Import prices for steel slab in Southeast Asia and East Asia tumbled over the past week after producers accepted lower prices amid a bearish sentiment in the downstream flat steel markets, sources said on August 19.For instance, a flurry of short-selling activity has applied downward pressure to hot-rolled coil prices in Vietnam, with India-origin HRC actively trading due to sluggish demand in its...Read More
China's domestic rebar prices increased on Monday August 19 amid rising futures stimulated by plans unveiled by the central Chinese government to lower borrowing costs for companies.Domestic Eastern China (Shanghai): 3,700-3,730 yuan ($525-530) per tonne, up 30 yuan per tonneNorthern China (Beijing): 3,620-3,640 yuan per tonne, up 10 yuan per tonneChina will implement "market-oriented reform measu...Read More
Europe's high carbon ferro-chrome market dropped by over 4% to its lowest level in more than ten years amid weak demand, while the UG2 chrome ore index fell on aggressive bidding. European alloy price at lowest since May 2009 Chrome ore prices weaken in China Domestic and imported alloy prices hold in China Alloy prices hold in East Asia US price holds amid inactivity The E...Read More
Turkish steel pipe export prices have fallen in August due to limited demand, especially in Europe, during the summer season, sources said on Monday August 19.Fastmarkets' monthly price assessment for steel structural pipe export S235JR grade EN10219 2mm wall thickness, fob main port Turkey, was $560-570 per tonne on August 19, down from $560-580 per tonne...Read More
Ferro-vanadium prices in China retreated over the week ended Friday August 16 amid limited buying interest, while the price of vanadium pentoxide in Europe fell back from recent gains, following the trend in China. Chinese FeV, V2O5 export prices continue to soften, tracking domestic trends European FeV unchanged, V2O5 prices slip US ferro-vanadium prices narrow upward.The export price for ferro-v...Read More
After several weeks' decline, seaborne manganese ore prices in China registered some gains due to some producers holding offer prices comparatively firm, while the lingering bearish sentiment will likely put the market under downward bias in the coming weeks, sources said. Seaborne low-grade, high-grade manganese ore prices in China change direction. Silico-manganese prices edge down furthe...Read More
Nickel's three-month price on the London Metal Exchange was lower at the close of trading on Monday August 19, dipping below the $16,000-per-tonne support level amid a broadly low turnover across the complex, while a steady uptick in lead lead gains over the afternoon. Closing at $15,920 per tonne, nickel's futures price failed to close above its nearby support level after breaching the mark last...Read More
The Turkish steel producers have started what was expected to be another quiet week because of the sluggish demand for finished long steel during the summer holiday period, sources said on Monday August 19.The Turkish market and those in other Middle Eastern territories were closed August 12-15 for the Islamic Eid al-Adha celebrations, and many market participants were also away for summer holiday...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets MB stories you might have missed on Monday August 19 that are worth another look.Xinjiang Xinfa Aluminium, a subsidiary of Xinfa Group, was heard to have closed 500,000 tonnes of aluminium production operational lines at its plant in Xinjiang province, China due to an incident at its electrical transformer on August 18, sources told Fastmarkets on August 19.Ferr...Read More
Nickel's three-month price on the London Metal Exchange was lower at the close of trading on Monday August 19, dipping below the $16,000-per-tonne support level amid a broadly low turnover across the complex, while a steady uptick in lead lead gains over the afternoon. Closing at $15,920 per tonne, nickel's futures price failed to close above its nearby support level after breaching the mark last...Read More
The seaborne coking coal market had a muted start to the week on Monday August 19 amid this month's steady price decline.A cargo of premium low-vol hard coking coal was heard to have been traded at around $162 per tonne cfr China. But not enough details of the trade could be confirmed at the time of writing.Prices for premium hard coking coal on a cfr China basis are down by about 7% from...Read More
China's hot-rolled coil prices gained some more strength on Monday August 19 on news of a revamp in interest rates as well as tighter steelmaking restrictions in the country's northern region.DomesticEastern China (Shanghai): 3,730-3,740 yuan ($530-531) per tonne, up 10 yuan per tonneNorthern China (Tangshan): 3,730 yuan per tonne, up 10 yuan per tonnePrices in Shanghai rose as high as 3,740 yuan...Read More
Imperial Metals has completed the sale of a 70% stake in its wholly-owned Red Chris copper and gold mine in British Columbia, Canada to Newcrest Mining, creating a joint venture with Newcrest as the operator.The deal, initially announced in March, aims to use Melbourne, Australia-based Newcrest's block-caving expertise to mine the deep resource beneath the current open pits and exploit high grades...Read More
Europe's high carbon ferro-chrome market dropped by over 4% to its lowest level in more than ten years amid weak demand, while the UG2 chrome ore index fell on aggressive bidding. European alloy price at lowest since May 2009 Chrome ore prices weaken in China Domestic and imported alloy prices hold in China Alloy prices hold in East Asia US price holds amid inactivity The E...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets MB stories you might have missed on Monday August 19 that are worth another look.Xinjiang Xinfa Aluminium, a subsidiary of Xinfa Group, was heard to have closed 500,000 tonnes of aluminium production operational lines at its plant in Xinjiang province, China due to an incident at its electrical transformer on August 18, sources told Fastmarkets on August 19.Ferr...Read More
Xinjiang Xinfa Aluminium, a subsidiary of Xinfa Group, was heard to have closed 500,000 tonnes of aluminium production operational lines at its plant in Xinjiang province, China due to an incident at its electrical transformer on August 18, sources told Fastmarkets on Monday August 19.The total closure period is said to last at least three months while other sources have heard that the production...Read More
The three-month tin price on the London Metal Exchange was down by just under 2% during morning trading on Monday August 19, retesting its 2016 low amid a continued downtrend, while the largest delivery in LME nickel since May 2018 helped cool the metal's elevated price. Tin futures fell to an intra-morning low of $16,255 per tonne, with just 198 lots of metal exchanged as of 9:43am London time.&n...Read More
A wave of risk-on is flowing through broader markets this morning, Monday August 19, on expectations that central banks will provide stimulus going forward to cushion moves toward recession.The problem is that while this may provide some relief to markets, it is only being done because the global economy is slowing and that is bad for commodity demand.Asian equites are in positive territory, led b...Read More
Base metals prices on the Shanghai Futures Exchange were mostly down during morning trading on Monday August 19 while markets reacted to comments from US President Donald Trump over the weekend that the United States is "doing very well with China and talking" but suggested he was not ready to sign a deal.Aluminium was the lone metal in positive territory with a gain of 0.5%, while the rest were d...Read More
Brazilian apparent steel consumption fell in July on an annual basis, while weak economic performance pushed down domestic sales and imports alike, national steel association A??o Brasil said on Monday August 19.Consumption totaled 1.76 million tonnes in July, 7.1% lower than 1.89 million tonnes a year before, A??o Brasil data showed.Flat-rolled steel consumption was 1.03 million tonnes, down by 8...Read More