Tom Bird, the head of Bureau of International Recycling (BIR), will leave his position as the chief operating officer of Chiho Environmental Group in November, Fastmarkets learned on Sunday October 13.Chiho Environmental is China's largest scrap metal recycling company. It runs 700 yards globally with extensive operations in the recycling of ferrous...Read More
There has been a significant rise in the number of Western Australian alumina cargoes imported into China over the past few weeks due to a widening arbitrage that has made it profitable to bring overseas material into the country. Market sources told Fastmarkets on Monday October 14 that they have heard a number of negotiations taking place to bring cargoes of Australian alumina into China. The la...Read More
As the United States' Section 232 tariffs on steel imports enter the second half of their second year, ferrous markets across the globe are still reeling from their effects.The tariffs - imposed after a year-long Section 232 investigation into whether imports of steel, as well as aluminium, posed a national security risk to the US - were vaunted as policies to safeguard the country's domestic indu...Read More
The three-month price of nickel on the London Metal Exchange was lower at the close of trading on Monday October 14, falling by more than 4% over the afternoon against high turnover while the majority of the base metals complex followed that downtrend.Nickel's outright price on the LME closed at $16,600 per tonne, falling by more than 4% from an intraday high of $17,545 per tonne, while more than...Read More
Seaborne coking coal prices moved up on Monday October 14 after Chinese end users returned to the spot market for the first time after a holiday in the first week of the month to mark China's National Day.Fastmarkets indicesPremium hard coking coal, fob DBCT: $146.62 per tonne, unchangedPremium hard coking coal, cfr Jingtang: $164.36 per tonne, up $4.86 per tonneHard coking coal, fob DBCT: $123.13...Read More
China's domestic hot-rolled coil prices strengthened on Monday October 14 amid steady demand, making export transactions challenging even though the country reached some form of a truce with the United States last Friday amid an ongoing trade spat.DomesticEastern China (Shanghai): 3,580-3,600 yuan ($505-508) per tonne, up 10-20 yuan per tonneNorthern China (Tangshan): 3,550 yuan per tonne, up 30 y...Read More
Tungsten prices in Europe and China rose again last week, attributed to continued bullish sentiment following the successful auction of Fanya ammonium paratungstate stocks at the end of last month. The Chinese ammonium paratungstate export price was pushed up last week by higher offers and a rise in the upstream tungsten concentrate price in China after market participants returned from a week-lon...Read More
Deep-sea scrap import prices in the Turkish market increased in the latest bookings heard for November shipments, sources said on Monday October 14.A steel mill in the Marmara region booked a Baltic Sea cargo on Monday, comprising 40,000 tonnes of HMS 1&2 (80:20) at $237 per tonne cfr.Another steel mill in the Izmir region also booked a Baltic Sea cargo, comprising 30,000 tonnes of HMS 1&2 (80:20)...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets MB stories you might have missed on Monday October 14 that are worth another look.Lower-carbon aluminium may not yet award producers with higher premiums, but it has started making a difference when consumers pick their suppliers, according to a key executive at Companhia Brasileira de Alum?-nio (CBA).The Bureau of International Recycling (BIR) will advocate for a Ch...Read More
Activity at the Mirador copper mine, Ecuador's first large-scale open pit mining operation, has been temporarily limited as a precautionary measure against social upheaval in the Andean country.Mine owner EcuaCorriente SA (ECSA) "has decided to temporarily limit operations in the Mirador mine, located in the Tundayme territory, Zamora Chinchipe province, following the ongoing social protests start...Read More
There has been a significant rise in the number of Western Australian alumina cargoes imported into China over the past few weeks due to a widening arbitrage that has made it profitable to bring overseas material into the country. Market sources told Fastmarkets on Monday October 14 that they have heard a number of negotiations taking place to bring cargoes of Australian alumina into China. The la...Read More
Nyrstar will shut its Langlois zinc and copper mine in Quebec, Canada, in December and has opened discussions with interested parties to sell it, the company said on Monday October 14.The mine will shut "due to rock conditions having deteriorated to the point where the company considers it uneconomic to continue...Read More
The three-month nickel price on the London Metal Exchange was lower during morning trading on Monday October 14, failing to hold on to last week's gains despite a continued draw on LME stocks. Nickel futures were recently trading at $17,275 per tonne against some 2,400 lots exchanged as at 9.10am London time, slightly improved from the intra-morning low of $17,175 per tonne.Exacerbating selling pr...Read More
Two new gold futures contracts launched by CME Group and the Shanghai Gold Exchange (SGE) made their debut on Monday October 14. The two new financially-settled contracts, denominated in US dollars and the offshore Chinese yuan, are based on the SGE Shanghai Gold Benchmark PM price. The move is to connect global market participants to the Chinese physical gold market. The SGE also launched a new T...Read More
Special bar quality (SBQ) steel prices in the United States fell again across the cold-finished and hot-rolled grades due to declining ferrous scrap prices, and demand from key end markets is expected to remain tepid for the rest of 2019.The price decrease stems from the $40-per-gross-ton decline in Chicago No1 busheling, a key feedstock for SBQ production. Fastmarkets understands that S...Read More
Steel plate prices in the United States did not move during the week to Friday October 11, while market participants stayed on the sidelines, fearing that prices could soon follow the steep drops that have taken place on the domestic ferrous scrap and hot-rolled coil markets.Fastmarkets' price assessment for steel cut-to-length plate carbon grade, fob mill US, held at $33.50 per hundredweight ($67...Read More
A summary of the financial results for Egypt's biggest steelmaking group, Ezz Steel, for the first half of 2019, between January 1 and June 30.In briefEarnings were down due to "the falling price of steel products and the rising costs of iron ore pellets. This pressure was increased by the exceptionally high costs of funding and energy in Egypt," Paul...Read More
Import prices for steel slab in Southeast Asia and East Asia fell during the past week, with market participants remaining bearish due to the ongoing plunge in downstream hot-rolled coil prices, sources told Fastmarkets."Margins for steel mills in Southeast Asia have been squeezed because of the decline in HRC prices, which has led to demands for lower slab prices," a source in Southeast Asia said...Read More
Import prices for rebar in Singapore resumed their downtrend over the past week due to ample supply.The weekly Fastmarkets price assessment for steel reinforcing bar (rebar) import, cfr Singapore - which mainly looks at cargoes sold into Singapore on a theoretical-weight basis - was $420-425 per tonne for the week to Monday October 14, down $10 per tonne from a week earlier.Qatari rebar offered at...Read More
Chinese import demand for hot-rolled coil (HRC) in Asia failed to support upward movement in spot prices on Monday October 14. Fastmarkets' steel HRC import, cfr Vietnam assessment, which mainly looks at Chinese 2-3mm re-rolling-grade SAE1006 HRC and equivalent products sold into Vietnam, was $425-430 per tonne cfr for the week ending Monday October 14, down by $15 per tonne from a week earlier.&n...Read More