Hebei Steel set its purchase price for silico-manganese alloys at 7,850 yuan ($1,131) per tonne for August delivery, down by 50 yuan per tonne from the price for July-delivery cargoes, market sources told Fastmarkets on Monday August 5.The tender result, which was supposed to be released in the week ended on Friday August 2, did not come out until August 5 because of extended negotiations between...Read More
Sentiment was soft in the CIS export slab market in the first week of August, with modest demand from major buying outlets as well as weaker sales of finished flat steel both in customers' markets and domestically."I do not think mills will be able to hold prices at their current level any longer. The slab market is very soft," one trader told Fastmarkets on Monday August 5.A recent booking of Rus...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets MB stories you might have missed on Monday August 5 that are worth another look.The United States will impose additional tariffs on Chinese goods entering the country from the start of September, according to US President Donald Trump, which could hit shipments of metals and minerals from China to the US and suppress commodity consumption in the former. JSW Steel (US...Read More
Australian multi-metals miner Mincor Resources has signed a nickel-ore tolling and concentrate agreement with Anglo-Australian miner BHP Billiton, the companies announced on August 5.The agreement will give Mincor nickel-processing and sales rights to Nickel West, BHP Billiton's nickel-mining operation in the Kambalda district of Western Australia, specifically the right to process 600,000 tonnes...Read More
Tin's three-month price on the London Metal Exchange declined during morning trading on Monday August 5, maintaining its downward price action while nickel futures traded higher.Reaching an intra-morning low of $16,800 per tonne from a high of $17,025 per tonne, tin's futures price is down by some 1.3% on the day with just over 60 lots traded as of 9:05am London time. Selling pressure began t...Read More
Sentiment in financial markets continues to weaken following last week's collapse of US-China trade talks and US president Donald Trump's latest threat of tariffs on Chinese goods.Equities in Asia tumbled this morning, Monday August 5, and the yuan has dropped below seven to the dollar - the first time since 2008. Weakness in Asian currencies suggests wide-scale market unease. Gold price reaches a...Read More
Aluminium alloys from China will be subject to at least 20% in tariffs by September while for hundreds of steel products it will be at least 35% if the latest round of tariffs threatened against China take effect, sources indicated to Fastmarkets.That is because the new tariffs US President Donald Trump signaled against China will be on top of the Section 232 tariffs under an earlier act that cove...Read More
Base metals prices on the Shanghai Futures Exchange were little changed to down during morning trading on Monday August 5, with the complex coming under pressure from heightened US-China trade tensions and stock inflows at the end of last week. Investors have broadly taken a risk-off approach to trading this morning, awaiting a potential retaliatory response from China after US President Donald Tr...Read More
Plate prices in the United States were again unchanged during the week to Friday August 2, despite domestic plate mills' attempt to raise prices by $40 per short ton ($2 per hundredweight), which was announced a week before.Fastmarkets' price assessment for steel cut-to-length plate carbon grade, fob mill US, held at $35.50 per wt ($710 per ton) on August 2, where it has remained since July 1...Read More
Import prices for steel slab in Southeast Asia and East Asia nudged downward over the week to August 5 because of poor demand in both regions.During the week, one cargo involving at least 70,000 tonnes of slab and billet produced in Iran was booked at $415-420 per tonne cfr Southeast Asia for September shipment. Iranian prices are excluded from Fastmarkets' assessment, however, because they fall b...Read More
Uncertainties surrounding the trade war between China and the United States sapped trading activity in both the futures and physical markets for Chinese rebar on Monday August 5, resulting in prices falling further.Domestic Eastern China (Shanghai): 3,770-3,800 yuan ($546-551) per tonne, down 50 yuan per tonneNorthern China (Beijing): 3,730-3,760 yuan per tonne, down 20 yuan per tonneSeveral analy...Read More
The latest bids, offers and deals in the global markets for hot-rolled coil, cold-rolled coil, hot-dipped galvanized coil, pre-painted galvanized iron, steel plate, steel sheet and other flat steel products. Latest transaction: hot-rolled coilHot-rolled coilEast China, domestic, commercial-grade...Read More
China's hot-rolled coil prices fell further on Monday August 5 on weak demand caused by pessimism sparked by the country's trade tensions with the United States.DomesticEastern China (Shanghai): 3,720-3,730 yuan ($536-537) per tonne, down 40 yuan per tonneNorthern China (Tangshan): 3,750 yuan per tonne, down 30 yuan per tonneDespite mills keeping their official ex-works prices steady, thin trading...Read More
Turkish steel producers have not made any deep-sea bookings at the start of this week because of soft demand for finished long steel, sources said on Monday August 5.After the mills booked several deep-sea cargoes in the week ending July 26, they have backed out of the market."The mills in Turkey want to sell some [rebar] before resuming their...Read More
More deals have been made in the United States pig iron market at higher prices because of improved market fundamentals, sources told Fastmarkets during the week ended Friday August 2.Fastmarkets' price assessment for pig iron, import, cfr Gulf of Mexico, US, was $365-368 per tonne on Friday, widening upward from $365 per tonne a week before.Bookings of Ukraine-origin pig iron for September shipme...Read More
Domestic scrap prices in the Turkish market fell slightly over the past week due to weak demand for finished steel, sources said on Monday August 5.Several steel mills in the Izmir region reduced their buy prices for auto bundle scrap by around 20-55 Turkish lira ($4-10) per tonne over the past week.Long steel mill...Read More
Seaborne coking coal prices fell further on Monday August 5 with more cargoes being sold at prices below those achieved last week.Another deal was heard concluded at $161 per tonne fob Australia for a top-ranked brand, the same price as was agreed for a similar cargo on Friday of last week.Another shipment of such product, scheduled for loading at the end of September, was traded at $173 per tonne...Read More
Seaborne iron ore prices tumbled for a second day on Monday August 5 amid pessimistic sentiment generated by China's ongoing trade war with the United States, which picked up in intensity toward the end of last week.Fastmarkets' index for iron ore 62% Fe fines, cfr Qingdao: $100.56 per tonne, down $7.17 per tonne. Fastmarkets' index for iron ore 62% Fe Pilbara Blend Fines, cfr Qingdao: $99.06 per...Read More
The 65% Fe iron ore derivative contract offered by the Singapore Exchange (SGX) registered record levels of open interest and monthly traded volumes in July 2019, with the contract seeing participation from a diverse set of physical and financial stakeholders in the iron ore value chain.Open interest for the contract, which is settled on the basis of Fastmarkets' index for iron ore 65% Fe Brazil-o...Read More
The concentrate and pellet segments of the seaborne iron ore market continued to experience lackluster trading last week, which kept prices largely unchanged.ConcentrateThe weekly Fastmarkets index for iron ore 66% Fe concentrate, cfr Qingdao stood at $120.76 per tonne last Friday August 2, up $1.35 per tonne from a week earlier.The daily Fastmarkets index for iron ore 65% Fe Brazil-origin fines,...Read More