Tata Steel aims to produce 32 million tonnes per year of crude steel at its Indian operations by 2025, the company said.The 2025 capacity target in India would constitute the entirety of the steelmakers' global crude capacity following the planned divestment of operations in Asia and a planned joint venture of European flat steel operations with Germany's ThyssenKrupp.Of the Indian steelmaker's cu...Read More
Ferro-silicon prices in the Chinese domestic market have begun to fall again after a brief period of stability when weak demand in the magnesium sector dragged down the bulk alloy market.For its part, the European ferro-silicon market also dropped in the week to Monday April 29, with producers failing to support prices while consumers continued to settle delivery contracts at ever-lower values. Sl...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
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
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
Here are five Fastmarkets MB stories you might have missed on Monday April 29 that are worth another look.Demand in China's silicon market is likely fall in the near term while the secondary aluminium market struggles with the impending restrictions on imports of non-ferrous scrap metal, market sources told Fastmarkets on the sidelines of Antaike's 2019 China Industry Silicon Conference in Gu...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
Here are five Fastmarkets MB stories you might have missed on Monday April 29 that are worth another look.Demand in China's silicon market is likely fall in the near term while the secondary aluminium market struggles with the impending restrictions on imports of non-ferrous scrap metal, market sources told Fastmarkets on the sidelines of Antaike's 2019 China Industry Silicon Conference in Gu...Read More
Aluminium billet import premiums in Brazil for material from Aluar - the sole producer in neighboring Argentina - were at $460-490 per tonne cif during the first quarter of the year, the company told Fastmarkets MB.In March and April, the import premiums were slightly closer to the low end of the range but have averaged nearer $470 per tonne this month. The most recent deal heard for the Argentini...Read More
The United States' copper market suffered minor losses on Monday April 29 morning amid a lack of business activity and signs that the second-quarter will produce weak demand.The copper price for July settlement on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange dipped 0.40 cents to $2.89 per lb. The red metal has been unable to set a clear price direction over the past few weeks, with a vol...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
Ulrich Schridde, Aludium's director for metal management, is set to retire on April 30 after nearly 40 years in the aluminium industry, Fastmarkets has learned.Schridde has worked at European aluminium rolling mill Aludium since 2015, where he was responsible for procurement and strategy. Prior to this, he worked at Russian aluminium producer Rusal for...Read More
While prices for merchant bar quality (MBQ) steel again remained steady in the United States over the past month, sources pointed to seasonally weak demand, reports of discounts and potential further erosion in scrap costs as downward pressure points weighing on the spot market. Fastmarkets AMM assessed domestic 2- x 2- x 1/4 -inch angle merchant bar at $37.05 per hundredweight ($741 per short t...Read More
Plate prices in the United States were flat, one week after dropping to their lowest point in over a year. Market participants reported improving availability and shorter delivery times, while mill sources have noted that plate imports are increasing as the 2019 construction season gets into full swing. "Lead times have come in a little bit," one large plate consumer said. "I think the n...Read More
Russian steel and vanadium producer Evraz's sales of final vanadium products fell by 5.3% quarter-on-quarter in the first quarter of 2019 to 2.52 million tonnes, the company said in a trading update on Monday April 29.This was down from 2.66 million tonnes of pure vanadium produced in the fourth quarter of 2018, and down by 19% year-on-year from the first quarter of 2018, when Evraz produced 3.11...Read More
Market sources surveyed by Fastmarkets last week broadly agreed that the prospects for steel exports out of Turkey remained poor at the end of April, with no recovery likely soon because of trade barriers erected by authorities in the country's principal outlet markets.This will affect steel output in Turkey, with local demand also limited by the country's economic uncertainty and the decline in t...Read More
Vietnamese buyers are bidding lower for hot-rolled coil amid ample supply of both domestic materials and imports in the Southeast Asian country.The Fastmarkets MB weekly import price assessment for HRC in Southeast Asia - which mainly looks at Chinese 2-3mm re-rolling-grade SAE1006 HRC and equivalent products sold into Vietnam - was $535-545 per tonne cfr for the week ending Monday April 29, widen...Read More