Demand was low last week in most global markets for steel billet, such as Turkey, Egypt and Southeast Asia, which led to cuts in prices in most regions.Producers from the Commonwealth of Independent States reduced their offers in the previous week, but buyers' interest was even lower. In Southeast Asia, demand was also reduced in several countries by seasonal factors.CIS, Turkey, EgyptMetal Bullet...Read More
Base metals on the London Metal Exchange made a notable recovery from recent lulls at the close of trading on Monday July 9, led by a 1.9% price surge in nickel and aluminium prices. Edging back over $14,000 per tonne throughout the day, nickel prices reached a daily high of $14,240 per tonne after closing at their lowest point since May 10 on Friday.The metal experienced a sharp sell-off last wee...Read More
Juli??n Gonzalez has left his position as global head of refined zinc and lead trading at Trafigura, being replaced by Kyen Resources' European chief Matt Hadfield who will start next week, sources close to the company told Metal Bulletin. Gonzalez started in a junior-middle office role at Trafigura in 2009 and worked his way through the ranks to head up the key position. Hadfield will be re-...Read More
Comex copper prices bounced back from a one-year low in US morning trading on Monday July 9, with a softer dollar and equity recovery supporting the base metals complex. Copper for September settlement on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange recovered 2.15 cents or 0.8% to $2.8455 per lb. Last week, the red metal traded at the lowest point since July 2017. "The outlook across the...Read More
Metal Bulletin presents a timeline of key dates and events related to the manganese flake rally this year and the reasons behind the moves.Manganese flake prices are now trading at levels last seen in July 2012 amid ongoing production curtailments at major Chinese producer Ningxia Tianyuan, with the impact now spreading into the ferro-chrome and selenium markets. Metal Bulletin's assessment for in...Read More
Chinese ferro-chrome prices plunged late last week after ferro-chrome smelters in the major production hub of Inner Mongolia restarted operations, while muted buyer interest and uncertainty weighed on cif China UG2 chrome ore and charge chrome indices. Spot domestic ferro-chrome prices drop in China Chrome ore and charge chrome cif China dip Alloys in South Korea and Japan unmoved&nbs...Read More
The Federation of Copper Workers in Chile has rejected copper producer Codelco's response to a threatened strike at its Chuquicamata copper mine, and will form a new group to meet next week and discuss its next steps, the federation's board of directors said on Monday July 9.The move follows a meeting of the federation on Friday at which it discussed a potential stoppage by trade unions 1, 2 and 3...Read More
Lead-zinc producer Recylex has started the hot commissioning phase of the new reduction furnace at its lead smelter at Nordenham in northern Germany, operated by Weser-Metall.The hot commissioning phase is used to test furnaces before they go into production mode, and is expected to last for a few weeks before ramping up to commercial levels of production in the third quarter of 2018, the...Read More
Chinese ferro-chrome prices plunged late last week after ferro-chrome smelters in the major production hub of Inner Mongolia restarted operations, while muted buyer interest and uncertainty weighed on cif China UG2 chrome ore and charge chrome indices. Spot domestic ferro-chrome prices drop in China Chrome ore and charge chrome cif China dip Alloys in South Korea and Japan unmoved&nbs...Read More
Metal Bulletin presents a timeline of key dates and events related to the manganese flake rally this year and the reasons behind the moves.Manganese flake prices are now trading at levels last seen in July 2012 amid ongoing production curtailments at major Chinese producer Ningxia Tianyuan, with the impact now spreading into the ferro-chrome and selenium markets. Metal Bulletin's assessment for in...Read More
Manganese ore and alloy prices ended their recent rally in China, after smelter restarts appeared to spell the end for alloy tightness. Chinese smelter restarts prompt downward correction in alloy prices Ore prices follow alloy lower Indian alloy prices rise on strong demand from east Asia European ferro-manganese prices drop on lower producer offers Manganese ore and alloy pr...Read More
Turkish deep-sea scrap import prices went down slightly on Monday July 9 with the news of a Baltic Sea cargo being sold last week.A steel mill in the Iskenderun region booked a Baltic Sea cargo comprising 12,000 tonnes of HMS 1&2 (95:5) at $360 per tonne cfr on Wednesday July 4.After the news of this deal was heard, the daily scrap indices slipped on...Read More
Turkish domestic auto bundle (DKP grade) scrap prices have strengthened with improving demand over the past week, while ship scrap prices have only shifted sideways, sources said on Monday July 9.Alloy long steel producer Asil ??elik raised its buy price by TRY50 ($11) per tonne to TRY1,680 ($367) per tonne delivered, while long and flat steel producer ??olakoglu increased its buy price for auto b...Read More
Comex copper prices bounced back from a one-year low in US morning trading on Monday July 9, with a softer dollar and equity recovery supporting the base metals complex. Copper for September settlement on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange recovered 2.15 cents or 0.8% to $2.8455 per lb. Last week, the red metal traded at the lowest point since July 2017. "The outlook across the...Read More
Some strength emerged in the three-month base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange on the morning of Monday July 9, with all of the metals posting gains that averaged 1% as at 7.06am London time.Volume has been above average with 10,063 lots traded. This follows a mixed performance on Friday, when nickel, lead, tin and copper prices dropped, while aluminium and zinc prices rallied. A large u...Read More
Higher offer prices from Russian producers have been heard in the export market for hot-rolled coil (HRC) and cold-rolled coil (CRC) from the Commonwealth of Independent States.The market was not ready to accept these higher prices, however, due to lower prices in key outlet regions and falling prices for HRC exported from China, sources told Metal Bulletin on Monday July 9.As a result, Metal Bull...Read More
China's export prices for hot-rolled coil continued to drop on Monday July 9 with Chinese mills shifting their focus overseas following the yuan's recent depreciation, though the domestic market recovered some losses during the day.DomesticEastern China (Shanghai): 4,200-4,220 yuan ($632-635) per tonne, up 10-20 yuan per tonneNorthern China (Tianjin): 4,090-4,120 yuan per tonne, up 10-20 yuan per...Read More
As competition in the global steel markets remains fierce, Metal Bulletin provides an update on the new, progressing and closed trade cases from around the world in June 2018.The case list below includes only updates. For other continuing cases this year, see the updates for January, February, March, April...Read More
Turkey's output of steel end-products increased by 10.50% year-on-year in January-May 2018, while consumption increased by 15.20%, according to data recently published by the Turkish Steel Producers' Assn (T???oeD).Turkish steel end-product output reached 17.40 million tonnes in the first five months of 2018, while consumption was 15.40 million tonnes.The country produced 10.70 million tonnes of l...Read More
The latest metal markets news and price moves to start the North American day on Monday July 9. Base metals on the London Metal Exchange were mostly higher during morning trading on Monday July 9, rebounding against positive US data last week and a broad recovery in global equity markets.Climbing 1.6%, copper's three-month price made the largest recovery after closing at its lowest point...Read More