overview of the Chinese minor metals markets and the reasons for their latest price moves.Read More
Glencore increased its cobalt production in the first nine months of the year by 21% largely due to ramping up its Katanga project, the trader miner announced on Friday October 25. Year-to-date cobalt production hit 34,400 tonnes, up from 28,500 tonnes in the same period of 2018. Production at the copper department was 31,500 tonnes, up 23% year on year, while the nickel department production 2,90...Read More
Austenitic alloy steel scrap prices widened downwards this week because of ongoing poor demand and, in the case of grade-316 material, lower molybdenum costs during October, sources told Fastmarkets on Friday October 25. Fastmarkets' price assessment for stainless steel scrap 316 solids, domestic, delivered merchants UK, was ?1,250-1,350 ($1,610-1,739) per tonne on October 25, down by ?40 per to...Read More
* Lead touches 15-month peak * Copper hits highest in more than a month * GRAPHIC-2019 asset returns: (Updates with closing prices) By Eric Onstad LONDON, Oct 25 (Reuters) - Zinc prices rose on Friday asLondon Metal Exchange inventories touched the lowest level in 12years, though analysts said the higher prices failed to reflectlarge amounts of hidden stock. Inventories in LME-registered warehouse...Read More
The continued unpredictability of trade relations between China and the United States has made long-term planning harder for businesses, including mining companies.But what would happen to the mining sector if the trade wars were to end overnight?According to the heads of the world's largest miners, the impact would be smaller than one might expect.For starters, there would not be a sudden rush to...Read More
The three-month tin price on the London Metal Exchange was higher at the close of trading on Thursday October 24, climbing by more than 1% amid low turnover while nickel futures maintained upward momentum over the afternoon.Tin's outright price on the LME closed at $16,775 per tonne on Thursday, a climb of 1.2% on the day with just 241 lots of metal exchanged. This was among the metal's lowest tra...Read More
The global economy has been transfixed by the China-United States trade war that came to the fore in the second quarter of 2018. When the trade war started, market participants hoped that an agreement would be reached by the time of the US mid-term elections in November 2018. But that date came and went without a deal. Fastmarkets then said there was a race against time before either a trade deal...Read More
Trafigura has offered Nyrstar minority shareholders ?,?22.5 million ($25 million) for their remaining 2% stake in the zinc and lead smelting company.Trading house Trafigura, which owns 98% of Nyrstar, had previously offered ?,?22...Read More
Declining nickel prices on the London Metal Exchange put China's stainless steel market under pressure over the past week.The three-month nickel contract on the exchange ended Wednesday October 24's trading session at $16,420-16,425 per tonne, down $510-515 per tonne from a week earlier.The contract price is also $2,030-2,050 per tonne lower compared with September 2's five-year high of $18,450-18...Read More
Turkish steel producers have remained out of the deep-sea scrap import markets as most of them are fully booked for November shipment cargoes, sources said on Thursday October 24.Steel mills in Turkey have booked at least 16 cargoes, totaling 500,000 tonnes of scrap so far in October and went quiet at the end of last week."Most of the mills have booked sufficient deep-sea scrap for November shipme...Read More
Key data from the Wednesday October 23 pricing session in Shanghai. Key drivers Chinese cobalt metal price softens on slow spot activity, while tight supply of certain domestic brands has eased amid profit-taking.The cobalt tetroxide price in China was unchanged, though lower offers emerged after prices for downstream lithium cobalt oxide (LCO) battery materials...Read More
China's hot-rolled coil producers continued to shift their focus to the country's domestic market, with prices there being largely stable on Thursday October 24 amid declining inventory levels.DomesticEastern China (Shanghai): 3,500-3,520 yuan ($495-498) per tonne, unchangedNorthern China (Tangshan): 3,490-3,500 yuan per tonne, widening downward by 10 yuan per tonnePrices stayed largely stable on...Read More
Domestic long steel prices in the Turkish market have retreated slightly over the past week on the back of a strengthening lira against the US dollar, sources said on Thursday October 24.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel reinforcing bar (rebar) domestic, exw Turkey was TRY2,850-2,910 ($494-505) per tonne on Thursday, down from last week's TRY2,880-2,950 per tonne, including 18% V...Read More
The export prices of rebar and wire rod from Turkey have continued to increase over the past week, because of the rising cost of scrap and the reduced supplies due to production cuts in the country.Demand was still weak in any case, sources said on Thursday October 24.The mills in the country have raised their offer prices for exports of rebar to $410-420 per tonne fob on an actual weight basis, c...Read More
The price for steel rebar in Egypt was stable in the week ended Thursday October 24, but the import price for steel billet has increased again, sources have told Fastmarkets.Egyptian rebar producers reduced their domestic prices on October 9, but have not made any further changes since then.Ezz Steel, Egypt's biggest producer, was currently offering rebar at E ?10,900 ($672) per tonne, El Marakby...Read More
Seaborne iron ore prices looked set to find support from restocking demand in China in October but the outlook for the rest of the quarter and months ahead is uncertain.The spread between the mid-grade iron ore products, represented by Fastmarkets' index for 62% Fe iron ore, and the high-grade materials, represented by Fastmarkets' index for 65% Fe iron ore stood at $6.60 per tonne in September th...Read More
The continued unpredictability of trade relations between China and the United States has made long-term planning harder for businesses, including mining companies.But what would happen to the mining sector if the trade wars were to end overnight?According to the heads of the world's largest miners, the impact would be smaller than one might expect.For starters, there would not be a sudden rush to...Read More
Fastmarkets has identified several rounding discrepancies in its implied pellet premium historical prices between data published in the Excel file on the MB Iron Ore Index website; and those published in Price Book and distributed via the Excel Add-In. The Fastmarkets MB CFR China Implied Pellet Premiums are derived figures that are calculated by subtracting the weekly averages of the Fastmarkets...Read More