The Turkish steel producers have continued their deep-sea purchases for November shipments, sources said on Tuesday October 1.A steel mill in the Marmara region booked a 32,000-tonne US-origin cargo, comprising HMS 1&2 (80:20) at $226 per tonne, shredded at $231 per tonne and bonus at $236 per tonne cfr. The cargo composition, however, was not clear at the time of...Read More
Seaborne iron ore prices were flat on Tuesday October 1 at the start of the week-long public holiday in China.Fastmarkets iron ore indices62% Fe fines, cfr Qingdao: $93.38 per tonne, unchanged.62% Fe Pilbara Blend fines, cfr Qingdao: $92.91 per tonne, unchanged.62% Fe low-alumina fines, cfr Qingdao: $91.72 per tonne, unchanged.58% Fe fines high-premium, cfr Qingdao: $82.28 per...Read More
Some major Chinese scrap importers have stopped buying from overseas over fears of not receiving quotas for the fourth quarter of 2019, leading them to postpone deliveries until March next year after Lunar New Year, Fastmarkets has learned. Many buyers in Ningbo province, a major destination for No2 copper scrap imports to China, have already used up their quotas assigned earlier and some of them...Read More
CIS export billet prices continued to slide as several new bookings were closed with discounts,sources told Fastmarkets on Tuesday October 1."The major issue today is not even scrap, but low finished long still prices and reduced demand for them," one trader said.Late last week a cargo of October-rolling billet from Russia was...Read More
Import and domestic prices for steel rebar in the United Arab Emirates fell this week because of soft demand, sources said on Tuesday October 1.The new reduced domestic rebar prices for the month were announced on September 26.Billet importsBillet was on offer from Oman at about $405 per tonne cpt, and $390-400 per tonne cfr from India.One deal for 5,000 tonnes was...Read More
The European charge and high carbon ferro-chrome benchmark has dropped 2 cents to $1.02 per lb for the fourth quarter of 2019. The settlement is announced every quarter by Merafe Resources, which operates a chrome joint venture with trader-miner Glencore in South Africa. The benchmark is a forward-looking price for the coming quarter and some market participants see the small quarter-on-quarter de...Read More
Adjustments to EU safeguard measures will "stabilize trade flows by containing import concentrations from certain exporting countries," the European steel association Eurofer said on Tuesday October 1.Although the changes will result in improvements, "the result is still not sufficient for a large part of the sector, especially given that it is facing depressed domestic steel demand," Eurofer said...Read More
Some major Chinese scrap importers have stopped buying from overseas over fears of not receiving quotas for the fourth quarter of 2019, leading them to postpone deliveries until March next year after Lunar New Year, Fastmarkets has learned. Many buyers in Ningbo province, a major destination for No2 copper scrap imports to China, have already used up their quotas assigned earlier and some of them...Read More
Turkey exported 381,915 tonnes of flat steel products in August 2019, according to the Turkish Statistical Institute (TUIK), up by 7.11% year on year from the 356,568 tonnes exported in August 2018. Despite negative sentiment in the flat steel market in Europe in July, when orders for August shipping were placed, there was still a moderate increase in...Read More
A summary of base metals premiums from across the globe for the week to Tuesday October 1.Please click...Read More
Poor demand and mounting competition from imports will continue to challenge the European hot-rolled coil (HRC) market, supporting a negative trend in the fourth quarter of 2019, market sources have told Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel HRC, domestic, exw Northern Europe, was ?,?450-460 ($491-502) per tonne on September 25, down by ?,?5-10 per tonne week on week and down...Read More
Ferro-alloys prices will continue to trade lower going into 2020 amid slowing economic and steel production growth, Fastmarkets analyst, Amy Bennett, told delegates at the North-American Ferro-alloys conference in Chicago last week."Although ferro-alloy prices will almost certainly trend lower in 2020, given the weakening economic fundamentals, we do not expect to see prices retreat to 2015/2016 l...Read More
Fastmarkets rounds up six key takeaways from its first Battery Materials Europe conference in Amsterdam, which took place on September 26-27.Battery boom warrants evolution of cobalt pricing mechanisms Cobalt hydroxide and cobalt sulfate account for a growing portion of the cobalt market, which reflects growth - and forecasts for future growth - in EV demand. While cobalt metal prices have traditi...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets MB stories you might have missed on Tuesday October 1 that are worth another look.Chilean miner Codelco has increased its United States' annual copper cathode premium to 3.1 cents per lb for 2020 supply, making it the benchmark's highest level since 2016, sources close to the matter confirmed to Fastmarkets.The benchmark premium paid for the supply of aluminium to main Ja...Read More
Following a flip in global steel and ferrous trade flow trends last year caused by economic jitters in Turkey, trade defenses by the United States and production cuts in China, this year it is steel prices that are turning upside down. Hot-rolled coil (HRC) prices are now below rebar prices in a phenomenon rarely seen outside of the Chinese domestic markets. HRC import prices in Vietnam have...Read More
The whole battery supply chain will benefit from lithium benchmark pricing, Fastmarkets head of battery raw materials research William Adams says as he explores what is driving auto manufacturers to support this pricing mechanism. The auto industry is going through a period of unprecedented change due to companies introducing electric vehicles (EV) into their portfolios alongside internal combusti...Read More
The dream of building a new world-class copper-gold mine in Pakistan in an area bordering Afghanistan and Iran has been dashed, for now at least. The saga of Tethyan Copper Co's (TCC) efforts to develop the Reko Diq mine found resolution last week with an International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) ruling in favor of TCC following a dispute that has rumbled on for years.TCC,...Read More
Ferro-alloys prices will continue to trade lower going into 2020 amid slowing economic and steel production growth, Fastmarkets analyst, Amy Bennett, told delegates at the North-American Ferro-alloys conference in Chicago last week."Although ferro-alloy prices will almost certainly trend lower in 2020, given the weakening economic fundamentals, we do not expect to see prices retreat to 2015/2016 l...Read More
Prices of cobalt metal, salts and hydroxide continued their upward momentum in September, while the chemical prices outperformed amid strong demand incited by concerns of supply tightness following the news on Glencore's Mutanda mine closure in early August. Price moves The rally in the benchmark cobalt price slowed in September with aggressive trader stockpiling drying up, amid limited restocking...Read More
The three-month tin price on the London Metal Exchange was the standout performer at the close of trading on Tuesday October 1, closing over 2% higher amid high turnover while mixed trading pushed zinc futures 2.4% lower. Trading at an intraday low of $15,950 per tonne, LME tin's outright price broke past the $16,000-per-tonne threshold over the morning session, settling at $16,250 per tonne by 5p...Read More