China's National Development & Reform Commission (NDRC) is encouraging steelmakers in the country to set up their own scrap recycling and processing centers in its latest guidelines to the steel industry."Steel mills are encouraged to build their own large-scale ferrous scrap collection and processing centers and increase the rate at which ferrous scrap is utilized," the commission, China's econom...Read More
Sentiment in China's spot rebar market worsened on Tuesday May 14 after China responded to the United States' tariff increase with one of its own, resulting in buyers cutting their procurement rates.Domestic Eastern China (Shanghai): 3,990-4,040 yuan ($581-588) per tonne, down 40-50 yuan per tonneNorthern China (Beijing): 3,910-3,960 yuan per tonne, unchangedChina will raise its tariffs on over 5,...Read More
China's hot-rolled coil exporters lowered their offer prices on Tuesday May 14 amid a further weakening of the domestic market for the flat steel product.DomesticEastern China (Shanghai): 3,990-4,000 yuan ($581-582) per tonne, down 30 yuan per tonneNorthern China (Tianjin): 3,860-3,890 yuan per tonne, down 10-30 yuan per tonneDomestic prices experienced a fifth day of losses during the day.Mills l...Read More
China will implement import tariffs on over 5,000 types of US goods, including ferro-vanadium, vanadium pentoxide and silicon, starting June 1, 2019, amid an escalating trade war between the two countries. From the start of next month, a 25% tariff will apply to vanadium pentoxide, vanadium oxides and hydroxides and ferro-vanadium containing 75% or more vanadium by weight from the United States. T...Read More
The Chinese bismuth price fell by 4.8% on Friday May 10 after suppliers cut their selling prices in an attempt to stem declining export demand after the United States raised import tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese products, including bismuth, to 25% on the same day. The increase to the import tariffs from 10% previously followed a threat earlier by US President Donald Trump that he would r...Read More
Increased hydroxide supply over the past year has meant diverging fundamentals between cobalt intermediates and cobalt metal. Chinese buyers moved to the spot market to purchase raw materials at the end of 2018, and both sides of the market are looking to embed changes to the way contracts are structured, market sources told Fastmarkets on the sidelines of the Cobalt Institute's annual conference...Read More
As cobalt market participants head to Hong Kong for the Cobalt Institutes' annual conference on May 15-16, Fastmarkets summarizes the key talking points that are likely to dominate discussions at this year's event.How will cobalt prices fare over the summer? As it stands, standard-grade cobalt prices are up 22% since the end of March, but the rally has stalled over the past couple of weeks and the...Read More
Antimony prices in China fell sharply last week amid an abundance of cheaper ore from abroad, market sources told Fastmarkets MB. Fastmarkets MB's price assessment for MMTA standard-grade II antimony, delivered duty-paid in China, stood at 42,000-43,000 yuan ($6,114-6,260) per tonne on Wednesday May 8, down by 1,500 yuan per tonne or 3.4% from 43,500-44,500 yuan per tonne a week earlier. A large v...Read More
The Chinese domestic ferro-silicon price fell again in the week ended Friday May 10 under the weight of plentiful supplies and weaker monthly tender prices, while the European market was steady for the second consecutive week, although downward pressure looms ahead of the traditionally slower summer months. Chinese market buckles under weight of supply but support seen in upstream prices Eur...Read More
U.S. equity index futures were lower this morning. S&P 500 futures were down 19 points in pre-opening trade. Index futures moved lower following release of economic news at 8:30 AM EDT. Consensus for April Retail Sales was an increase of 0.2% versus a gain of 1.7% in March. Actual was a decline of 0.2%. Excluding auto sales, consensus for April Retail Sales was an increase of 0.7% versus a gai...Read More
China will implement import tariffs on over 5,000 types of United States' goods starting June 1, 2019, marking an escalation in the trade war between the two countries, the government announced on May 13.Last August, China said it would apply import tariffs of 25% on a series of US metal products including zinc and copper concentrates. Yet, at that time no timetable was confirmed. Starting ne...Read More
Zinc's three-month price on the London Metal Exchange fell by more than 2% at the close of trading on Monday May 13 following the fresh inflow of more than 8,000 tonnes into LME-registered warehouses in Europe. Total on-warrant LME zinc stocks are now above 90,000 tonnes for the first time since January and are trending higher after falling to a record-low of 41,900 tonnes in March. More than 30%...Read More
Fastmarkets reporters present 12 key things we learned at LME Asia Week 2019 in Hong Kong during May 6-9. 1. LME is in talks with Guangdong local authority to establish warehouses in China Charles Li, chief executive officer of Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing (HKEX), said the London Metals Exchange is in talks with the Guangdong government to pilot establishing LME warehouses in mainland China. Li...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets MB stories you might have missed on Monday May 13 that are worth another look.China will implement import tariffs on more than 5,000 types of goods from the United States starting June 1, 2019, marking an escalation in the trade war between the two countries, the government announced on Monday May 13. Fastmarkets reporters present 12 key things le...Read More
China will implement import tariffs on over 5,000 types of United States' goods starting June 1, 2019, marking an escalation in the trade war between the two countries, the government announced on May 13.Last August, China said it would apply import tariffs of 25% on a series of US metal products including zinc and copper concentrates. Yet, at that time no timetable was confirmed. Starting ne...Read More
The global alumina market may tighten in the coming month after around 1.7 million tonnes of Chinese alumina production was suspended on environmental infringements this month, sources told Fastmarkets on Monday May 13. Xinfa Group has closed two production lines out of four at its Jiaokou alumina plant, removing 1.3 million tonnes per year of alumina output after the local authorities launched a...Read More
Key data from the pricing sessions in Asia, Europe and the United States for the week-long period to Friday May 10.ChinaThe Chinese silicon export market's price range tightened with downstream buyers refusing to pay higher prices amid bearish sentiment. Concurrently, dip-buying and tight upstream supply boosted the low end of the range. The biggest producer in northern China has halted around hal...Read More
Key data from the pricing sessions in Asia and Europe for the week-long period to Friday May 10.China The Chinese domestic antimony price fell significantly on an increase in supply after almost all the private antimony producers in Lengshuijiang city resumed their production after the May Day holiday (May 1-4). Chinese antimony suppliers cut their offers last week to encourage sales in a weak mar...Read More
Turkish steel producers continued to book deep-sea scrap cargoes with the help of falling prices, sources said on Monday May 13.A steel producer in the Izmir region booked a Baltic Sea cargo, comprising 10,000 tonnes of HMS 1&2 (80:20) at $286 per tonne, 12,000 tonnes of shredded at $291 per tonne and 3,000 tonnes of bonus at $296 per...Read More
The depreciation of the Turkish lira has continued to drive the prices for domestic ship scrap and auto bundle scrap in opposite directions over the past week, sources said on Monday May 13.All four steel producers in the Izmir region have reduced their buy prices for domestic shipbreaking scrap by $10 per tonne over the past seven days.Three steel mills cut their buy prices for the material to $2...Read More