Fastmarkets' alumina index fob Australia fell to its lowest in over two months on April 16 due to continued extra cargoes in the market and positive news surrounding Alunorte's restart.The daily fob Australia alumina index fell to $354.85 per tonne today, down 3.9% from the previous day and 11.3% lower week on week from when the index was at $411.29 per tonne.Key driversIndex pushes lower after a...Read More
The Comex copper price staged a modest rebound in US morning trading on Tuesday April 16 with the market waiting for a new catalyst to sustain solid price direction. The copper price for May settlement on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange rebounded 0.35 cents to $2.9385 per lb. The contract has been unable to set solid price momentum over the past few weeks with prices rising...Read More
The Fanya Exchange will auction 34.64 tonnes of the indium stock it holds in its warehouse on April 24, after the first auction in January failed to attract any bidders. The stock will be auctioned via Alibaba judicial online platform at 10am Beijing time on April 24 and 10am Beijing time on April 25. The starting price of this new lot is 1,080 yuan ($160) per kg, excluding VAT and storage costs....Read More
Trading across most of the metals is relatively quiet in early morning on Tuesday April 16 and the market seems to be waiting for fresh direction, which we think means the market is waiting for a US/China trade deal. Before that, today's ZEW and US industrial production data may provide direction, as too will tomorrow's Chinese GDP data. Asian equities are stronger this morning, suggests a ri...Read More
The UG2 chrome ore price fell again on Friday April 12 after activity lessened due to market participants waiting for Chinese mills' next ferro-chrome tender releases; meanwhile falling demand pushed down the high-carbon ferro-chrome assessment in Europe. UG2 and Turkish lumpy ore prices in China drop Domestic alloy price in China weakens Alloy markets in Japan, South Korea, Europe fa...Read More
China's largest steel mill, Hebei Steel, has concluded its ferro-silicon tenders for March and April at levels below those released at the start of the year and close to alloy production costs. Hebei Steel's latest tender price for April is 6,250 yuan ($932.14) per tonne, for about 2,775 tonnes of ferro-silicon, according to sources. Hebei Steel's tender price for March was 6,200 yuan per tonne fo...Read More
U.S. equity index futures were higher this morning. S&P 500 futures added 7 points in pre-opening trade. Futures responded to encouraging first quarter economic news released by China in overnight trade.Index futures were virtually unchanged following release of the February U.S. Trade Deficit report at 8:30 AM EDT. Consensus was $53.7 billion versus $51.1 billion in January. Actual was $49.4...Read More
The US government has proposed new import duties of up to 100% on a wide range of products from the European Union, as a countermeasure for sales lost by the US aerospace industry due to EU subsidies paid to Airbus, the US Trade Representative said in a notice published in the Federal Register on Friday April 12.In a preliminary list, the USTR named a variety of goods that would be subject to...Read More
Movements in base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange were mixed at the close of trading on Monday April 15, with continued weakness in the US dollar index doing little to spur buying activity while low volumes continued to indicate risk-aversion.The three-month nickel price fell to its lowest level since March 28 in the afternoon, dipping to $12,860 per tonne before closing at $12,991 per...Read More
Peruvian copper mine Las Bambas restarted concentrates transportation to the Matarani port on April 13 after operations normalized following the end of a two-month roadblock, major shareholder MMG said on Monday April 15. Since the blockade ended, Las Bambas began restoring critical supplies and increasing staff numbers to resume normal operations, MMG added The mine entered an agreement with the...Read More
There were six key points for delegates of the minor metals community to take away from a busy week of meetings in Edinburgh, Scotland, for the Minor Metals Trade Association (MMTA) Conference on April 9-11.1. Sentiment in minor metals remains gloomy...While global uncertainty and oversupply continued to weigh on minor metals price sentiment in 2019, with prices for some materials at multi-year lo...Read More
Peruvian copper mine Las Bambas restarted concentrates transportation to the Matarani port on April 13 after operations normalized following the end of a two-month roadblock, major shareholder MMG said on Monday April 15. Since the blockade ended, Las Bambas began restoring critical supplies and increasing staff numbers to resume normal operations, MMG added The mine entered an agreement with the...Read More
Trafigura will become a major zinc and lead smelter, taking global producer Nyrstar NV effectively private after reaching an agreement with other debtors, both companies said on Monday April 15.Trafigura, which was already a 24% owner of Nyrstar, will take full control in a "lock-up agreement". A NewCo UK company, 98% owned by Trafigura, will buy Nyrstar's remaining shares. Nyrstar smelts over a m...Read More
Norwegian aluminium producer Norsk Hydro has taken a step closer to resuming normal operations at its Alunorte alumina refinery after the company and the Brazilian federal prosecutors' office (MPF) decided to file a joint petition to remove the restrictions on production at the site.A conciliatory hearing was held on Friday April 12, in which the plea was presented to the regional federal court, H...Read More
The US government has proposed new import duties of up to 100% on a wide range of products from the European Union, as a countermeasure for sales lost by the US aerospace industry due to EU subsidies paid to Airbus, the US Trade Representative said in a notice published in the Federal Register on Friday April 12.In a preliminary list, the USTR named a variety of goods that would be subject to...Read More
The price of antimony in China ticked upward in the latest assessment on Wednesday April 10, after the country's producers raised their offer prices in response to production stoppages in Lengshuijiang.The city, in China's central province of Hunan, is a major hub for antimony production.Fastmarkets' price assessment for MMTA standard-grade II antimony, delivered duty-paid in China, was 44,000-45,...Read More
Turkish steel mills had a quiet start to the week in the deep-sea scrap markets, but market participants are expecting more bookings for May deliveries, sources said on Monday April 15.There were no new deep-sea transactions done on Monday, but mills continued to negotiate on May cargoes for lower prices, Fastmarkets heard. Some traders reported that mills were bidding for US-origin HMS 1&2 (80:20...Read More
Turkish domestic auto bundle scrap prices have increased over the past week, while domestic ship scrap prices moved downwards on a weak lira, sources said on Monday April 15.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for domestic auto bundle (DKP-grade) scrap in Turkey was TRY1,730-1,870 ($300-325) per tonne delivered on Monday, compared with TRY1,695-1,870 per tonne last week. The slight change in the...Read More
Domestic prices for ferrous scrap in Italy have decreased over the past month, sources told Fastmarkets on Monday April 15.The monthly price assessment for Italian grade-E3 scrap was ?,?260-275 ($294-311) per tonne delivered on April 15, compared with ?,?270-285 per tonne delivered in the previous month.The reasons behind the decrease were slower scrap buying activity by Italian mills, lack of dem...Read More
The US government has proposed new import duties of up to 100% on a wide range of products from the European Union, as a countermeasure for sales lost by the US aerospace industry due to EU subsidies paid to Airbus, the US Trade Representative said in a notice published in the Federal Register on Friday April 12.In a preliminary list, the USTR named a variety of goods that would be subject to...Read More