Lead prices on the London Metal Exchange held firm at the close of trading on Wednesday May 23, while copper's three-month price fell 1.6% amid a fresh 2018-high for the US dollar index. Keeping firm above $2,450 per tonne, lead's three-month price has rallied more than 5% this week, reaching prices unseen since March 1. "Concerns over potential shortages continue to draw lead to its highest...Read More
The Rotterdam aluminium premium fell for a second straight day, with a looming backwardation in the July/August spread pushing the market down and stirring expectations of further drops.P1020A aluminium in Rotterdam on a duty-unpaid basis fell to $120-135 per tonne on Wednesday May 23 from $125-140 per tonne on Tuesday. The benchmark premium has fallen nearly 20% since the start of the month.Nearb...Read More
Chris Evans has become head of strategy at Circulor, which provides blockchain technology to the electric vehicles (EV) supply chain. Evans, who was most recently commercial director at NFEx Markets, will be based in London. He was previously head of...Read More
Premiums for zinc in Rotterdam and Antwerp dropped to multi-year lows this week on feeble spot demand while lead premiums remained stable despite a production lull during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan in Muslim-majority countries. The Rotterdam zinc premium dropped to its lowest in over 2.5 years on thin spot trade Import losses continued to narrow in China with participants looking to br...Read More
Comex copper prices failed to hold on to previous gains with the entire base metals complex suffering heavy losses in midweek trading on Wednesday May 23. Copper for July settlement on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange declined 5.35 cents or 1.7% to $3.0785 per lb. Yesterday, the contract hit the strongest point since April 27. Even with easing trade tensions between the Unite...Read More
Nickel premiums ticked slightly higher in Europe this week, while holding firm in the rest of the world. European nickel premiums up on better demand US premiums steady; strong demand expected to last the summer months Chinese premium unchanged on low liquidityUncut nickel cathode premium increases in Europe on stronger demandNickel premiums in Europe ticked higher on Tuesday May 22, with some par...Read More
Market participants were eyeing recent global trading volatility and the fundamentals of the bauxite market during Asian Metal's Aluminium Raw Materials Conference in Jinan on May 18 - Metal Bulletin covers the key takeaways from the event. Alumina faces global trading volatility... The global alumina market has been hit by a series of shocks since the start of the second quarter, which triggered...Read More
The Brazilian steel institute, A??o Brasil, considers the government's decision to reject trade sanctions against imports of hot-rolled coil (HRC) from China to be "contradictory" and "unrealistic," despite finding confirmation of subsidy practices."The signal that Brazil will give to the rest of the world is that companies from other countries, which operate under unfair trade practices, may cont...Read More
Turkish steelmaker Tat Metal will add a pickling line with capacity for 1.5 million tonnes per year to its facilities at Eregli in northern Turkey by the end of 2018, a company executive told Metal Bulletin on Wednesday May 23.And the unit's second hot-dipped galvanized coil (HDG) line has started trial production, the executive added.Tat Metal currently has 500,000 tpy of pickling capacity, but t...Read More
Prices for rebar produced and delivered in Southern Europe have widened downward over the past week with Italian mills lowering their offers, sources told Metal Bulletin on Wednesday May 23.Metal Bulletin's weekly domestic price assessment for rebar in Southern Europe was ?,?485-520 ($572-613) per tonne delivered on Wednesday, down from ?,?490-520 per tonne on May 16."Italian steel producers tried...Read More
The following Metal Bulletin noble alloys and ores prices changed on Wednesday May 23:Noble alloys Molybdenum Europe drummed molybdic oxide, $/lb: $11.00-11.30 per lb from $11.30-11.45 Ferro-molybdenum basis 65% min, in-warehouse Rotterdam, $/kg...Read More
The following Metal Bulletin minor metals prices changed on Wednesday May 23:Antimony MMTA standard grade II, $/tonne: $8,100-8,300 per tonne from $8,000-8,250 Antimony MB Chinese free market MMTA standard grade II, yuan/tonne: 51,000-51,500 yuan per tonne from 50,000-51,500 yuan Bismuth MB free market, $/lb: $4.70-5.10 per lb...Read More
Key data from the Wednesday May 23 pricing session in Europe. Key drivers - The ferro-titanium spot market has bounced at the bottom end of its trading range, with lower prices reported last week flushed out after a tender was settled with a German steelmaker. More than 500 tonnes of alloy was reported traded in the past few working days. - Most of the tonnage was reported sold at above $5 per kg,...Read More
The Turkish steel mills extended their silence in the deep-sea scrap markets while the lira weakened further amid sluggish demand for finished steel, sources said on Wednesday May 23.The lira continued to lose value against the US dollar due to the political uncertainty in the Middle Eastern country created by the calling of early elections.And it slid to a new historic low on Wednesday following...Read More
The internationalization of iron ore futures traded on the Dalian Commodity Exchange (DCE) emerged as a key discussion topic at the Singapore Exchange's (SGX) 2018 Iron Ore Week. The opening up of the iron ore contract on May 4 followed the announcement earlier this year by the International Energy Exchange (INE), a subsidiary of the Shanghai Futures Exchange, that it would allow non-Chinese compa...Read More
Ukraine's parliament has approved an increase in the export duty applied to ferrous scrap to ?,?42 ($49.51) per tonne for the period from May 18 this year until September 14, 2019, the parliament said on Thursday May 17.This will be a 40% increase from the previous duty of ?,?30 per tonne.The original legislation had been intended to impose the export duty on scrap until September...Read More
Seaborne iron ore market weakened further on Wednesday May 23 amid increased competition between medium-grade products. Metal Bulletin 62% Fe Iron Ore Index: $64.11 per tonne cfr Qingdao, down by $0.30 per tonne Metal Bulletin 58% Fe Premium Index: $53.04 per tonne cfr Qingdao, up by $0.17 per tonne Metal Bulletin 65% Fe Iron Ore Index: $82.80 per tonne cfr Qingdao, down by $0.60 per tonne Metal B...Read More
Taiwan's ferrous scrap imports surged by 34% on the year in March, according to the territory's customs agency.Taiwan imported 331,821 tonnes of ferrous scrap during the month, 84,569 tonnes higher than the 247,252 tonnes it took in a year earlier, data from the Taiwanese Customs Administration showed.March's...Read More
Tokyo Steel has increased the purchasing price for overland arrivals of H2-grade scrap at its Utsunomiya plant this week.The Japanese steelmaker is paying ?36,000 ($324) per tonne at Utsunomiya from Wednesday May 23 onward, up ?500 per tonne...Read More
Prices in the seaborne coking coal spot market saw little movement on Wednesday May 23 in the face of stagnant offers and lackluster demand among end-users in China."Domestic coking coal prices have gained some strength over the past week though we have kept our [coking coal procurement price] constant for this week. [Coking coal] inventories may be lower at the respective mines but market invento...Read More