The weekly price for rebar produced and delivered in Northern Europe remained unchanged on Wednesday, June 26,, as mills maintained price levels ahead of the renewal of EU import quotas on July 1, sources told Fastmarkets.Market activity was "a little quiet this week, and we haven't sold much material in Northern Europe," one European producer source said.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment...Read More
Brazilian mining company Vale will spend an additional $450 million on safety and environmental recovery in the city of Brumadinho, in the country's Minas Gerais state, until 2023 after an iron ore tailings dam collapsed in January, the company said on Wednesday June 26.This adds to the $4.5-billion financial impact already disclosed by Vale in its first-quarter earnings report. Fines, compensatio...Read More
Turkish steel producers continued to be quiet in the deep-sea scrap markets with little demand for July shipment cargoes, sources said on Wednesday June 26.Mills in the country stepped away from the deep-sea markets last week after booking several cargoes for July.Some sources believe that domestic steel producers in Turkey still need a few more cargoes, but told Fastmarkets the mills&nb...Read More
Iron ore prices rebounded on Wednesday June 26 amid strong activity on trading platforms.MB 62% Fe Iron Ore Index: $117.63 per tonne cfr Qingdao, up $3.17 per tonne. MB 62% Fe Pilbara Blend Fines Index: $115.67 per tonne cfr Qingdao, up $2.41 per tonne. MB 62% Fe Iron Ore Index-Low Alumina: $117.85 per tonne cfr Qingdao, up $2.14 per tonne. MB 58% Fe Premium Index: $104.52 per tonne cfr Qingdao, d...Read More
Fastmarkets is extending until July 31 the consultation period for its proposal to launch a daily containerized steel scrap cfr Vietnam assessment.Responses to the original consultation could not definitively define the liquidity of a daily spot market and its suitability for a daily price assessment.The proposed specification is as follows:Assessment: Steel scrap HMS 1&2 (80:20) containerized imp...Read More
Seaborne coking coal prices weakened further on Wednesday June 26, and market participants are not expecting them to pick up anytime soon.A cargo of a top Australian brand, scheduled for loading over July 10-24, was sold to a northeastern end user at $200 per tonne cfr China."Two other top Australian brands were offered at $202 per tonne and $203 per tonne cfr China, so evidently this was the best...Read More
Japan's Tokyo Steel has cut its ferrous scrap purchase price for the sixth time in June on the back of squeezed margins and weak demand.The country's largest operator of electric-arc furnaces, and the domestic benchmark price-setter for ferrous scrap, lowered its purchase prices by ?500-1,000 ($4.67-9.34) on Wednesday June 26.The reduction resulted in the mill paying ?27,000 per tonne...Read More
Fastmarkets is standardizing the names of some of its steel price assessments to better reflect incoterms and trading locations. In this standardization process, we will remove from the price names the region from country-specific assessments and specify in clearer detail the pricing location of some domestic China prices. Please see the table below for more details:Although Fastmarkets has amende...Read More
China's rebar prices were unchanged on Wednesday June 26 amid softer spot demand and a slight rise in the futures market. Domestic Eastern China (Shanghai): 3,900-3,950 yuan ($567-574) per tonne, unchangedNorthern China (Beijing): 3,770-3,800 yuan per tonne, unchangedRebar futures edged up during the day but failed to push up spot prices.Continual rain in eastern China this week dampened end-user...Read More
Base metals on the London Metal Exchange were barely changed during a subdued morning session on Wednesday June 26, with a firmer dollar and sluggish US economic data constraining trading.Market analysts therefore remain cautious while optimism ebbs and flows, broadly capping any gains across the complex."The rebound momentum in the LME base metals earlier this week may all be mere short-covering...Read More
The bullish momentum seen on Tuesday June 25 seems to have run its course because base metals prices were mostly mixed in the early Asian trading session on Wednesday. Markets seem to have already priced in the positivity surrounding an upcoming meeting between US president Donald Trump and China's Xi Jinping at the Group of Twenty (G20) summit in Japan later this week.Both countries are seeking t...Read More
Base metals prices on the Shanghai Futures Exchange were split into two camps during Asian morning trading on Wednesday June 26, with copper, nickel and zinc securing gains while the rest weakened marginally.The mixed moves come as a slight recovery in the dollar offsets the optimism stemming from recent trade developments ahead of upcoming talks between US President Donald Trump and China's Xi Ji...Read More
An overview of the minor metals markets and the reasons for any price moves.Read More
Key data from the Fastmarkets' Wednesday June 26 pricing session in Europe.Key drivers The European ferro-titanium price fell for the fifth consecutive week after six weeks of stability. Demand has been quieter since an initial bout of short-covering in mid-April when major European producer FE Mottram stopped production after a fire damaged its UK plant.FE Mottram aims to restart production aroun...Read More
The following Fastmarkets minor metals prices changed on Wednesday June 26:Antimony MB free market regulus, $/tonne: $6,300-6,500 per tonne from $6,300-6,550Cobalt MB free market alloy grade, $/lb: $14.35-14.80 per lb from $14.50-15.15Cobalt MB free...Read More
UK aluminium alloy producers have been forced to close smelters or partially cease production as a confluence of weakening automotive sector demand for material, sluggish regional gross domestic product (GDP) growth and tariff uncertainty continues to push LM24 ingot prices lower. Market participants have reported rumors that three prominent UK secondary aluminium smelters have ceased operations w...Read More
The following Fastmarkets UK non-ferrous scrap and foundry ingot prices changed on Wednesday June 26:Aluminium scrapCommercial pure cuttings: ?900-950 per tonne from ?920-960Loose old rolled cuttings: ?635-650 per tonne from ?650-665Commercial cast: ?700-750 per...Read More
US Durable Goods Orders down 0.2% (NSA) in May, negatively diverging from the 2.9% average increase for this time of year. $MACRO #Economy #ManufacturingBlackBerry $BB.CA $BB, a TSX 60 stock moved below $10.37 and $7.70 U.S. on lower than consensus first quarter revenues extending an intermediate downtrendTechnical action by S&P 500 stocks to 10:00: Bearish. No intermediate breakouts. Breakdow...Read More
A summary of base metals premiums from across the globe for the week to Tuesday June 25.Please click...Read More
Australia's Sandfire Resources is to acquire Botswana, Africa-focused copper development and exploration company MOD Resources in a deal worth A$167 million ($116.38 million). The offer has been made on a share-to-share basis, with 0.0664 Sandfire shares to be offered for each MOD share held, the companies said a joint announcement through the Australian Stock Exchange on Tuesday Ju...Read More