An overview of the battery raw materials markets and their latest price moves.Read More
China's battery grade lithium carbonate and hydroxide prices hit fresh 2019 lows in the week ended Thursday July 11 with more producers lowering prices to boost sales amid subdued downstream demand and a negative short-term outlook. Battery grade lithium carbonate spot price in China fell as low as 68,000 yuan per tonne. Technical and industrial grade lithium carbonate spot prices followed t...Read More
Flat-rolled steel import prices in South America trended in different directions in the week to Friday July 12, as the current Chinese upturn provided a tailwind while hot-rolled coil and Galvalume were influenced by discounted deals.Fastmarkets' price assessment for steel cold-rolled coil import, cfr main ports South America, was $575-585 per tonne on Friday July 12, up by $5 from $570-580 per to...Read More
Import bookings of hot-rolled coil (HRC) into India have come to a standstill because of tariff uncertainties, with buyers fearing that the government may soon impose a safeguard duty on flat steel imports.Japanese and South Korean mills which regularly sell HRC to Indian importers made no fresh offers in the week ended Friday July 12 because importers are not willing to open letters of credit, ev...Read More
Fastmarkets examines hot-rolled coil and plate prices across the United States, China and the European Union, to determine what influence - if any - the two carbon steel products have on each other's pricing movements.US: Is the wider spread between HRC and plate the "new normal"?The wide spread between prices for hot-rolled coil and plate has been blamed for the fast-falling US plate market in th...Read More
China's finished steel exports in January-June 2019 dropped by 2.6% from the corresponding period of last year. China exported 34.4 million tonnes of finished steel over the first six months of this year, according preliminary Chinese customs data released on Friday July 12. The country shipped 5.31 million tonnes of finished steel abroad in June, down 23.5% from 6.94 million tonnes a...Read More
A weakening of rebar futures in China on Friday July 12 led to participants withdrawing from the spot market for the long steel product, resulting in a drop in trading activity and keeping prices at a standstill for a second day. Domestic Eastern China (Shanghai): 3,980-4,000 yuan ($579-582) per tonne, unchangedNorthern China (Beijing): 3,880-3,910 yuan per tonne, unchangedTraders kept prices flat...Read More
The latest bids, offers and deals in the global markets for rebar, wire rod, steel beams and other long steel products. Latest transaction: rebarRebar East China, domestic, grade...Read More
Movements in the ferrous scrap prices around the world were mixed in the week ended Friday July 12, with prices in Asia supported by steady demand and higher offers while prices in the United States and Turkey fell on thin spot trading activity. Turkey sees limited import trades US East Coast exporters see bearish demand Asian import prices up but downtrends possible Monsoon in India reduces spot...Read More
Import pig iron prices in the United States picked up in the week ended Friday July 12 on reduced availability from the Commonwealth of Independent States, sources have told Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets' price assessment for pig iron, import, cfr Gulf of Mexico, US, was $360 per tonne on Friday, up from $350-355 per tonne a week before."There is deferred demand for pig iron in the US, while we [supplie...Read More
Export prices for pig iron from the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) increased on reduced availability, sources told Fastmarkets this week.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for CIS high-manganese pig iron exports, fob main port Black Sea was $335-340 per tonne on Thursday July 11, up from $325-335 per tonne a week earlier."[Ukraine's] Metinvest cut availability due to lack of...Read More
The CIS export billet market started to show signs of weakening on Friday July 12, with customers growing cautious after the recent drop in scrap prices in Turkey and uncertainty over import duties in Egypt.Fastmarkets' daily CIS export billet index was $423 per tonne fob Black Sea down by $2 on Friday.In Egypt, some steel mills have appealed against last week's decision to suspend...Read More
Prices in Southeast Asia's steel billet market fell on Friday July 12 because of sluggish demand in the key import markets of Indonesia and the Philippines.The price was also pressured downward during the week by a decline in scrap prices in the bellwether Turkish market and the availability of competitively priced Japanese billet.The downturn in Japan's domestic ferrous scrap market, coupled with...Read More
A weakening of rebar futures in China on Friday July 12 led to participants withdrawing from the spot market for the long steel product, resulting in a drop in trading activity and keeping prices at a standstill for a second day. Domestic Eastern China (Shanghai): 3,980-4,000 yuan ($579-582) per tonne, unchangedNorthern China (Beijing): 3,880-3,910 yuan per tonne, unchangedTraders kept prices flat...Read More
The European stainless steel market were stable this week in typically quiet summer trading, sources said on Friday June 12. Fastmarkets' stainless steel cold-rolled sheet 2mm grade 304 transaction domestic, delivered North Europe price was ?,?2,125-2,200 ($2,393-2,478) per tonne on Friday, unchanged week on week.Demand in most of Europe remains low but Scandinavia is a major exception. One distri...Read More
New stainless steel futures that the Shanghai Futures Exchange is looking to launch by the end of 2019 could support physical trading activity and increase liquidity in the spot market, sources told Fastmarkets this week."This could increase liquidity in the spot markets because market participants can have a clearer idea of future price trends," an industry source said.SHFE chairman Jiang Yan las...Read More
Chinese steelmakers are importing billet because of the reduction in domestic supplies caused by China's environmental restrictions on blast furnace production.Billet from Turkey, Iran, Qatar, Russia and Malaysia has been sold into China, market sources said, due to open arbitrage window between domestic and international prices."About 200,000-300,000 tonnes of billet from the Middle East will mak...Read More
Flat-rolled steel import prices in South America trended in different directions in the week to Friday July 12, as the current Chinese upturn provided a tailwind while hot-rolled coil and Galvalume were influenced by discounted deals.Fastmarkets' price assessment for steel cold-rolled coil import, cfr main ports South America, was $575-585 per tonne on Friday July 12, up by $5 from $570-580 per to...Read More
Movements in the ferrous scrap prices around the world were mixed in the week ended Friday July 12, with prices in Asia supported by steady demand and higher offers while prices in the United States and Turkey fell on thin spot trading activity. Turkey sees limited import trades US East Coast exporters see bearish demand Asian import prices up but downtrends possible Monsoon in India reduces spot...Read More
Import bookings of hot-rolled coil (HRC) into India have come to a standstill because of tariff uncertainties, with buyers fearing that the government may soon impose a safeguard duty on flat steel imports.Japanese and South Korean mills which regularly sell HRC to Indian importers made no fresh offers in the week ended Friday July 12 because importers are not willing to open letters of credit, ev...Read More