Exporters of hot-rolled coil (HRC) and cold-rolled coil (CRC) from the Commonwealth of Independent States adopted a wait-and-see attitude toward the market in the week ended Monday March 26, trying to avoid price declines, sources told Metal Bulletin."Prices are coming down and the market [for CIS-origin flat steel] seems to be frozen," a trader said.Metal Bulletin's weekly price assessment for CI...Read More
China's stainless flat steel exports experienced a sharp year on year increase in February, although they dropped month on month.China exported 243,205 tonnes of stainless flat steel products, up 46,767 tonnes or 23.81% from 196,438 tonnes a year earlier, according to Chinese customs data released on Monday March 26. Last month's volume, however, is down 42,095 tonnes or 14.75% from January's 285,...Read More
Import prices for re-rolling-grade hot-rolled coil sold into Vietnam continued to trend downward on lower demand caused by fears over a looming trade war between China and United States.Metal Bulletin's assessment of HRC import prices in Southeast Asia - which mainly looks at Chinese 2-3mm SAE1006 HRC and equivalent grades sold into Vietnam - was $600-620 per tonne for the week ended Monday March...Read More
The threat of a trade war between two of the largest world economies - the United States and China - has dragged down Asian steel prices over the past week.Flat and long steel prices showed big falls on Friday March 23 when end-users' demand for hot-rolled coil, wire rod, ferrous scrap and steel billets practically vanished while buyers waited for further declines.Fears of a trade war between the...Read More
The biggest steel producer in the United Arab Emirates, Emirates Steel, increased its rebar price to 2,412 dirhams ($657) per tonne ex-works for April production on Monday March 26.This is up from the previous 2,340 dirhams per tonne ex-works, a price that had been unchanged since January 16.Compatriot producer Conares Steel is now offering rebar...Read More
The latest bids, offers and deals in the global markets for rebar, wire rod, steel beams and other long steel products. Latest transactions: rebarRebarUAE, domestic (Emirates Steel), rebar, offered at 2,412 dirhams ($657) per...Read More
Turkish steel producers have entered a third week with no deep-sea trading, while offers and bids in the market kept the daily scrap indices largely flat, sources said on Monday March 26.Metal Bulletin's daily index for Northern European HMS 1&2 (80:20) closed the day at $368.10 per tonne cfr, up by only $0.41 per tonne day-on-day.The daily index for similar US-origin scrap closed at $378.08 per t...Read More
Turkish domestic auto bundle scrap prices remained largely steady over the past week, with most steel mills in the country keeping their buying prices unchanged, while ship scrap prices dipped slightly, sources said on Monday March 26.Metal Bulletin's weekly price assessment for domestic auto bundle (DKP grade) scrap in Turkey was unchanged at TRY1,300-1,520 ($327-382) per tonne delivered on...Read More
The seaborne iron ore concentrate market continued to fall on Monday March 26 in line with sharp dips in the fines market, with the trade tensions between the United States and China affecting general market confidence.The weekly Metal Bulletin 66% Fe Iron Ore Concentrate Index was $88.19 per tonne cfr China on March 23. This was down by $6.45 per tonne, or 6.8%, from a week earlier.The daily Meta...Read More
China's rebar prices continued to experience big decreases in both the domestic and export markets on Monday March 26 following a sharp drop in the price of billet over the weekend. Domestic Eastern China (Shanghai): 3,410-3,500 yuan ($540-554) per tonne, down 80-90 yuan per tonne Northern China (Beijing): 3,630-3,670 yuan per tonne, down 110-120 yuan per tonne Since late last Friday, the price of...Read More
China's steel futures fell during morning trading on Monday March 26, while raw materials contracts ended the session largely unchanged from their opening prices. Futures closing prices - morning session Shanghai Futures Exchange May rebar: 3,369 yuan ($533) per tonne, down 16 yuan per tonne May hot-rolled coil: 3,507 yuan per tonne, down 57 yuan per tonne Dalian Commodity Exchange May iron ore: 4...Read More
Price losses have deepened in the Chinese ferro-silicon spot market as restarted production increasingly weighs on supplier sentiment, although demand from the magnesium market is giving some support. China market weakness persists... ...but Mg sector demand stems price losses Europe eases with lower offer pricesUS suppliers cut prices amid competition Renewed supply drags down Ch...Read More
South Korea is working to ease the steel import quota limits imposed by the United States following its Section 232 investigations, the Korea Iron & Steel Association (Kisa) said on Monday March 26.The 70% quota is based on the average US import volumes from South Korea for 2015-2017, which is about 74% of 2017's total, and was imposed after the US exempted South Korea from the Sect...Read More
Base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange are down across the board by an average of 0.5% this morning, Monday March 26, led by a 1.1% fall in copper to $6,577 per tonne. Volume has been high with 12,433 lots traded as of 07:18 am London time. In precious metals, gold prices are off by 0.2% at $1,344.89 per oz, while silver and platinum prices are little changed and palladium prices are up b...Read More
South Korea is working to ease the steel import quota limits imposed by the United States following its Section 232 investigations, the Korea Iron & Steel Association (Kisa) said on Monday March 26.The 70% quota is based on the average US import volumes from South Korea for 2015-2017, which is about 74% of 2017's total, and was imposed after the US exempted South Korea from the Sect...Read More
SHANGHAI, Mar 26 (SMM) – Nonferrous metals faced pressure from a potential trade war as SHFE nickel led the loss with a drop of over 3%. Copper fell after losing support at 50,000 yuan/mt and closed 2.5% lower. Aluminium, lead, and tin edged down, while zinc inched up.The ferrous complex remained weak. Coke slid over 3%, rebar lost nearly 3%, hot-rolled coil fell over 2% and iron ore di...Read More
SHANGHAI, Mar 26 (SMM) – Nonferrous metals faced pressure from a potential trade war as SHFE nickel led the loss with a drop of over 3%. Copper fell after losing support at 50,000 yuan/mt and closed 2.5% lower. Aluminium, lead, and tin edged down, while zinc inched up.The ferrous complex remained weak. Coke slid over 3%, rebar lost nearly 3%, hot-rolled coil fell over 2% and iron ore di...Read More
SHANGHAI, Mar 26 (SMM) – Nonferrous metals faced pressure from a potential trade war as SHFE nickel led the loss with a drop of over 3%. Copper fell after losing support at 50,000 yuan/mt and closed 2.5% lower. Aluminium, lead, and tin edged down, while zinc inched up.The ferrous complex remained weak. Coke slid over 3%, rebar lost nearly 3%, hot-rolled coil fell over 2% and iron ore di...Read More
U.S. equity index futures were higher this morning. S&P 500 futures were up 39 points in pre-opening trade. Futures moved higher on news that the U.S. Administration has been negotiating terms for trade with China prior to imposing tariffs.USG jumped $7.04 to $40.55 after Berkshire Hathaway offered its 31% stake in the company to Knauf Entities for $42 per share. Marathon Oil added $7.04 to $4...Read More
SHANGHAI, Mar 26 (SMM) – After it was forecast that Tangshan's air pollution is likely to reach the orange level, the city activated its emergency level ?...? response to heavy air pollution at 20:00 on March 25 until further notice, SMM learned.An orange-level alert is the second-highest in China’s four-level air pollution warning system. An orange-level alert indicates that...Read More