Eastern China's hot-rolled coil prices recovered some losses on Thursday August 8, building on a pick-up in trading activity on Wednesday afternoon.DomesticEastern China (Shanghai): 3,710-3,730 yuan ($526-529) per tonne, up 20-30 yuan per tonneNorthern China (Tangshan): 3,740 yuan per tonne, unchangedA Shanghai-based trader said sellers in the city raised prices to 3,730 yuan per tonne in the morn...Read More
The Brazilian scrap market is facing a downturn in prices this year, despite the fact that material generation is currently at a low level, sources told Fastmarkets on Thursday August 8.Prices of ferrous scrap have fallen by around 40-45% from January to date, due to the weak performance of the long steel sector and high scrap inventories in mills, market participants said.In some mills in the sou...Read More
Ferrous scrap prices are expected to remain stable in the United States through the second half of the year, compared with the downward momentum during the first six months, despite the recent recovery in prices, Gerdau chief executive officer Gustavo Werneck said on Wednesday August 8.While US scrap prices rebounded in the August trade, Werneck did not expect that upward movement to continue over...Read More
Brazilian steel producer Gerdau took a stronger stance in negotiations with pig iron and ferrous scrap suppliers in the second quarter to keep its metal spread from falling, chief executive officer Gustavo Werneck said in a conference call on Wednesday August 7."It has been difficult to pass on higher production costs in a low-demand scenario [by way of higher product prices], so we needed to take...Read More
The Brazilian scrap market is facing a downturn in prices this year, despite the fact that material generation is currently at a low level, sources told Fastmarkets on Thursday August 8.Prices of ferrous scrap have fallen by around 40-45% from January to date, due to the weak performance of the long steel sector and high scrap inventories in mills, market participants said.In some mills in the sou...Read More
Scrap metal cargoes from Japan have been refused entry into South Korea over the past two weeks after the country's customs started asking for certificates to prove radiation levels, sources told Fastmarkets. South Korea has also stepped up radiation checks on Japanese ferrous scrap imports, with inspectors reportedly boarding "every single vessel transporting Japanese ferrous scrap... to carry ou...Read More
The Turkish deep-sea scrap markets went quiet again one day after the sale of a US-origin cargo because the mills were expecting lower prices, sources said on Thursday August 8.A steel mill in the Iskenderun region booked a US cargo of HMS 1&2 (90:10) and shredded at an average price of $294 per tonne cfr on August 7, which sent the daily indices down by almost $4 per tonne on the day.But the mill...Read More
Billet prices in the Turkish domestic and import markets have weakened over the past seven days because of poor demand and a downturn in raw materials prices, sources said on Thursday August 8.Negative sentiment continued to dominate the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) export market for steel billet in the first week of August, amid a weakening of the finished long steel markets and the r...Read More
The prices of steel billet and rebar in Egypt were stable in the week ended Thursday August 8 on demand that remained weak due to the continuing uncertainty over the country's import duties."Most of next week will be Eid al-Adha [religious] holiday, so there was no buying this week," a local market source told Fastmarkets.In April, Egypt imposed a temporary additional import duty on rebar and bill...Read More
Prices in Southeast Asia's steel billet market declined after a major producer in India sold competitively priced cargoes into the region, sources said."The Indian producer reduced its asking price to attract customers because of limited buying interest in its domestic market during the country's monsoon season," a trader in Southeast Asia said.The transactions were reportedly concluded at $440-44...Read More
Brazilian steelmaker Gerdau has decided to postpone some of its capacity expansion investments expected for 2019 amid a weaker-than-expected local economy, while reporting year-on-year output growth for the second quarter.It has maintained, however, its 7.1 billion Reais ($1.79 billion) total capital expenditure plan through 2021.The company estimated 1.84 billion Reais of investments for 2019, a...Read More
The Brazilian scrap market is facing a downturn in prices this year, despite the fact that material generation is currently at a low level, sources told Fastmarkets on Thursday August 8.Prices of ferrous scrap have fallen by around 40-45% from January to date, due to the weak performance of the long steel sector and high scrap inventories in mills, market participants said.In some mills in the sou...Read More
The three-month nickel price on the London Metal Exchange continued its uptrend at the close of trading on Thursday August 8, cooling from an intraday high of $16,690 per tonne to close just short of $16,000 per tonne, while lead's continued rise saw its outright price close at more than $2,000 per tonne.Nickel futures closed at $15,880 per tonne on Thursday afternoon, holding near their highest l...Read More
Scrap metal cargoes from Japan have been refused entry into South Korea over the past two weeks after the country's customs started asking for certificates to prove radiation levels, sources told Fastmarkets. South Korea has also stepped up radiation checks on Japanese ferrous scrap imports, with inspectors reportedly boarding "every single vessel transporting Japanese ferrous scrap... to carry ou...Read More
Brazilian steelmaker Gerdau has decided to postpone some of its capacity expansion investments expected for 2019 amid a weaker-than-expected local economy, while reporting year-on-year output growth for the second quarter.It has maintained, however, its 7.1 billion Reais ($1.79 billion) total capital expenditure plan through 2021.The company estimated 1.84 billion Reais of investments for 2019, a...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets MB stories you might have missed on Thursday August 8 that are worth another look.The meeting of battery materials market participants at Antaike's Battery Materials conference in Guiyang, China, came just as news broke of Glencore's plan to put one of its copper-cobalt mines on care and maintenance - Fastmarkets covers the Chinese market reaction and other topics of disc...Read More
Shigemoto Toma joined Anglo American in Singapore last week as a senior base metals trader to expand the company's physical and financial trading book and help its shift towards being a miner-trader.Toma has joined the copper trading team, Anglo confirmed on Thursday August 8.Toma, who had been part of Macquarie's base metals trading team since February 2018, had mostly focused on aluminium...Read More
The three-month nickel price on the London Metal Exchange continued its uptrend at the close of trading on Thursday August 8, cooling from an intraday high of $16,690 per tonne to close just short of $16,000 per tonne, while lead's continued rise saw its outright price close at more than $2,000 per tonne.Nickel futures closed at $15,880 per tonne on Thursday afternoon, holding near their highest l...Read More
Seaborne coking coal prices largely leveled off on Thursday August 8 after some volatility and relatively active trading earlier this week.A Chinese steelmaker is heard to have bought a Panamax cargo of top brand premium hard coking coal at $171-172 per tonne cfr China, compared with a traded level of $173 per tonne cfr late last week.A lower ranked brand of hard coking coal changed hands at about...Read More
The seaborne iron ore market halted its downward spiral on Thursday August 8, with the return of some buying interest keeping prices from falling for a seventh consecutive trading day. Fastmarkets' index for iron ore 62% Fe fines, cfr Qingdao: $94.12 per tonne, up $0.81 per tonne.Fastmarkets' index for iron ore 62% Fe Pilbara Blend Fines, cfr Qingdao: $92.62 per tonne, up $0.81 per tonne.Fastmarke...Read More