Key data from the June 20 pricing session in London and Shanghai.Fastmarkets' benchmark daily fob Australia alumina index declined to $332.38 per tonne - a fresh low since August 24, 2017 - on Thursday June 20 from $338.71 per tonne on the previous day. Key drivers:The market remains under pressure due to the presence of several unplaced cargoes in the market for July and September. Buyers ar...Read More
AMG Vanadium has selected a new Ohio location for its second spent catalyst processing facility as part of its planned expansion to roughly double its annual ferro-vanadium and ferro-nickel-molybdenum production. With the new facility, AMG Vanadium - a subsidiary of Amsterdam-based AMG Advanced Metallurgical Group - will expand its overall spent catalyst recycling capacity by 35,000 tonnes and its...Read More
Key data from the June 20 pricing session in London and Shanghai.Fastmarkets' benchmark daily fob Australia alumina index declined to $332.38 per tonne - a fresh low since August 24, 2017 - on Thursday June 20 from $338.71 per tonne on the previous day. Key drivers:The market remains under pressure due to the presence of several unplaced cargoes in the market for July and September. Buyers ar...Read More
Metals trader Trafigura has refuted claims from Iceberg Research, the analytics outfit that launched an explosive campaign against Noble Group, that it has overvalued "hundreds of millions [of dollars] in debt securities issued by an associate."Iceberg's claims - made in a report published on Wednesday June 19 - center on Trafigura's valuation of debt securities linked to its Porto Sudeste asset,...Read More
The need for flexible sourcing of direct-reduced iron (DRI) production feedstock will continue over the next three to five years, market participants said at Fastmarkets' 7th World DRI and Pellet Congress in Dubai this week.Steel mills in the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) region are using alternative DRI feedstock such as [lower iron content] blast furnace-grade (BF) pellet and lump iron ore...Read More
Steel producers in Turkey passed the day without any deep-sea bookings while they digested falling prices, sources said on Thursday June 20.After booking a US cargo at lower prices on Wednesday June 19, the mills went quiet in the deep-sea markets.A steel mill in the Iskenderun region had booked the US cargo comprising 18,000 tonnes of HMS 1&2 (80:20) at $278.50 per tonne and 7,000 tonnes...Read More
More dovish central bank talk, this time from the US Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), has pumped fuel into the price rebounds in equities, bonds and the metals this morning, Thursday June 20.Markets had started to rebound at the start of the week on the back of optimism that a US-China trade talks may start making progress again, but prices then consolidated on Wednesday.FOMC leaves door open...Read More
Cobalt trade log including business, bids and offers reported to Fastmarkets. Unless otherwise stated, all prices are per lb on an in-warehouse basis. Delivered prices are netted back. Fastmarkets prices Click here for Fastmarkets' price assessment for standard-grade cobalt, in-warehouse, $ per lb Click here for Fastmarkets' price assessment for alloy-grade cobalt, in-warehouse, $ per lb Click her...Read More
Pilbara Minerals will restrict its lithium production in June and July due to reduced demand in the second quarter of 2019 caused by delays in the commissioning of chemical conversion capacity by the company's key offtake partners in China. Delays to the construction of chemical conversion capacity at Ganfeng Lithium and General Lithium resulted in lower-than-expected sales of lithium spodumene th...Read More
Fastmarkets has identified seven main takeaways on the lithium market from Fastmarkets' 11th Lithium Supply and Markets Conference in Santiago last week.1. New investments are keyA scarcity of capital in the lithium sector is a concern for many market participants given the expected growth of downstream demand.Although consumption of lithium carbonate equivalent consumption is on track to reach 1...Read More
China's hot-rolled coil prices were stable on Thursday June 20 amid a pick-up in sentiment following futures gains and more expensive iron ore,even though downstream demand has not shown any significant improvement.DomesticEastern China (Shanghai): 3,770-3,780 yuan ($546-547) per tonne, unchangedNorthern China (Tianjin): 3,760-3,780 yuan per tonne, widening upward 10 yuan per tonnePrices...Read More
Brazilian apparent steel consumption soared by 28.2% year on year in May, national steel association A??o Brasil said on Wednesday June 19.The country's steel use came to 1.74 million tonnes last month compared with 1.36 million tonnes in May 2018, according to the association. In May 2018, the Brazilian steel market was affected by a truckers' strike, which resulted in production constraints...Read More
Declining ferrous scrap costs combined with continued slow demand have worked to bring US steel reinforcing bar prices to their lowest levels in nearly 15 months. Fastmarkets AMM's biweekly price assessment for US domestic rebar fell to $32.50-33.50 per hundredweight ($650-670 per short ton) fob mill on Wednesday June 19, down by 2.2% from $33.50-34 per cwt two weeks ago. The assessment last...Read More
Turkish domestic rebar and wire rod prices have weakened in line with the falling imported scrap values and limited demand over the past week, sources said on Thursday June 20.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for domestic rebar in Turkey was TRY3,160-3,190 ($542-547) per tonne ex-works, down from last week's TRY3,200-3,220 per tonne,...Read More
The need for flexible sourcing of direct-reduced iron (DRI) production feedstock will continue over the next three to five years, market participants said at Fastmarkets' 7th World DRI and Pellet Congress in Dubai this week.Steel mills in the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) region are using alternative DRI feedstock such as [lower iron content] blast furnace-grade (BF) pellet and lump iron ore...Read More
Metals trader Trafigura has refuted claims from Iceberg Research, the analytics outfit that launched an explosive campaign against Noble Group, that it has overvalued "hundreds of millions [of dollars] in debt securities issued by an associate."Iceberg's claims - made in a report published on Wednesday June 19 - center on Trafigura's valuation of debt securities linked to its Porto Sudeste asset,...Read More
Steel producers in Turkey passed the day without any deep-sea bookings while they digested falling prices, sources said on Thursday June 20.After booking a US cargo at lower prices on Wednesday June 19, the mills went quiet in the deep-sea markets.A steel mill in the Iskenderun region had booked the US cargo comprising 18,000 tonnes of HMS 1&2 (80:20) at $278.50 per tonne and 7,000 tonnes...Read More
China's domestic and export rebar prices both moved slightly higher on Thursday June 20 after a third straight day of gains in the futures market, although demand continued to remain muted.Domestic Eastern China (Shanghai): 3,830-3,870 yuan ($555-561) per tonne, up 10 yuan per tonneNorthern China (Beijing): 3,690-3,720 yuan per tonne, up 10 yuan per tonneThere were few buyers in the market on...Read More
Domestic stainless steel prices in China continued to trend upward over the past week, tracking the strength exhibited by nickel prices in the futures market. The Fastmarkets MB domestic price assessment for benchmark 304 stainless cold-rolled coil in the major market of Wuxi was 14,000-14,350 yuan ($2,027-2,078) per tonne including value-added tax for the week ended Wednesday June 19, up by 50-10...Read More
Import prices for stainless steel in East Asia were largely stable this past week despite poor demand in downstream markets amid uncertainty caused by trade tensions between China and the United States.Despite weak demand, suppliers are unlikely to reduce their asking prices in the near term, but that could change if the price of nickel continues its downtrend, a trader in East China said.The thre...Read More