Reduced availability of materials for August shipments of hot-rolled coil and cold-rolled coil (HRC, CRC) from the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) was supporting the prices for the commodities, sources told Fastmarkets on Monday July 15.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel HRC, export, fob Black Sea, CIS, was $485-500 per tonne on July 15, up by $5 per tonne week on week.Ukraini...Read More
Sales of semi-finished steel products at Russia's largest steelmaker, Novolipetsk Steel (NLMK), dropped by 8% year on year in the second quarter of 2019 to 1.52 million tonnes, the company said this week.Slab sales totaled 1.51 million tonnes in the April-June period, down by 14% compared with the second quarter of 2018.Of this figure 577,000 tonnes were sold to third parties, down by 8,7% ye...Read More
Export prices for China-origin cold-rolled coil were stable during the week ended Tuesday July 16 despite sluggish demand in the export markets because of environmental restrictions imposed on blast furnace production in the East Asian country, market sources said.The continued supply tightness in the iron ore market was also expected to provide additional support to steel prices, a trader in Tian...Read More
Brazilian miner Vale expected its second-quarter results to be affected by adjustments in provisions it made for compensation payments related to the disaster at a tailings dam in Brumadinho, in the country's southeastern Minas Gerais state.The adjustments will include a deposit of 400 million Reais ($107 million) in compensation for collective moral damages to be made on August 6.The company repo...Read More
Turkish steel producers remained quiet in the deep-sea scrap markets, awaiting some signs of recovery in the finished steel sector, sources said on Tuesday July 16.The last verified scrap deal was on July 9 when a steel mill in the Iskenderun region booked a UK cargo at $288 per tonne cfr for HMS 1&2 (80:20).Since then, Turkish steel mills have stayed away from the deep-sea markets...Read More
Anglo-Australian miner Rio Tinto shipped 85.4 million tonnes of iron ore in the April-June quarter of 2019, but this volume was down by around 3% year on year, according to the company's second-quarter operations review published on Tuesday July 16.The lower shipments of 100% basis iron ore were due to disruptions to its operations when Western Australia was hit by Tropical Cyclone Veronica at the...Read More
The Turkish domestic scrap markets remained mostly quiet last week due to the subdued finished steel markets and the seasonal summer slowdown, sources said on Tuesday July 16.Steel mills have kept their buy prices for auto bundle scrap flat, but ship scrap prices increased slightly due to expectations of a rebound in the price...Read More
Export pig iron prices from the south of Brazil remained weak on uncertainty in both the scrap and iron ore markets, sources told Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for pig iron exported from the south-eastern Minas Gerais region of Brazil was down $5 at $310-315 per tonne fob on Friday July 12. After the assessment was published two sales were heard done at $315 per tonne...Read More
Seaborne iron ore lump premiums fell on Tuesday July 16, because cheaper alternatives were available at Chinese ports, market participants told Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets' index for iron ore 62% Fe fines, cfr Qingdao: $122.15 per tonne, up $0.74 per tonne. Fastmarkets' index for iron ore 62% Fe Pilbara Blend Fines, cfr Qingdao: $122.07 per tonne, up $0.74 per tonne. Fastmarkets' index for iron ore 62...Read More
Concerns about widening restrictions on imported coal at Chinese ports took center stage on Tuesday July 16, even as trading activity in the spot market remained subdued. A branded cargo changed hands at $180 per tonne fob Australia on the Global Coal platform, sources said during the day. The trade was not included in the calculation of Fastmarkets' fob DBCT index as it fell outside the eight-wee...Read More
The London Metal Exchange will list Huayou's cobalt cut cathodes with immediate effect, it announced in a note to members on Tuesday July 16.Huayou is based in China's Zhejiang province and has capacity for 2,000 tonnes per year. The approved listing is for cut cathode cobalt with...Read More
China's hot-rolled coil producers conceded to lower export prices on Tuesday July 16 despite some gains in the domestic market, with overseas buyers unwilling to pay too much for Chinese products.DomesticEastern China (Shanghai): 3,880-3,900 yuan ($564-567) per tonne, up 30 yuan per tonneNorthern China (Tianjin): 3,850-3,860 yuan per tonne, unchangedPrices picked up in Shanghai amid moderate tradi...Read More
China's domestic rebar prices picked up some strength on Tuesday July 16 on early gains in the futures market, but the export segment continued to soften on weak demand. Domestic Eastern China (Shanghai): 3,970-4,000 yuan ($577-582) per tonne, widened upward by 10 yuan per tonneNorthern China (Beijing): 3,890-3,920 yuan per tonne, up 20 yuan per tonneTraders raised prices during the day in respons...Read More
The London Metal Exchange three-month nickel price rallied by 2% during morning trading on Tuesday July 16, trading just below the $14,000 per tonne resistance level while the rest of the complex followed higher. Nickel futures have not breached $14,000 per tonne since August 2018, while turnover has consistently surpassed 10,000 lots exchanged per day since July 10. The three-month price has reac...Read More
Base metals prices on the Shanghai Futures Exchange were mostly little changed with a slight downward bias during morning trading on Tuesday July 16, with renewed dollar strength offsetting the positivity stemming from China's better-than-expected economic data released on Monday. The most-traded contracts for copper, aluminium, zinc and tin on the SHFE were down between 0.1% and 0.3% as at 9.31am...Read More
Ore and alloy prices were stable in most global spot markets in the week ended Friday July 12, with excess supply continuing to put pressure on producers. UG2 ore price, cif China, ticks up; Turkish lumpy ore stable Charge chrome market in China unchanged High-carbon ferro-chrome range ddp Europe widens Ferro-chrome price in Japan narrows downward.Falls in the market for chrome ore stalled last we...Read More
Trade negotiations between the United States and China following a meeting between the countries’ leaders on the sidelines of the Group of 20 (G20) summit in Japan at the end of last month have not progressed as well as investors had hoped. Instead, relations between the world’s two largest economies remain frosty following a report that China will sanction US firms that sell weapons to...Read More
U.S. equity index futures were mixed this morning. The S&P 500 futures were up one point in pre-opening trade.Index futures were virtually unchanged following release of June Housing Starts at 8:30 AM EDT. Consensus was a slip to 1.262 million units from 1.269 million units in May. Actual was 1.253 million unitsThe Canadian Dollar was virtually unchanged at U.S. 76.50 cents following release o...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
The three-month tin price on the London Metal Exchange fell by 2% at the close of trading on Monday July 15, dipping below the nearby $18,000 per tonne support level despite a predominantly positive trading session for the rest of the complex. Trading volumes were high for tin over the afternoon, with more than 450 lots of tin exchanged by the close. The metal's three-month price reached an intrad...Read More