Brazilian iron ore and base metals producer Vale will have a new chief financial officer from November 1, because current CFO Luciano Siani Pires has been nominated to become the company's vice president of strategy and business transformation, it said on Tuesday September 21.Siani has held the role of CFO for nine years. His replacement will be Gustavo Pimenta, currently CFO at United States-base...Read More
Seaborne iron ore prices rose sharply on Wednesday September 22 amid firmer prices traded on front-month swaps and on Chinese futures, sources said.Fastmarkets iron ore indices62% Fe fines, cfr Qingdao: $108.70 per tonne, up $15.67 per tonne62% Fe low-alumina fines, cfr Qingdao: $110.65 per tonne, up $16.69 per tonne58% Fe fines high-grade premium, cfr Qingdao: $76.25 per tonne, up $11.38 per tonn...Read More
Copper's three-month price was steadily above $9,000 per tonne, and tin was up by 3.4% with most prices on the London Metal Exchange rebounding above their psychological levels amid dip-buying and a softer dollar on the afternoon of Wednesday September 22. Copper's closing price on Wednesday was at $9,286 per tonne, a 3.5% increase on Tuesday's price. The red metal had touched $8,810 per tonne on...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
Teck Resources has trimmed its 2021 production guidance figures for refined zinc and concentrate and said that its copper concentrate shipment timing had been affected by wildfires and logistics disruptions in its home region of British Columbia, Canada.The company now expects its Trail operations to produce 285,000-290,000 tonnes of refined zinc in 2021, down from 290,000-300,000 tonnes previousl...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
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 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
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
Domestic prices for hot-rolled coil in northern Europe and Italy declined on Tuesday September 21 due to low trading activity, sources told Fastmarkets.Spot buyers have been holding back from making new orders because they have sufficient stocks and they expect domestic prices to move down further. Negative sentiment has been supported by reduced demand from the automotive segment. Car manufacture...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
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 20.The $100 million equity investment in Gates' Breakthrough Energy will be made over five years via ArcelorMittal's XCarb innovation fund, and will go toward scaling-up the...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
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
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
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
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
En+ Group is eyeing a partnership with the manufacturer of an electric vehicle to produce aluminium with low-carbon greenhouse gas emissions, its executive chairman told Fastmarkets.Speaking in an interview on Tuesday September 21, Lord Gregory Barker said that partnerships of this kind would "absolutely" become more common as the group scaled up its inert anode technology, which generates direct...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