Iron ore prices fell in China on Thursday November 18 in response to a new round of controls imposed on blast furnace operation and emissions restrictions in the city of Handan in Hebei province, sources said.Fastmarkets iron ore indices 62% Fe fines, cfr Qingdao: $87.27 per tonne, down $3.81 per tonne62% Fe low-alumina fines, cfr Qingdao: $88.26 per tonne, down $3.04 per tonne58% Fe fines high-gr...Read More
The aluminium industry needs to support the introduction of a Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) to help finance the sector's push to decarbonization, the chief executive officer of United States-based Century Aluminum said.Jesse Gary told the virtual Goldman Sachs global metals and mining conference that a CBAM would need to be extended to cover scope 2 emissions to create the pricing resp...Read More
The export price for CIS-origin steel billet softened toward the end of the current week amid increased competition in the nearby markets in Turkey and Egypt, Fastmarkets heard on Thursday November 18.Weakness in finished steel prices added to the negative sentiment.The removal of a 10% safeguard duty on billet imports into Egypt early this week [LINK] at first added some optimism to the market, b...Read More
Domestic prices for cold-rolled coil in Southern Europe moved down in the week to Wednesday November 17 due to limited trading activity and competitive import offers, sources told Fastmarkets.In the meantime, domestic prices in the north of Europe have been fairly stable despite a similar lack of demand.Both Southern and Northern European spot buyers have been avoiding booking significant volumes...Read More
Key data from the Wednesday November 17 pricing session in China.Key drivers China's spot cobalt metal price fell amid a decline in local futures prices, while downstream demand was curbed by still high spot levels. Cobalt tetroxide prices in China were flat amid limited trading activity. Though most sellers would like...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Thursday November 18 that are worth another look.Swedish steelmaker SSAB has announced a further two partnerships involving its fossil-fuel-free steel, to commence in 2026, the company said in separate announcements this week.Production of key battery raw materials cobalt...Read More
Chinese exporters of ammonium paratungstate (APT) kept their spot offers unchanged in the week to Wednesday November 17 amid slow conditions after foreign buyers took to the sidelines upon noticing weakness in China's domestic market.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for tungsten APT 88.5% WO3 min, fob main ports China was $313-319 per metric tonne unit (mtu) on Wednesday, unchanged from a week...Read More
Base metal futures prices on the London Metal Exchange were largely up at the 5pm close on Thursday November 18, with tin reaching a new all-time high.The three-month tin price closed at $38,453 per tonne, a rise of 1.2% from $37,975 per tonne at the 5pm close on Wednesday. This marks a new all-time high for the soldering metals three-month price, with the previous record being $38,330 on October...Read More
European hot-rolled coil prices remained broadly stable on Thursday November 18 on limited trading, but sentiment for the first quarter of 2022 has turned cautiously optimistic, sources told Fastmarkets. Limited tonnages of December-rolling HRC are still available at lower prices, but for January next year mills are targeting higher levels to cover surging c...Read More
Production of key battery raw materials cobalt and nickel will remain tight and will pose challenges to the electrification of transport, panelists said on Monday November 15 during Fastmarkets' International Ferro-alloys Conference in Prague."This year was really the first year that we saw a step change in nickel demand caused by demand from the electric vehicles (EV) sector and we saw nickel con...Read More
Turkish long steel export prices have gone down over the past week amid poor demand from the country's major overseas destinations, market participants told Fastmarkets on Thursday November 18.Turkish steelmakers have lowered their export offers for rebar to $730-735 per tonne, down from last week's $740-745 per tonne fob on an actual-weight basis.However, the workable price...Read More
The infrastructure to recycle electric vehicle (EV) batteries is currently not optimized either to handle end-of-life battery capacity or to meet critical materials demands placed on the market with the ramping-up of electrification, according to US-based consultancy Lux Research.In a report issued on Thursday November 18, the consultancy said that, despite a flurry of activity in the past few yea...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Thursday November 18 that are worth another look.Swedish steelmaker SSAB has announced a further two partnerships involving its fossil-fuel-free steel, to commence in 2026, the company said in separate announcements this week.Production of key battery raw materials cobalt...Read More
Hot-rolled coil prices in the United States continued their recent downturn on Thursday November 18, hovering just above $90 per hundredweight ($1,800 per short ton), while market sentiment was mixed.Fastmarkets' daily steel hot-rolled coil index, fob mill US was calculated at $90.06 per cwt ($1,801.20 per ton) on November 18, down by 0.67% from $90.67 per cwt on Wednesday November 17 and by 2.64%...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Thursday November 18 that are worth another look.Swedish steelmaker SSAB has announced a further two partnerships involving its fossil-fuel-free steel, to commence in 2026, the company said in separate announcements this week.Production of key battery raw materials cobalt...Read More
Seaborne coking coal prices in the cfr China market dropped further on Thursday November 18 after domestic cargoes plunged due to weak demand, while the fob Australia coking coal market continued to be quiet without firm buying interest, market sources said.Fastmarkets indicesPremium hard coking coal, cfr Jingtang: $523.84 per tonne, down $26.35 per tonneHard coking coal, cfr Jingtang: $348.75 per...Read More
Base metal futures prices on the London Metal Exchange were largely up at the 5pm close on Thursday November 18, with tin reaching a new all-time high.The three-month tin price closed at $38,453 per tonne, a rise of 1.2% from $37,975 per tonne at the 5pm close on Wednesday. This marks a new all-time high for the soldering metals three-month price, with the previous record being $38,330 on October...Read More
The logistics of a cluster of copper mines in western Canada have been disrupted by extreme weather conditions in the province of British Columbia (BC) this week, Fastmarkets has learnt."All transportation routes, rails and highways, to the interior of the province are closed due to washouts and [land]slides," one Canadian miner source said on Thursday November 18.The province declared a state of...Read More
Japanese steel scrap export prices fell again in the week to Thursday November 18, after lower-priced deals to South Korea emerged, sources told Fastmarkets.A major South Korean mill purchased about 30,000 tonnes of Japanese steel scrap at bid prices that it had lodged earlier this week, sources told Fastmarkets on Thursday.On Wednesday, the mill bid at ?49,500 ($432) per tonne fob for H2 scrap,...Read More
Passenger car sales in the EU declined month-on-month in October 2021 due to the continuing global shortage of semiconductors for use in onboard electronics, making it the fourth consecutive month to show a double-digit percentage decrease.In October, EU passenger car sales decreased by 30.26% year-on-year to 665,001 units, the lowest October volume since 1995, the European Automotive Manufacturer...Read More