Seaborne iron ore prices increased on Tuesday October 22 after Vale lowered its sales expectation, while the spread between 65% and 62% Fe indices continued to widen.Fastmarkets iron ore indices62% Fe fines, cfr Qingdao: $86.68 per tonne, up $1.28 per tonne.62% Fe Pilbara Blend fines, cfr Qingdao: $86.33 per tonne, up $1.28 per tonne.62% Fe low-alumina fines, cfr Qingdao: $85.27 per tonne, up $1.0...Read More
A wide spread of offers emerged in the seaborne coking coal market on Tuesday October 22, though these did not translate into transactions.Fastmarkets indicesPremium hard coking coal, fob DBCT: $152.40 per tonne, up $0.63 per tonnePremium hard coking coal, cfr Jingtang: $164.70 per tonne, down $0.06 per tonneHard coking coal, fob DBCT: $129.92 per tonne, unchangedHard coking coal, cfr Jingtang: $1...Read More
Anglo American has raised the 2019 iron ore production guidance for its Minas Rio operations in Brazil while maintaining that for its Kumba operations in South Africa.The miner now expects Minas Rio to produce 20-22 million tonnes of the steelmaking raw material, compared with 19-21 million tonnes previously, it said in its third-quarter production report published on Tuesday October 22.The miner...Read More
Vale has suspended activities at its Itabiru??u tailings dam, which is located at its Itabira mining complex in the country's southeastern Minas Gerais state.The dam's temporary shutdown will have an impact of about 1.20 million tonnes of iron ore output that is limited to 2019, since the Brazilian miner's production plan has already accounted for a stoppage of the dam for most of the year, it sai...Read More
The three-month zinc price on the London Metal Exchange was higher during morning trading on Tuesday October 22, with the metal continuing its approach toward $2,500 per tonne, while lead futures were also up.Zinc's outright price on the LME was recently seen at $2,480 per tonne, while just over 2,000 lots were exchanged as at 9.15am London time. Price action in the galvanizing metal was boosted b...Read More
The London Metal Exchange has no plans to stop adding to its contract suite, with new additions expected in 2020, chief executive Matthew Chamberlain told Fastmarkets. After launching seven new cash-settled futures contracts in March 2019, the exchange will listen to market participants' requests for new hedging options."We are very keen to do more contracts in 2020, it is in the plan and in the b...Read More
Base metals prices on the Shanghai Futures Exchange were broadly down during the morning trading session on Tuesday October 22, with copper and aluminium securing marginal gains while the rest of the complex weakened.Copper was the outperformer of the SHFE base metals in terms of percentage gains. The red metal's most traded December contract price rose to 47,140 yuan ($6,661) per tonne as at 10.0...Read More
Fastmarkets will discontinue the publication of price change articles on metalbulletin.com from Tuesday October 22. Fastmarkets will no longer publish price change articles for minor metals, noble alloys, bulk alloys & ores, European non-ferrous scrap and UK non-ferrous scrap and ingot prices. There is no change to the publication of the price assessments or indices. All prices and their price mov...Read More
China's ferro-silicon market was split between a weakening export price and a steady domestic price last week, with exporters battling soft demand and supplier competition while production cuts supported domestic rates.In Europe, prices have consolidated recent price gains, although the recent rally looks short-lived because export offers into Europe have appeared from Kazakhstan. There are no ant...Read More
U.S. equity index futures were lower this morning. S&P 500 futures were down 3 points in pre-opening trade.Texas Instruments dropped $11.32 to $112.25 after reporting lower than consensus third quarter revenues and earnings. The company also lowered guidance. Caterpillar slipped $0.03 to $133.66 after reporting lower than consensus third quarter revenues and earnings. The company also lowered...Read More
The three-month lead price on the London Metal Exchange was the standout performer on Monday October 21, closing at its highest level since July 2018 and breaching $2,200 per tonne despite moderate turnover. Lead futures on the LME closed at $2,211 per tonne this afternoon, a climb of more than 1.5% against Friday's close of $2,172 per tonne, while some 2,850 lots had been traded by the close, whi...Read More
Primary aluminium stocks at the three main Japanese ports (MJP) of Osaka, Nagoya and Yokohama rose by 0.1% month on month in September 2019, according to data released by major Japanese trading house Marubeni Corp on Monday October 21. Aluminium stocks at the three ports totaled 326,700 tonnes on September 30, up 600 tonnes from the end of August, marking the fourth consecutive monthly stock incre...Read More
Estimated global primary aluminium production fell by 3.2% month on month in September 2019, according to figures published by the International Aluminium Institute (IAI) on Monday October 21. Total worldwide primary aluminium output came to an estimated 50.1 million tonnes in September compared with around 53.3 million tonnes in August 2019. Depressed production figures were reported for all prim...Read More
An overview of the battery raw materials markets and their latest price moves.Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets MB stories you might have missed on Monday October 21 that are worth another look.Brazilian apparent steel consumption was down by 6.4% in September, compared with the corresponding month in 2018, with demand retreating for both domestic and imported materials, national industry association Instituto A??o Brasil said on Thursday October 17.Estimated global primary alumini...Read More
Softening demand and ample availability caused manganese ore suppliers to cut their offer prices on Friday October 18. Many ore buyers in China held back from the market in anticipation of prices softening further in coming weeks after miners lowered their offer prices for November-delivery cargoes. This weighed heavily on high- and low-grade seaborne manganese prices and limited the volume of sal...Read More
The tungsten market remained cautiously bullish in Europe and China in the week to Friday October 18 due to lingering positive sentiment and tightening concentrate supply in China. The Chinese ammonium paratungstate export price rose by 4.3% week on week in response to continued strengthening in the Chinese market, but some market participants said they expect further uptrend momentum to be limite...Read More
Key data from the pricing sessions in Asia and Europe in the week to Friday October 18. China Key drivers The high end of the antimony, MMTA standard grade II, ddp China price range continued to rise after domestic suppliers increased their offer prices on lingering bullish sentiment. Trading activities waned after some consumers retreated from the market after completing st...Read More
An overview of the battery raw materials markets and their latest price moves.Read More
Turkish steel producers skipped the first working day of the week, with no deep-sea bookings concluded and prices steady, sources said on Monday October 21.As a result of lack of fresh trades, the daily scrap indices remained flat at the beginning of the week.Fastmarkets' daily index for steel scrap, HMS 1&2 (80:20 mix), Northern Europe origin, cfr Turkey, was...Read More