Vedanta Resources subsidiary Sterlite Copper must wait a further two weeks to find out if it can restart its 400,000 tonne per year Tuticorin copper cathode smelter in Tamil Nadu, meaning copper concentrate scheduled for the smelter will continue to flow into the spot market. The smelter was closed at the same time as protests against its planned doubling of capacity reached fever pitch towar...Read More
Marketing director Alex Tattersall has left UC Rusal's subsidiary in Zug, Switzerland, where uncertainty is high following sanctions imposed by the United States, well-informed sources said. The outlook for Rusal's US subsidiary, Rusal America Corp, is equally uncertain, although market rumors that the US office was officially shutting down this week were denied by Rusal's director of global expor...Read More
Comex copper prices experienced a modest gain Friday April 20 morning the US, with a surging dollar capping the potential upside. Copper for May settlement on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange inched up 0.25 cents or 0.1% to $3.1345 per lb. "While supply should remain tight, we expect a pick-up in seasonal demand...Read More
Brazil's slab export prices were unchanged this week as companies continued to focus on the North American market, although uncertainty regarding negotiations over the United States' Section 232 tariff exemptions was affecting the industry.Metal Bulletin's weekly assessment of Brazil's slab export price was $600-610 per tonne fob on Friday April 20, unchanged from the previous week.Offers fro...Read More
Brazilian flat steel producer Usiminas has halted exports from its Cubat??o faciliy, in the country's south-eastern S??o Paulo state, due to the high costs of slab, chief executive officer Sergio Leite told analysts on Friday April 20."Export operations [from the Cubat??o works] are suspended," he said. "We believe we will remain in this situation for three months."But the Cubat??o plant will cont...Read More
Metal Bulletin reviews the major stories that have affected the steel market over the past week.Iron ore prices and trading activity both faltered on Friday April 20, after the value of Metal Bulletin's 62% Fe Iron Ore Index surged by more than $2.50 per tonne a day earlier.The stoppage of Anglo American's Minas-Rio iron ore operation in Brazil will have an effect, albeit a small one, on worldwide...Read More
Brazilian steel and iron ore producer Usiminas has reported a rise in adjusted earnings of 20.35% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2018 due to achieving higher sales volumes of steel and iron ore.The company reported adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (Ebitda) for the three months of 641.20 million Reais ($189.28 million) on Friday April 20.This compared wi...Read More
Earnings at Russian steelmaker Severstal rose by 22.1% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2018 amid a favorable pricing environment for steel and commodities, the company said on Tuesday April 17.Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (Ebitda) increased to $706 million in January-March 2018, compared with $578 million in the corresponding period last year.The company's re...Read More
Swedish steelmaker SSAB expects its prices to be higher in April-June this year compared with the first quarter of 2018, the company said on Friday April 20."The outlook remains good for 2018. SSAB has strong market positions in our home market and in our global niches. All in all, we have good opportunities for continued profitable growth and to generate strong cash flow," president and chief exe...Read More
The following Metal Bulletin noble alloys, bulk alloys and ores prices changed on Friday April 20:Noble alloys Molybdenum Europe drummed molybdic oxide, $/lb: $11.90-12.30 per lb from $11.75-12.00 per lbMolybdenum US canned molybdic oxide, $/Ib $12.00-12.30 per Ib from $12.30-12.50 per lbFerro-molybdenum basis 65% min, in-warehouse Rotterdam, $/kg Mo: $29.30-29.85 per kg from $28.70-29.00 per kgFe...Read More
High manganese ore prices and price dislocation between ore and alloy will cause further alloy market uncertainty, benefitting integrated producers, mining group OM Holdings (OMH) said in its annual report. Manganese ore markets soared in late 2017 and the first quarter of 2018, prompting a backlash among manganese alloy smelters in China when prices breached $8.00 per dry metric tonne unit (dmtu)...Read More
OM Holdings (OMH) expects continued volatility in manganese ore prices amid active silico-manganese futures trading and predicts a constrained market for high-grade ore, the company said on Thursday April 19. Describing manganese ore inventories in Chinese ports as "healthy" and "far from excessive," despite record import levels in 2017, the miner noted a significant drop in Chinese domestic produ...Read More
GFG Alliance, the owner of international metals group Liberty House, has completed its acquisition of Glencore's Tahmoor metallurgical coking coal mine in New South Wales, Australia, it said on Friday April 20.The acquisition will bring Tahmoor under the ownership of GFG's Simec Mining division, following ministerial approval in Australia.The Tahmoor mine is 75km south-west of Sydney and has capac...Read More
Prices for containerized shredded scrap imports into India edged up this week, with the market seeking a correction following a series of recent falls, market sources told Metal Bulletin on Friday April 20.Metal Bulletin's weekly index for containerized imports of shredded scrap into India was $385.44 per tonne cfr Nhava Sheva on April 20, up by $4.17 per tonne week-on-week, compared with $381.27...Read More
The Turkish steel mills went quiet in the deep-sea markets on news of the Turkish government's decision to hold early elections, sources said on Friday April 20.Market participants were surprised by the decision announced on April 18, and no deep-sea scrap transactions have been heard since then. But Turkish steel mills were still expected to book more deep-sea cargoes for May.The ruling Justice &...Read More
Export prices for Brazilian pig iron have held stable for a second week in a row, amid thin trading and market uncertainty, Metal Bulletin heard this week."There is no news in the [Caraj??s] export market," a local source said.Metal Bulletin's weekly price assessment for Caraj??s-origin pig iron exports was unchanged week on week on Friday April 20, at $405-410 per tonne fob.The latest deal involv...Read More
Prices and trading activity in the physical iron ore market faltered on Friday April 20 after surging a day earlier.Metal Bulletin 62% Fe Iron Ore Index: $67.09 per tonne cfr Qingdao, down by $1.39 per tonneMetal Bulletin 58% Fe Premium Index: $55.68 per tonne cfr Qingdao, up by $0.76 per tonneMetal Bulletin 65% Fe Iron Ore Index: $84.90 per tonne cfr Qingdao, down by $1.60 per tonneMetal Bulletin...Read More
Deliverable copper stocks at Shanghai Futures Exchange-approved warehouses have dropped by 6.8% or 19,093 tonnes week on week as of Friday April 20 to 261,743 tonnes. This week, Zhongchu Wusong in Shanghai saw the most copper stocks leave its sheds with 8,573 tonnes delivered out. Copper stocks in SHFE warehouses have been on an uptrend since early this year amid...Read More
Base metals price largely held firm on the London Metal Exchange during morning trading on Friday April 20, except for nickel which retreated back below $15,000 per tonne on profit-taking. Nickel's spike to a three-and-a-half-year high of $16,690 per tonne on Thursday was bolstered by concerns over risks of further US sanctions against key Russian firms, namely Russian nickel producer Nornickel. N...Read More
Sentiment in the seaborne coking coal market remains bearish although more transactions were reported on Friday April 20.Two cargoes of top Australian brands of premium hard coking coal were traded around $194-195 per tonne cfr China, sources told Metal Bulletin. A cargo of hard coking coal and a shipment of semi-hard materials were also heard to...Read More