Turkish rebar export prices increased slightly this week, while wire rod prices remained largely unchanged, sources said told Fastmarkets on Thursday July 11.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel reinforcing bar (rebar) export, fob main port Turkey, was $455-465 per tonne on an actual-weight basis on July 11, narrowing up from last week's $445-465 per tonne.Turkish steel mills...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets MB stories you might have missed on Thursday July 11 that are worth another look.Mexican steel association Canacero has denied that Mexican fabricated structural steel producers who export to the United States have been receiving subsidies, as alleged by US authorities.One of the world's biggest copper miners, Chile's Antofagasta, began to break away from the tr...Read More
Lead's three-month price on the London Metal Exchange was higher at the close of trading on Thursday July 11, climbing by around 2% through the day to approach the nearby resistance level at $2,000 per tonne, a threshold the metal has not surpassed since April this year.Three-month lead futures closed at $1,972 per tonne in the afternoon, while total volumes traded were at their highest since Octo...Read More
The London Metal Exchange nickel price rose to a three-month high of $13,140 per tonne during Thursday morning trading following news from Indonesia's Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources that the country will stop the export of unprocessed laterite ore in 2022. (This article was corrected to clarify that the proposed export ban could come into effect in 2022, not until 2022 as previously stat...Read More
Seaborne coking coal prices retreated on Thursday July 11, which left some participants in China surprised over the quantum of the decline, though they had no doubts about the direction of the market. A cargo of premium hard coking coal was heard to have been traded at $186 per tonne cfr China, down $5 per tonne compared with a transaction involving the same brand earlier this week."I am not sure...Read More
The Turkish steel producers have gone another day without making any deep-sea scrap bookings because of the slowdown in the finished and semi-finished steel markets, sources said on Thursday July 11.A steel mill in the Iskenderun region had booked a UK cargo on July 9 at $288 per tonne cfr for HMS 1&2 (80:20). The mills then went quiet in the deep-sea scrap markets.But market participants...Read More
Argosy Minerals has started lithium carbonate production at its industrial-scale pilot plant at its flagship Rincon lithium project in Argentina, it said late last week. The Australian junior lithium miner owns 77.5% of Puna Mining SA, the company that holds 100% of Rincon, which is located in the northern province of Salta in the South American lithium triangle. Upon reaching the commercial opera...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets MB stories you might have missed on Thursday July 11 that are worth another look.Mexican steel association Canacero has denied that Mexican fabricated structural steel producers who export to the United States have been receiving subsidies, as alleged by US authorities.One of the world's biggest copper miners, Chile's Antofagasta, began to break away from the tr...Read More
The London Metal Exchange nickel price rose to a three-month high of $13,140 per tonne during Thursday morning trading following news from Indonesia's Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources that the country will stop the export of unprocessed laterite ore in 2022. (This article was corrected to clarify that the proposed export ban could come into effect in 2022, not until 2022 as previously stat...Read More
Nickel's three-month price on the London Metal Exchange was higher during morning trading on Thursday July 11, building on Wednesday's gains above the $13,000-per-tonne threshold amid a continued drawdown on LME stocks. The metal's futures price reached an intra-morning high of $13,140 per tonne, with some 2,700 lots of nickel exchanged as of 8:55am London time. Total LME inventories continue to s...Read More
Although rate cut expectations encouraged the London Metal Exchange three-month base metals prices to move higher yesterday, they have started to weaken in early trading today, Thursday July 11, and been unable to attract follow-through buying. In his prepared remarks, Federal Reserve Chairman Gerome Powell last night noted that uncertainties since the June FOMC meeting continued to dim...Read More
Nickel premiums in China continued to fall in the week ended Tuesday July 9 on import arbitrage losses, while the traditional summer slowdown kept premiums in Europe and the United States unchanged. Chinese premiums continue adjusting back down after recent peaks.European premiums not swayed by falling three-month nickel price on the London Metal Exchange.US premiums hold, although low end of rang...Read More
Base metals prices on the Shanghai Futures Exchange were mostly up in morning trading on Thursday July 11 amid US dollar weakness following dovish comments by US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, while nickel rallied on reports of a possible ore ban by Indonesia.The dollar index dipped by 0.07 to 96.98 as at 9.50am Shanghai time. "The US dollar is on the back foot after Federal Reserve Chair Po...Read More
The market for flat-rolled steel imports into the United States has remained broadly quiet and uncompetitive, but foreign products could become attractive once again in the wake two rounds of domestic mill increases announced over the past two weeks, market participants said."My focus had been international, and now it's completely dead," one mill source commented.Hot-rolled coilFastmarkets' ...Read More
Salzgitter Flachstahl, a flat steel subsidiary of German steelmaker Salzgitter, plans to build a hot-dipped galvanizing (HDG) line with capacity for 500,000 tonnes per year, the company said on Thursday July 11.The new production facility will be intended to supplement the company's existing capacities."This project is a key component in the strategy of the Salzgitter Group that focuses on qualita...Read More
Ukraine's largest producer of long steel, ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih, is performing hot tests of one of two new continuous casting machines, designated CCM No2 and CCM No3, the company announced on Thursday July 11."The machine will be put into operation in the third quarter of 2019," the company said in a recent release, adding that the second new CCM will be ready by the end of the year.The constr...Read More
The Turkish domestic long steel markets have remained quiet over the past week amid sluggish summertime demand, sources told Fastmarkets on Thursday July 11.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel reinforcing bar (rebar), domestic, exw Turkey, was TRY3,100-3,130 ($542-547) per tonne on Thursday, widening upward slightly from last week's TRY3,100-3,120 per tonne.The...Read More
The price of steel billet imported into Egypt increased in the week to Thursday July 11 because of higher offers, despite the poor domestic demand."Offer prices are increasing but there are no bookings because of the uncertainty about safeguard duties," a local market source told Fastmarkets.In April, Egypt imposed a temporary additional duty on rebar and billet in response to increased import vol...Read More
Seaborne iron ore prices fell on Thursday July 11, with demand weakening because of steel production restrictions in north China. Fastmarkets' index for iron ore 62% Fe fines, cfr Qingdao: $119.37 per tonne, down $1.59 per tonne. Fastmarkets' index for iron ore 62% Fe Pilbara Blend Fines, cfr Qingdao: $119.29 per tonne, down $1.59 per tonne. Fastmarkets' index for iron ore 62% Fe low alumina fines...Read More
Seaborne coking coal prices retreated on Thursday July 11, which left some participants in China surprised over the quantum of the decline, though they had no doubts about the direction of the market. A cargo of premium hard coking coal was heard to have been traded at $186 per tonne cfr China, down $5 per tonne compared with a transaction involving the same brand earlier this week."I am not sure...Read More