The seaborne iron ore market reported higher prices on Thursday January 4 despite a big drop in spot rebar prices in east China.Key driversChina's steel markets continued to soften during the day with spot rebar prices in the eastern region tumbling 170-180 yuan ($26-28) per tonne as bad weather dampened downstream demand.The benchmark iron ore futures contract picked up in the afternoon after dec...Read More
Iron ore prices rose above $76 per tonne cfr China on Thursday January 4 despite a subdued Chinese steel market.Metal Bulletin's 62% Fe Iron Ore Index Today: $76.54 per tonne cfr QingdaoDaily change: up by $1.57 per tonneMonth-to-date average: $75.41 per tonneMetal Bulletin's 58% Fe Premium Index Today: $61.94 per tonne cfr QingdaoDaily change:...Read More
SHANGHAI, Jan 4 (SMM)? 1/4 ? Nonferrous metals rallied this afternoon and for the most part finished higher at closure. Lead led the gains with 1% rise while copper and zinc went up slightly. Aluminium slipped, however.The ferrous market saw coke outshine others with 3% jump. Coking coal rose 0.7% and iron ore also edged up. On the other hand, rebar dropped 0.68% and hot-rolled coil slipped 0.56%....Read More
SHANGHAI, Jan 4 (SMM)? 1/4 ? Nonferrous metals rallied this afternoon and for the most part finished higher at closure. Lead led the gains with 1% rise while copper and zinc went up slightly. Aluminium slipped, however.The ferrous market saw coke outshine others with 3% jump. Coking coal rose 0.7% and iron ore also edged up. On the other hand, rebar dropped 0.68% and hot-rolled coil slipped 0.56%....Read More
SHANGHAI, Jan 4 (SMM)? 1/4 ? Nonferrous metals rallied this afternoon and for the most part finished higher at closure. Lead led the gains with 1% rise while copper and zinc went up slightly. Aluminium slipped, however.The ferrous market saw coke outshine others with 3% jump. Coking coal rose 0.7% and iron ore also edged up. On the other hand, rebar dropped 0.68% and hot-rolled coil slipped 0.56%....Read More
U.S. equity index futures were higher this morning. S&P 500 futures were up 6 points in pre-opening trade. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures are expected to open just below 25,000.Index futures moved slightly higher following release of economic news. Consensus for December ADP Private Employment was a decline to 185,000 from 190,000 in November. Actual was 250,000. Consensus for Weekly Job...Read More
SHANGHAI, Jan 4 (SMM)? 1/4 ?Copper: LME copper was under pressure to move towards the 10-day moving average and it is expected to trade at $7,130-7,180/mt today. The main contract SHFE copper is to trade at 54,500-55,500 yuan/mt. In the spot market, the discounts are likely to be narrowed to 90-50 yuan/mt today.Nickel: Nickel futures saw downward correction pressure as Chinese domestic stainless s...Read More
SHANGHAI, Jan 4 (SMM)? 1/4 ?Copper: LME copper was under pressure to move towards the 10-day moving average and it is expected to trade at $7,130-7,180/mt today. The main contract SHFE copper is to trade at 54,500-55,500 yuan/mt. In the spot market, the discounts are likely to be narrowed to 90-50 yuan/mt today.Nickel: Nickel futures saw downward correction pressure as Chinese domestic stainless s...Read More
SHANGHAI, Jan 4 (SMM)? 1/4 ? Production at zinc smelters in Huayuan County, Hunan province remained suspended or restricted even though zinc prices have performed well, SMM learned.Smelters in the region have been in suspension since early December due to environmental inspections, as SMM reported. Such activities appeared to have been ongoing, sources said.Huayuan County is one of China’s l...Read More
SHANGHAI, Jan 4 (SMM)? 1/4 ?Copper: LME copper was under pressure to move towards the 10-day moving average and it is expected to trade at $7,130-7,180/mt today. The main contract SHFE copper is to trade at 54,500-55,500 yuan/mt. In the spot market, the discounts are likely to be narrowed to 90-50 yuan/mt today.Nickel: Nickel futures saw downward correction pressure as Chinese domestic stainless s...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 down an a...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
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
European zinc premiums have gone up slightly for 2018 contracts compared with a year ago, multiple sources told Metal Bulletin, citing an increase in transportation costs.In 2018, the bulk of European deals were settled at premiums of $135-150 per tonne on a duty-paid fca basis via Rotterdam and Antwerp, while delivered premiums in Italy for long-term contracts were around $190-210 per tonne, acco...Read More
The current tightness in the lithium market is set to remain for up to a decade due to delays in securing the appropriate regulatory framework in Chile, a senior executive at Canada-based junior mining firm Wealth Minerals said.Demand for lithium has skyrocketed in recent months following a boost to demand for the batteries used in electric vehicles. But Chile, which has the world's second largest...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
Kaz Minerals will invest $1.2 billion in expanding its Aktogay copper processing facility to bring an extra 80,000 tonnes of copper capacity to the market by 2022. The London-listed company said on December 21 it had approved the construction of a new concentrator, doubling the annual sulphide ore processing capacity at Aktogay in Kazakhstan to 50 million tonnes. Copper production from sulfide ore...Read More
The latest metal markets news and price moves to start the North American day on Thursday January 4.The latest metal markets news and price moves to start the North American day on Thursday January 4.Base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange were universally higher during morning trading, with copper and nickel climbing more than 1%."After weakness and consolidation in the base metals in rec...Read More
Copper was one of the biggest winners of 2017; the catalysts that fueled that rally are reappearing this year.A scorching Chinese property market, extended outages at some of the world's largest copper mines and upbeat global growth prospects all led to the unexpected rally to its highest price since August 2014 high in mid-October.And those exact same bullish arguments remain for this year; wheth...Read More
Brazilian flat steel import volumes nearly doubled year-on-year in 2017, mostly because of increased shipment volumes of heavy plate, cold-rolled coil (CRC) and hot-dipped galvanized coil (HDG).Imports reached a total of 1.31 million tonnes, against 665,386 tonnes in 2016, according to figures released by the country's foreign trade ministry, MDIC, on Thursday January 4.China was...Read More