Metal Bulletin reviews the major stories that have affected the steel market over the past week.Iron ore prices retreated on Friday, to around $78 per tonne, following weakness in China's steel market, and after the potential for supply disruptions as a result of a cyclone in Australia reduced significantly.Seaborne coking coal prices were firm at the end of the week, with fob Australia...Read More
Scrap prices in the world's major markets except the United States continued to strengthen in the week from Monday January 8 to Friday January 12 amid low supplies of material.Turkish steel mills resumed their deep-sea scrap bookings at the beginning of the week and have now booked three deep-sea cargoes from the Baltic Sea region.Turkey importsTurkish steel mills booked deep-sea cargoes from the...Read More
Offer prices for South Korea-origin commercial grade hot-rolled coil (HRC) to India have increased by $25 tonne to $640-645 per tonne cfr Mumbai for shipments in March, Metal Bulletin heard on Friday January 12.This compared with offers made late in December at $615-620 per tonne cfr Mumbai.One Mumbai-based importer, while confirming the offers, said that the bids against the offers were in the ra...Read More
Good morning from Metal Bulletin's office in Singapore, as we bring you the latest news and pricing stories on Friday January 12.Nickel prices on the Shanghai Futures Exchange retreated during Asian morning trading on Friday, in line with the weaker prices seen on the London Metal Exchange overnight, after selling emerged amid concerns that prices had run too high too soon.Check Metal Bulletin's l...Read More
Metal Bulletin reviews the major stories that have affected the steel market over the past week.Iron ore prices retreated on Friday, to around $78 per tonne, following weakness in China's steel market, and after the potential for supply disruptions as a result of a cyclone in Australia reduced significantly.Seaborne coking coal prices were firm at the end of the week, with fob Australia...Read More
Base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange closed the week on divergent paths today, Friday January 12, with aluminium leading the upside.The three-month aluminium price closed above $2,200 per tonne for the first time since the first trading day of the year. 16,000 tonnes of aluminium was freshly cancelled at LME-listed warehouses this morning, which supported prices. "Strong Chinese trade f...Read More
Comex copper prices were lower on the morning of Friday January 12, with volumes small ahead of the US holiday weekend.Copper for March settlement on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange dipped by 0.45 cents or 0.1% to trade recently at $3.2285 per lb. The trading range so far has been between $3.2180 and $3.2490 per oz."Copper is comfortably consolidating," Metal Bulletin analys...Read More
Base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange were mostly higher during morning trading on Friday January 12, with zinc continuing to edge higher. The three-month zinc price hit a high of $3,409 per tonne already this morning - the highest since August 2007. "Momentum-based indicators show a strong uptrend in motion. A fresh 2018 high is likely to occur in the coming days," Boris Mikanikrezai, M...Read More
Base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange are generally higher this morning, Friday January 12, with prices fairly uniformly up between 0.5% and 0.6% - apart from tin prices that are down 0.1% at $20,159 per tonne. Three-month copper prices are up by 0.5% at $7,167 per tonne and zinc prices have been as high as $3,405 per tonne, which is a fresh multi-year high.Volume has been average, with...Read More
SHANGHAI, Jan 12 (SMM)? 1/4 ? SHFE zinc stood out from the performance of other nonferrous metals with a 0.8% rise today, while nickel was down close to 2% and lead down 1%. Copper and aluminium both edged down 0.5%.The ferrous complex remained weak with iron ore down over 2% and rebar down 1.6%. Coking coal and hot-rolled coil were down some 1.4% and coke closed 0.7% lower.Copper: SHFE copper was...Read More
SHANGHAI, Jan 12 (SMM)? 1/4 ? SHFE zinc stood out from the performance of other nonferrous metals with a 0.8% rise today, while nickel was down close to 2% and lead down 1%. Copper and aluminium both edged down 0.5%.The ferrous complex remained weak with iron ore down over 2% and rebar down 1.6%. Coking coal and hot-rolled coil were down some 1.4% and coke closed 0.7% lower.Copper: SHFE copper was...Read More
SHANGHAI, Jan 12 (SMM)? 1/4 ? SHFE zinc stood out from the performance of other nonferrous metals with a 0.8% rise today, while nickel was down close to 2% and lead down 1%. Copper and aluminium both edged down 0.5%.The ferrous complex remained weak with iron ore down over 2% and rebar down 1.6%. Coking coal and hot-rolled coil were down some 1.4% and coke closed 0.7% lower.Copper: SHFE copper was...Read More
SHANGHAI, Jan 12 (SMM)? 1/4 ?Copper inventory in Shanghai bonded area stood at 481,000 mt for the week ending Friday January 12, up from 480,200 mt last week. For editorial queries, please contact Daisy Tseng at daisy@smm.cn For more information on how to access our research reports, please email service.en@smm.cn Read More
U.S. equity index futures were mixed this morning. S&P 500 futures were unchanged in pre-opening trade.Index futures moved lower following release of economic news at 8:30 AM EST. Consensus for December Consumer Prices was an increase of 0.1% versus a gain of 0.4% in November. Actual was an increase of 0.1%. Excluding food and energy, December Consumer Prices was an increase of 0.2% versus a g...Read More
SHANGHAI, Jan 12 (SMM)? 1/4 ?Copper: LME copper is expected to trade at $7,065-7,200/mt today with support at the 20-day moving average while the SHFE 1803 contract is to trade at 54,200-55,300 yuan/mt. In the spot market, the premiums are set to be firmer at flat to 50 yuan/mt today.Zinc: LME zinc is aiming for $3,400/mt against the backdrop of good fundamentals in the international market. We se...Read More
Operations at Sumitomo Corp’s Ambatovy nickel mine in Madagascar were suspended on January 4 before hurricane Ava hit, the company said on Thursday January 11.Some equipment has been damaged but the maintenance work has started. The company expected the repairing work to finish by the end of January while production would be halted during the time, Reuters reported.This would have some impac...Read More
SHANGHAI, Jan 12 (SMM)? 1/4 ?China’s imported unwrought copper reached 4.69 million mt in 2017, down 5.2% from levels seen in 2016.The import volume in December stood at 450,000 mt, down 4.3% from a month ago and down 8.2% from December 2016. For editorial queries, please contact Daisy Tseng at daisy@smm.cn For more information on how to access our research reports, pleas...Read More
SHANGHAI, Jan 12 (SMM)? 1/4 ?Copper: LME copper is expected to trade at $7,065-7,200/mt today with support at the 20-day moving average while the SHFE 1803 contract is to trade at 54,200-55,300 yuan/mt. In the spot market, the premiums are set to be firmer at flat to 50 yuan/mt today.Zinc: LME zinc is aiming for $3,400/mt against the backdrop of good fundamentals in the international market. We se...Read More
SHANGHAI, Jan 12 (SMM)? 1/4 ?Copper: LME copper is expected to trade at $7,065-7,200/mt today with support at the 20-day moving average while the SHFE 1803 contract is to trade at 54,200-55,300 yuan/mt. In the spot market, the premiums are set to be firmer at flat to 50 yuan/mt today.Zinc: LME zinc is aiming for $3,400/mt against the backdrop of good fundamentals in the international market. We se...Read More
European stainless steel base prices have been largely stable over the past week, with market activity improving after seasonal holidays, sources told Metal Bulletin on Friday January 12.Metal Bulletin's weekly base price assessment for 2mm, grade-304 CR stainless steel sheet narrowed downward by ?,?10 per tonne to ?,?1,060-1,120 ($1,271-1,343) per tonne delivered in Northern Europe on Friday, com...Read More