China's domestic rebar prices were flat on Friday April 19 amid stable activity, but participants expected prices to pick up next week. Domestic Eastern China (Shanghai): 4,060-4,080 yuan ($606-609) per tonne, unchangedNorthern China (Beijing): 4,000-4,040 yuan per tonne, unchangedBuyers kept procurement rates flat ahead of the weekend, leading to unchanged prices.Participants, however, said...Read More
Incumbent Indonesia president Joko Widodo's likely victory in the national polls should stimulate a recovery in domestic steel demand, sources in Southeast Asia told Fastmarkets this week. Preliminary results from multiple independent survey agencies, which are determined using samples taken from the actual votes, after the votes were cast on April 17 had shown that Widodo, commonly known as Jokow...Read More
Oman's Jindal Shadeed, part of India's Jindal Steel & Power (JSPL), has successfully commissioned a new billet caster with a capacity of 2 million tonnes per year at its mill in Sohar in northern Oman, equipment provider SMS Group said on Thursday April 18"[The new billet caster] is currently operating with six strands and produces rebar billets of 165 millimeters square section at a casting speed...Read More
Tibnor, the distribution arm of Swedish steelmaker SSAB, has increased its footprint in Denmark, following the completion of its acquisition of Sanist??l, Denmark's second largest steel distributor, it said on Thursday April 17.The acquisition, worth around 630 million Swedish krona ($68.15 million), includes Sanist??l's automated steel distribution center in Taulov, Denmark, four sales offices in...Read More
China's output of crude steel and finished steel in the first quarter of 2019 both increased significantly year on year on good demand and healthy profits.The country produced a total of 231.07 million tonnes of crude steel over the first three months of 2019, up 9.9% from a year earlier, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said on Wednesday April 17. Chinese mills produced 269.07 million tonn...Read More
Participants expect China's hot-rolled coil prices to remain high in the days to come following a pickup in domestic trading on Friday April 19.DomesticEastern China (Shanghai): 3,960-3,980 yuan ($591-594) per tonne, widening downward 10 yuan per tonneNorthern China (Tianjin): 3,900-3,910 yuan per tonne, down 10 yuan per tonneTrading was stronger despite a slight drop in prices.The domin...Read More
China's domestic rebar prices were flat on Friday April 19 amid stable activity, but participants expected prices to pick up next week. Domestic Eastern China (Shanghai): 4,060-4,080 yuan ($606-609) per tonne, unchangedNorthern China (Beijing): 4,000-4,040 yuan per tonne, unchangedBuyers kept procurement rates flat ahead of the weekend, leading to unchanged prices.Participants, however, said...Read More
Copper and tin were the only base metals on the Shanghai Futures Exchange to dip during morning trading on Friday April 19, depressed by a strong dollar, while the rest of the complex saw limited gains.The most-traded June copper price dipped to 49,390 yuan ($7,367.80) per tonne as at 10:51am Shanghai time, down by 110 yuan, or 0.22%, compared with the previous day's close. The dollar in...Read More
Incumbent Indonesia president Joko Widodo's likely victory in the national polls should stimulate a recovery in domestic steel demand, sources in Southeast Asia told Fastmarkets this week. Preliminary results from multiple independent survey agencies, which are determined using samples taken from the actual votes, after the votes were cast on April 17 had shown that Widodo, commonly known as Jokow...Read More
Low-grade manganese ore prices have held relatively steady since rebounding from this year's lows in January, when market participants toned down fears of oversupply in the alloy market. Normally volatile low-grade manganese ore prices have held relatively steady since rebounding from this year's lows in January, after which market participants toned down fears of oversupply in the alloy market. F...Read More
When the London Metal Exchange amended its policies related to its physical delivery network a few years ago, it overlooked one key thing. The issue centers on LME's linked load-in/load-out (LILO) rule, which operates by linking the amount of metal a warehouse loads in to the amount it is obligated to load out for warehouses that have queues of over 50 days.The rule changes were part of package of...Read More
Ahead of Fastmarkets' Battery Materials 2019 conference in Shanghai, Fastmarkets looks at use of lithium in next-generation vehicles and other battery uses, as well as soaring prices, which have spurred interest in lithium and boosted its importance in recent years as a battery material. In June 2016, the spot price in China peaked at $27 per kg, more than three times the global contract price, ac...Read More
Incumbent Indonesia president Joko Widodo's likely victory in the national polls should stimulate a recovery in domestic steel demand, sources in Southeast Asia told Fastmarkets this week. Preliminary results from multiple independent survey agencies, which are determined using samples taken from the actual votes, after the votes were cast on April 17 had shown that Widodo, commonly known as Jokow...Read More
Copper and tin were the only base metals on the Shanghai Futures Exchange to dip during morning trading on Friday April 19, depressed by a strong dollar, while the rest of the complex saw limited gains.The most-traded June copper price dipped to 49,390 yuan ($7,367.80) per tonne as at 10:51am Shanghai time, down by 110 yuan, or 0.22%, compared with the previous day's close. The dollar in...Read More
China's month-on-month new electric vehicles (NEV) sales rebounded in August after month-on-month declines in June and July. The drop in sales between May and June was the first drop since September 2016, but Fastmarkets MB had expected Chinese NEV sales to dip temporarily after the June subsidy changes came into effect because consumers and NEV manufacturers would have to adjust to the new subsid...Read More
Iron ore prices fell sharply in the second half of November after climbing through October, with prices for higher-grade material pioneering the decline.Fastmarkets MB daily benchmark for 65% Fe fines dropped by 22% by Monday November 26 after peaking on October 29. The 62% Fe iron ore index declined by 16% over the period, as some Chinese steelmakers started to seek larger volumes of cheaper ores...Read More
The steel scrap sector in the United States still depends on exports to Turkey, a member of the Fastmarkets research team said during the ferrous session at the Bureau of International Recycling (BIR) conference in London.This dependence persists despite the changes in the international markets created by the US' imposition of its Section 232 tariffs on imports of steel products, metals analyst Le...Read More
Seaborne pig iron has become relatively competitive versus ferrous scrap over the past year in most regions, and China is no exception. As the first chart below illustrates, the gap between the MBR's proxy for imported pig iron price in China and the Metal Bulletin's Chinese domestic heavy melt scrap price assessment had shrunk by late 2017. The premium averaged $17 per tonne this year to date, co...Read More
The latest bids, offers and deals in the global markets for hot-rolled coil, cold-rolled coil, hot-dipped galvanized coil, pre-painted galvanized iron, steel plate, steel sheet and other flat steel products. Latest transactions: hot-rolled coilHot-rolled coilEast China, domestic,...Read More
The latest bids, offers and deals in the global markets for steel billet, slab and bloom. Latest transaction: billetBillet China,...Read More