Turkish steel producers remained out of the deep-sea scrap markets at the beginning of the week, while suppliers were trying to keep offers firm, sources said on Monday June 24.Mills slowed their bookings last week, with almost 80% of all their July requirements booked. Although, this means they still need to book scrap, sources told Fastmarkets.As a result, suppliers were keeping their offers as...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets MB stories you might have missed on Monday June 24 that are worth another look.Koniambo Nickel SAS, 49%-owned by commodity firm Glencore, has evacuated and temporarily ceased production at its North Plant in New Caledonia following a leak at 6.22am local time on Monday June 24. The United States Supreme Court has denied a request by the American Institute for In...Read More
Geopolitical tensions in the Middle East showed no sign of abating over the weekend after the United States claimed that it had carried out a cyber-attack on Iranian weapons systems in retaliation for the latter shooting down a US drone last week.While the threat of a war between the two remains a possibility, global investors have taken refuge in haven assets amid the rising uncertainty in the re...Read More
The price of cobalt continued to fall last week, while prices for standard and alloy-grade units converged, in a market where sellers lowered their offers to offload material not declared on long-term agreements.Fastmarkets assessed the price of standard-grade cobalt at $13.85-14.50 per lb, in-warehouse, falling from $14.25-15 per lb on June 19, and down 3% week on week. Fastmakrets' assessment of...Read More
MMK Metallurgy, subsidiary of Russia's Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) postponed the start of its hot-rolled coil production until at least 2021, Pavel Shilyaev, ceo of MMK told Russian news agencies last week.MMK stopped operations at its melt shop and compact strip mill - which have a capacity of 2.3 million tonnes per year - in late 2012 because HRC prices had fallen...Read More
There was an uptick in import prices for steel slab in Asia over the past week after buyers in Southeast Asia returned to the market to book cargoes, while market participants in East Asia were optimistic that downstream flat steel prices had bottomed out.In Southeast Asia, two shipments of slab produced in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) were booked at $440-455 per tonne cfr during t...Read More
China's hot-rolled coil surged on Monday June 24 after news spread that mills in Tangshan, the steelmaking hub in the country's northern region, will start production cuts to curb air pollution.DomesticEastern China (Shanghai): 3,890-3,910 yuan ($566-569) per tonne, up 110 yuan per tonneNorthern China (Tianjin): 3,830-3,850 yuan per tonne, up 60-70 yuan per tonnePrices surged nationwide after the...Read More
Declining raw material costs, weakening demand from the automotive end market and competitively priced imported material have driven down prices for cold-heading quality (CHQ) and high-carbon wire rod in the United States. Fastmarkets AMM's monthly pricing assessment for cold-heading quality wire rod dropped to $41.50 per hundredweight ($830 per short ton) North American delivered duty p...Read More
Intense competition between suppliers of Qatari and Turkish rebar led import prices for the long steel product in Singapore to fall further over the past week.The weekly Fastmarkets MB import price assessment for rebar in Southeast Asia - which mainly looks at cargoes sold into Singapore on a theoretical-weight basis - was $475-480 per tonne cfr for the week to Monday June 24, down $ 7-11 per tonn...Read More
China's rebar market regained some upward momentum on Monday June 24 amid fresh production cuts in the country's steelmaking hub of Tangshan. Domestic Eastern China (Shanghai): 3,900-3,950 yuan ($568-575) per tonne, up 70-80 yuan per tonneNorthern China (Beijing): 3,730-3,770 yuan per tonne, up 40-50 yuan per tonneAll steelmakers in Tangshan have been instructed to lower their production by at lea...Read More
Fastmarkets MB's World DRI and Pellet conference, held in Dubai last week, took place against a backdrop of challenging circumstances for the steel industry.Finished steel prices, both in the Middle East region and beyond, have trended down over recent months, while certain raw materials prices - such as for iron ore-derived products - continue to soar, heaping pressure on margins.The best way to...Read More
Turkish steel producers remained out of the deep-sea scrap markets at the beginning of the week, while suppliers were trying to keep offers firm, sources said on Monday June 24.Mills slowed their bookings last week, with almost 80% of all their July requirements booked. Although, this means they still need to book scrap, sources told Fastmarkets.As a result, suppliers were keeping their offers as...Read More
The Turkish domestic scrap prices continued to weaken over the past week in line with falling imported scrap values, sources told Fastmarkets on Monday June 24.Several steel producers in Turkey have reduced their buy prices for local auto bundle scrap by around TRY30-85 ($5-15) per tonne over the past seven days.Long and flat steel mill ??olakoglu cut its buy price for auto bundle scrap to TRY1,83...Read More
CIS export slab prices slumped in the week to Monday June 24 pressured by increased competition from Brazilian suppliers as well as by the slowdown of activity in the finished steel end-user market. A cargo of Ukrainian slab was sold to Italy at $430 per tonne cfr, equivalent to around $410 per tonnes fob Black Sea. Meanwhile, Russia-origin slab was booked in Turkey at $430-435 per tonne cfr, or $...Read More
There was an uptick in import prices for steel slab in Asia over the past week after buyers in Southeast Asia returned to the market to book cargoes, while market participants in East Asia were optimistic that downstream flat steel prices had bottomed out.In Southeast Asia, two shipments of slab produced in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) were booked at $440-455 per tonne cfr during t...Read More
China's rebar market regained some upward momentum on Monday June 24 amid fresh production cuts in the country's steelmaking hub of Tangshan. Domestic Eastern China (Shanghai): 3,900-3,950 yuan ($568-575) per tonne, up 70-80 yuan per tonneNorthern China (Beijing): 3,730-3,770 yuan per tonne, up 40-50 yuan per tonneAll steelmakers in Tangshan have been instructed to lower their production by at lea...Read More
J? 1/4 rgen Schalamon will retire from his role as chief executive officer of Samancor Chrome at the end of June after nearly 15 years in the position, Fastmarkets understands. Samancor chief operating officer Desmond McManus will succeed Schalamon as CEO...Read More
MMK Metallurgy, subsidiary of Russia's Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) postponed the start of its hot-rolled coil production until at least 2021, Pavel Shilyaev, ceo of MMK told Russian news agencies last week.MMK stopped operations at its melt shop and compact strip mill - which have a capacity of 2.3 million tonnes per year - in late 2012 because HRC prices had fallen...Read More
Zinc's three-month price on the London Metal Exchange was up by more than 2% at the close of trading on Monday June 24, settling at just under $2,500 per tonne. Just under 10,000 lots were exchanged.Despite a slight uptick in zinc's three-month price, storage and financing costs for the metal remain sizable. Zinc's forward spreads on the LME remain tight, with the cash/three-month spread recently...Read More
MMK Metallurgy, subsidiary of Russia's Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) postponed the start of its hot-rolled coil production until at least 2021, Pavel Shilyaev, ceo of MMK told Russian news agencies last week.MMK stopped operations at its melt shop and compact strip mill - which have a capacity of 2.3 million tonnes per year - in late 2012 because HRC prices had fallen...Read More