SHANGHAI, Jan 5 (SMM)? 1/4 ? Copper concentrate treatment charges (TCs) have come down to $76-85/mt over the past week, below the floor price at $87/mt set by China Smelters Purchase Team (CSPT) for the first quarter of this year.SMM understood that most transactions were done by small to medium-sized smelters with sellers giving pressure to buyers. In fact, such market condition is likely to last...Read More
SHANGHAI, Jan 5 (SMM)? 1/4 ? A similar product to nickel pig iron (NPI) produced in Indonesia, FeNi Luppen, is set to change the global nickel supply pattern if Chinese stainless steel mills are receptive, SMM learned.Backed by Russian investors, Blackspace in Indonesia launched the nickel intermediate product in 2017 and claimed the production could hit 200,000 nickel mt in 2019. A source add tha...Read More
SHANGHAI, Jan 5 (SMM)? 1/4 ?Copper: LME copper prices remained rather firm with a support at the 10-day moving average. It is possible that prices would resume the upward movement and we expect the contract to trade at $7,160-7,210/mt today. The SHFE 1803 copper, on the other hand, is forecast to trade at 54,600-55,100 yuan/mt today while we see decent physical restocking demand.Aluminium: LME alu...Read More
SHANGHAI, Jan 5 (SMM)? 1/4 ?Copper: LME copper prices remained rather firm with a support at the 10-day moving average. It is possible that prices would resume the upward movement and we expect the contract to trade at $7,160-7,210/mt today. The SHFE 1803 copper, on the other hand, is forecast to trade at 54,600-55,100 yuan/mt today while we see decent physical restocking demand.Aluminium: LME alu...Read More
SHANGHAI, Jan 5 (SMM)? 1/4 ?Copper: LME copper prices remained rather firm with a support at the 10-day moving average. It is possible that prices would resume the upward movement and we expect the contract to trade at $7,160-7,210/mt today. The SHFE 1803 copper, on the other hand, is forecast to trade at 54,600-55,100 yuan/mt today while we see decent physical restocking demand.Aluminium: LME alu...Read More
Base metals prices trading on the London Metal Exchange are generally higher this morning, Friday January 5, with copper and aluminium both up by 0.1% at $7,193 per tonne and $2,248 per tonne, respectively, and the rest up by between 0.2% and 0.4%. The exception is nickel, which is down by 0.9% at $12,530 per tonne.Volume has been average, with 6,133 lots traded as of 06:43am London time. This fol...Read More
European stainless steel base prices have remained unchanged over the past week, with market activity quiet early in 2018, sources told Metal Bulletin on Friday January 5.Metal Bulletin's weekly base price assessment for 2mm, grade-304 CR stainless steel sheet was ?,?1,060-1,130 ($1,277-1,361) per tonne delivered in Northern Europe on Friday."The market is still very quiet, with many countries sti...Read More
The UK inter-merchant price range for austenitic alloy steel scrap rose by ?50-60 per tonne this week on higher nickel prices when the market returned from seasonal holidays, sources said on Friday January 5.Metal Bulletin's weekly price assessment for inter-merchant 18/8 scrap solids in the UK was ?950-980 ($1,286-1,326) per tonne delivered on Friday, compared with ?900-920 per tonne on Decemb...Read More
Correspondent Dalton Barker reviews the week in the non-ferrous metals markets....Read More
Michael Farmer's Red Kite fund has entered into a "restructuring review," it has said in filings at Companies House so far this month.Changes at London-based RK Capital Management "may impact the activity of the LLP in future years," the fund said in a report for the financial year ended March 31, 2017 that was signed by Farmer,...Read More
Metal Bulletin rounds up some of the key news and price moves across the global metal markets this week. Base metals Two trading companies have accepted Nornickel's $300 per tonne nickel premium for 2018, while the majority of Nornickel's long-term contract premium negotiations cif China are still in the air. Striking workers at Empresa Nacional de Mineria's (Enami's) copper smelter in Chile...Read More
Comex copper prices once again traded in negative territory with technical selling and weak US employment data weighing on the complex.Copper for March settlement on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange declined 3.85 cents or 1.2% to $3.2245 per lb. Earlier, the price touched $3.2225, its lowest since December 22."The complex may have reached slightly overbought levels, however,....Read More
KGHM, Europe's third largest copper cathode producer, will suspend one of its two production lines at the Glog??w copper smelter and refinery facility in Poland from April to June, the company told Metal Bulletin.KGHM, Europe's third largest copper cathode producer, will suspend one of its two production lines at the Glog??w copper smelter and refinery facility from April to June, the company told...Read More
Brazil's copper ore export volumes increased 8% in 2017 year on year, mostly on higher shipments from India. Exports totaled 1.25 million tonnes last year, compared with 1.16 million tonnes in 2016, according to figures from the country's foreign trade ministry, MDIC. Despite the annual increase, December shipments fell 11.1% year on year. India received 257,790...Read More
The massive waves recorded in London Metal Exchange copper stocks could subside in 2018, with the big bull buying up tonnage to meet the coming year's commitments and deliveries from the bears to the exchange expected to return to their normal pace seen before 2016. The battle between two major trading houses that played out in the LME copper warehouses began in 2016, causing prices to rise and fa...Read More
Cold-rolled coil and hot-dipped galvanized prices have started the year up, according to market participants, but mills' attempts to push prices to multi-year peaks may collide with imports that are already at their highest point in years.American Metal Market's assessments for cold-rolled coil and hot-dipped galvanized base prices both stand at $42.50 per hundredweight ($850 per ton), up 1.19% fr...Read More
Proposed UK trade laws to replace EU legislation after the country leaves the union ("Brexit") could "water down [UK] anti-dumping and anti-subsidy measures," according to a briefing note published by trade body UK Steel on Friday January 5.The country's parliament will debate two proposed pieces of legislation - the Trade Bill and the Taxation (Cross Border Trade) Bill - on January 8 and 9.The Tr...Read More
Ukraine produced 21.3 million tonnes of steel in 2017, down by 12% year on year, according to national steelmakers' union Ukrmetallurgprom. The country's production of pig iron dropped by 15% year on year to 20 million tonnes, while rolled steel output fell by 14% to 18.4 million tonnes. Some mills in the rebel-held territories in Donetsk and Luhansk were not included in the figures since these&nb...Read More
Slab export prices from Brazil were up this past week as producers prepare to launch offers at higher levels. Metal Bulletin's weekly assessment of Brazil export slab was $500-510 per tonne fob on Friday January 5, up from $470-480 per tonne fob in the previous week. No deals or firm offers were made this past...Read More
The lack of buying activity at the beginning of the year has created mixed expectations about which direction global steel slab prices will take in January.Some market participants were bearish, suggesting that a splash of buying activity will be short-lived, at least in Asia, amid generally sluggish demand for finished flat steel in the region as well as the approaching Lunar New Year holiday.Bes...Read More