With LME Asia Week fast approaching, Fastmarkets MB takes an in-depth look at one of the topics likely to dominate discussions at this year's event: What is keeping aluminium prices on the Shanghai Futures Exchange elevated following the cut to China's value-added tax (VAT) early in April?The SHFE's front-month aluminium price climbed to its highest since October 2018 at 14,225 yuan ($2,113) per t...Read More
Zinc stocks held in Shanghai Futures Exchange-approved warehouse were down by 9.21% week on week on Tuesday April 30 due to supply constraints and an increase in stockpiling prior to the May Day holiday in China over the rest of this week.SHFE zinc stocks totaled 72,090 tonnes on April 30, down from 79,399 tonnes on April 26, which reflects a tight domestic market while imports can only be made at...Read More
China's hot-rolled coil prices strengthened further on Tuesday April 30 after word about possible steelmaking restrictions in the steelmaking hub of Tangshan circulated in the market.DomesticEastern China (Shanghai): 4,050-4,060 yuan ($601-603) per tonne, up 50 yuan per tonneNorthern China (Tianjin): 3,930-3,940 yuan per tonne, up 20 yuan per tonneA domestic steel consultancy reported that Tangsha...Read More
Aluminium's three-month price on the London Metal Exchange continued its decline during morning trading on Tuesday April 30, continuing to trade at its lowest level since January while its total volumes traded led the complex with more than 5,000 lots changing hands as of 9:30am London time. The light metal's three-month price reached a low of $1,815 per tonne over the morning session, down by mor...Read More
Fastmarkets proposes to amend the specifications of its benchmark in-warehouse Rotterdam price assessments to incorporate grade-1 and grade-2 Norilsk cut cathodes within its list of accepted cobalt brands. According to preliminary market feedback, grade-1 and grade-2 cobalt cut cathodes produced by Norilsk are now commonly accepted by consumers of cobalt and are regularly traded in the spot market...Read More
A summary of Glencore's production results for the three-month period ended on March 31, 2019, as well as its adjusted full-year production guidance.In brief Glencore produced 320,700 tonnes of copper content in the form of copper metal, copper anodes and copper concentrates in the first three months of 2019, down by 7% from 345,400 tonnes during January-March of 2018. The company attributed the 7...Read More
A sharp increase in manganese ore production from Ghana since early last year has led to increasing volumes of the ore being sold as raw material for China's manganese alloy market, in addition to its traditional application, manganese metal, market sources told Fastmarkets.The world's largest manganese metal producer, China's Ningxia Tianyuan Manganese Industry Co (TMI), agreed in 2016 to buy Jer...Read More
Manganese alloy prices decrease again in China amid thin buying and deteriorating sentiment over rising stocks, Fastmarkets learned. Import and port manganese ore prices down in China Silico-manganese weakens, lower tenders expected Indian silico-manganese price range narrows on higher offers European alloy prices hold US manganese alloys slideManganese ores prices weakened in China on Friday Apri...Read More
Base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange were for the most part treading water this morning, Tuesday April 30, while the market digests the disappointing Chinese data released earlier. This, combined with the fact that many Asian market participants are away for holidays this week, is likely to lead to subdued trading - but reduced liquidity could also lead to increased volatility.China's m...Read More
U.S. equity indices moved higher this morning. S&P 500 futures advanced 9 points in pre-opening trade.Traders are waiting for news from the FOMC meeting to be released at 2:00 PM EDT. The Federal Reserve is expected to maintain the Fed Fund rate at 2.50%.Index futures were virtually unchanged following release of the ADP Private Employment Report released at 8:15 AM EDT. Consensus was an incre...Read More
Warehouse operator Access World has significantly increased its London Metal Exchange warehouse presence in Port Klang, Malaysia, by listing 25 new LME-registered warehouses there over the past two weeks.Nineteen Access World-owned warehouses in Port Klang were listed on Monday April 29, according to an LME notice. Six had previously been listed on April 17 in Port Klang. Before the mass listing o...Read More
Aluminium's three-month price on the London Metal Exchange fell by more than 1% at the close of trading on Monday April 29, reaching its lowest level since January amid fresh inflows of more than 50,000 tonnes. The light metal closed at $1,828 per tonne this afternoon, with volumes traded leading the complex, with more than 12,400 lots changing hands by the close, while open interest has climbed b...Read More
Treatment charges (TCs) paid for zinc concentrates on the spot market declined in April, with Chinese smelters and traders actively acquiring tonnages at lower levels than before.Fastmarkets monthly assessment for zinc concentrate spot TCs, cif Asia Pacific, was at $260-290 per tonne on April 26, down from $270-305 per tonne on March 29.The drop marks a break in the uptrend for sharply rising zinc...Read More
Treatment charges (TCs) paid for zinc concentrates on the spot market declined in April, with Chinese smelters and traders actively acquiring tonnages at lower levels than before.Fastmarkets monthly assessment for zinc concentrate spot TCs, cif Asia Pacific, was at $260-290 per tonne on April 26, down from $270-305 per tonne on March 29.The drop marks a break in the uptrend for sharply rising zinc...Read More
Copper scrap sold into China in April was at the widest discount level in the past three years on a massive backlog of non-ferrous scrap due to the upcoming halt in July scrap imports after policy changes.Fastmarkets assessment for the discount for No2 copper scrap, birch/cliff, imported in China is at 37-42 cents per lb on April 29, a significant stretch compared with 32-38 cents per lb a month b...Read More
With LME Asia Week fast approaching, Fastmarkets MB takes an in-depth look at one of the topics likely to dominate discussions at this year's event: the growing risk of supply-side headwinds for nickel prices.Nickel prices face considerable downside pressure from increasing supply of two nickel-containing stainless steel raw materials - nickel pig iron (NPI) and nickel plate - as well as an abunda...Read More
Fastmarkets summarizes five key points we learned at Antaike's 2019 China Industry Silicon Conference in Guizhou, China, over April 24-26. Domestic silicon consumption in China likely to fall; concern growing over export prices Demand in China's silicon market is likely fall in the near term while the secondary aluminium market struggles with restrictions on imports of non-ferrous scrap metal, mar...Read More
Eramet increased its manganese output by 14% year on year in the first quarter of 2019, while also increasing sales volumes by 7% despite lower prices, the French mining and metallurgical group said on Thursday April 25.The company produced a record quarterly volume of 1 million tonnes of manganese ore and made ?,?434 million ($483.63 million) in product sales.The performance shows a healthy manga...Read More
Turkish domestic ship scrap prices have fallen slightly over the past week, while a number of steel mills raised their buy prices for auto bundle scrap due to the continual weakening of the lira against the US dollar, sources said on Monday April 29.Three steel mills continued to buy ship scrap at $315-320 per tonne delivered, but a fourth mill reduced its buy price to $310 per tonne delivered.So...Read More
The Turkish steel producers have continued their deep-sea scrap bookings after achieving lower prices, sources told Fastmarkets on Monday April 29.Three deep-sea cargoes were heard traded late on April 27 and on April 28.A steel mill in the Izmir region booked a US cargo, comprising HMS 1&2 (80:20) at $307 per tonne, shredded at $312 per tonne and bonus at $317 per tonne...Read More