Base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange ended mostly higher on Thursday December 4, with only tin bucking the overall upward trend. The three-month nickel price gained more than $200 and copper ended $41.50 higher, albeit below $7,200 per tonne. "We remain positive on copper over the very short-term, expecting the rebound to continue at the start of the year. Our momentum-based indicators...Read More
Copper bulls may have set the metal's prices up for a fall in 2018 after a staggering December rally saw prices reach four-year highs, market analyst told Metal Bulletin. The London Metal Exchange's three-month copper price ended 2017 up 30.8% for the year having peaked at $7,312.5 per tonne on December 28. Concerns that up to 40% of global copper mine supply has the potential to be disrupted thro...Read More
Brazil's primary aluminium exports fell by 35% in 2017, reaching the lowest level on record as the two remaining local producers focused on the domestic market. Shipments totaled 210,201 tonnes in 2017 compared with 323,322 tonnes in 2016, according to figures from the country's foreign trade ministry, MDIC. This is the lowest annual aluminium export volume since 1989, the initial year on the mini...Read More
Concerns over supplies for the year ahead and a strong purchasing appetite from traders and mills continued to provide momentum to noble alloys prices in the first few days of January. Molybdic oxide prices staged the most impressive gains in the (usually quiet) first days of the year, jumping to $10.70-11 per lb, in-warehouse Rotterdam, on Wednesday January 3. Prices were assessed up 10.2% f...Read More
The Chinese vanadium market may turn to a deficit this year, underpinned by revised standards for the tensile strength of rebar products and a ban on vanadium slag imports, sources told Metal Bulletin.The new standard proposes eliminating 335MPa-tensile strength rebar and replacing it with 600MPa-tensile strength rebar that will have greater earthquake resistance, which will mean produce...Read More
Concerns over supplies for the year ahead and a strong purchasing appetite from traders and mills continued to provide momentum to noble alloys prices in the first few days of January. Molybdic oxide prices staged the most impressive gains in the (usually quiet) first days of the year, jumping to $10.70-11 per lb, in-warehouse Rotterdam, on Wednesday January 3. Prices were assessed up 10.2% f...Read More
Although Indonesia is set to see shipments of bauxite to China grow in 2018, years of absence from the market due to its export ban means its traditional role as primary supplier is unlikely to be regained any time soon. As of the end of October 2017, China had imported 562,924 tonnes of bauxite from Indonesia since July when the first shipment from PT Aneka Tambang (PT Antam) reached China in fou...Read More
Heavy Chinese investment in Indonesian nickel smelting and stainless steel production means that an increasing quantity of nickel ore mined in the country will be consumed internally from 2018 onwards.In spite of higher production in the coming year, Indonesian nickel pig iron (NPI) exports to China will fall in 2018 as around 180,000 tonnes of nickel metal will be consumed domestically on an ...Read More
Metal Bulletin proposes to amend its international cobalt price specifications as a result of changes in the market, and invitesfeedback on the following consultation.The deadline for Stage 1 feedback is Friday January 12. Click on the image above to download the full-sized PDF.Read More
Turkish deep-sea scrap trading remained silent again on Thursday January 4, as most suppliers were still out of the market due to heavy winter conditions and holiday outages.The country's steel mills were expected to try to book more cargoes for February, but the supply was tight and there were not many cargoes available in the market, Metal Bulletin was told."Scrap collection is slow due to heavy...Read More
The Chinese government has finished issuing the first two rounds of solid waste import licenses for 2018, with copper scrap import license numbers and tonnages both more than 94% lower. The first round of licenses was granted in late December 2017, with the second round granted this week - all for imports delivered in 2018. According to official files obtained by Metal Bulletin, copper scrap (HS c...Read More
The drive for greater transparency in financial markets will power into fifth gear from the start of January as the second iteration of Europe's Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID II) comes into effect. MiFID II - the European Union's first regulatory update to the directive since 2004 - will kick in on Wednesday January 3 and is designed to make European markets safer and more tran...Read More
Base metals traded on the London Metal Exchange are for the most part little changed this morning, Thursday January 4, apart from nickel and copper prices that are up by 0.8% and 0.6%, with the latter at $7,220 per tonne. Volume has picked up with 9,663 lots traded as of 07:01 am London time. This follows a diverse performance on Wednesday that saw copper, aluminium, nickel and zinc close dow...Read More
Turkey has reduced the import duty applied to incoming shipments of hot-rolled coil (HRC) intended for re-rollers to 3.5% from the previous 5%, with effect from Monday January 1.The duty remains at 9% for other HRC imports, Metal Bulletin has heard.Market...Read More
Metal Bulletin has amended its Brazilian domestic steel prices to reflect standard market practices, making changes to the calculation of its monthly assessments. Local taxes are now excluded from the price calculation methodologies.Previously, all Brazilian domestic flat steel prices - Brazil domestic cold rolled coil ex-works Reais per tonne monthly, Brazil domestic hot-dipped galvanized coil ex...Read More
Trade protection measures in the Middle East could support local steel producers' attempts to capture much of the increased regional steel demand expected in 2018. Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) nations are due to make a final decision by the second quarter of this year on whether to impose anti-dumping duties on Chinese non-welded oil country tubular goods (OCTG) made of iron or steel with a rad...Read More
Indian prices for steel and ferrous scrap are likely to increase after a significant price rise was brought in by state-run iron ore producer National Mineral Development Corp (NMDC), sources told Metal Bulletin on Thursday January 4.NMDC's price for Indian lump ore rose to 3,100 rupees ($49) per tonne while fines have increased to 2,760 rupees per tonne, the company said in a filing to the Bombay...Read More
Turkish domestic wire rod prices inched up over the past week with rising imported scrap costs, while domestic rebar prices remained comparatively stable, sources told Metal Bulletin on Thursday January 4.Metal Bulletin's weekly price assessment for domestic wire rod in Turkey was $600-620 per tonne ex-works, widened upward from the $600-610 per tonne...Read More
Turkish long steel export prices have continued to climb over the past week, in line with increasing scrap costs, sources said on Thursday January 4.Metal Bulletin's weekly price assessment for rebar exports out of Turkey was $570-580 per tonne fob, actual weight. This was up from the $560-570 per tonne of last week.But Turkish...Read More
The export market for CIS-origin pig iron has been inactive over the new year holiday period, with an improvement in trading activity expected only next week, sources told Metal Bulletin on Thursday January 4."The market is totally quiet. I haven't heard about any big inquires for several weeks," a European trader told Metal Bulletin.Buyers will come back from their holidays on Monday January 8, h...Read More