Prices for shredded steel scrap imported into Pakistan and India increased on Friday October 29, despite concerns over rising freight costs, sources have told Fastmarkets.PakistanFastmarkets calculated its weekly steel scrap, shredded, index, import, cfr Port Qasim, Pakistan, at $563.74 per tonne on Friday, up from $557.48 per tonne on October 22.Deals were heard at $560-565 per tonne this week, u...Read More
European steel companies must scale up their decarbonization technologies within the coming decade or risk exhausting their allocated emissions allowances early, according to a report released on Tuesday September 14.The report, "Steeling for Net Zero," by climate researcher Industry Tracker, found that selected European steel companies have less than 26% of their carbon budget remaining and must...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.Bulk ferro-alloy prices have shown impressive gains again this month, with ferro-silicon, silicon metal and manganese alloy prices all making significant increases. Noble alloy markets also enjoyed upward momentum, with both vanadium and molybdenum prices rising sharply.Recovering demand from steelmakers globally, together w...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts is ready to view.As we approach the end of the first half of 2021, steel markets in Europe and the United States continue to heat up. This six-month period is largely unprecedented, with both steel prices and steelmakers' margins hitting a number of new record highs throughout.The rally is likely nearing its end, however, with global steel ou...Read More
Seaborne low-vol PCI prices in both the fob and cfr markets fell following the drop in thermal coal prices. And China's National Development & Reform Commission intervention, plus the news that stranded Australian coal was allowed to clear Chinese customs, have put market participants in a wait-and-see mode.Fastmarkets indicesPremium hard coking coal, cfr Jingtang: $608.12 per tonne, unchange...Read More
Treatment charges for both zinc and lead concentrates on a cif China basis were steady over the two weeks to Friday October 29, with little trade in either market.The zinc spot concentrate TC, cif China, was assessed at $75-88 per tonne on Friday, unchanged since one month earlier.Clean cargoes were mostly sold in a narrow range of $80-85 per tonne, with prime brands remaining at the bottom of the...Read More
The price of silicon in China has dropped several times over recent weeks, after setting a then-record price of $9,000-10,000 per tonne on September 24. Downstream demand then fell through October, clouding market confidence, and offer prices went lower and lower.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for silicon, export, 98.5% Si min, fob China, dropped to $5,000-5,500 per tonne on Friday October 2...Read More
Battery-grade lithium prices in Asia nudged higher over the week to Thursday October 28 on lingering tightness in supply, costlier feedstock and monthly restocking among buyers. ?EUR? Chinese suppliers of seaborne battery-grade lithium hydroxide price succeed in translating higher offers into transactions in the Asian spot market.?EUR? Lithium prices in China's domestic market rise on month-end re...Read More
China's nickel sulfate price was unchanged in the week to Friday October 29, with minimal spot trading activity reported during the pricing period due to the weaker demand in the downstream precursor ternary market, Fastmarkets heard.Fastmarkets assessed the price of nickel sulfate, min 21%, max 22.5%; cobalt 10ppm max, exw China, at 35,500-36,000 yuan ($5,552-5,630) per tonne on Friday, unchanged...Read More
An overview of the new energy materials markets and their price moves in the week to Friday October 29.Susan Zou, Yingchi Yang and...Read More
The collapse of the iron ore market and market turbulence over Chinese property developer Evergrande Group are adding to the economic woes caused by the Delta variant of Covid-19 for much of this year.It is hard to find bright sparks in the months ahead for the ferrous supply chain, which has been buffeted repeatedly in a short span of few months, starting with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang's comment...Read More
The price of UK inter-merchant light-iron steel scrap narrowed on Friday October 29 with the domestic and export markets remaining strong, sources told Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets' price assessment for steel scrap 5C, loose old light, domestic, delivered inter-merchant UK, was ?185-195 ($255-268) per tonne on Friday, narrowing from ?175-195 per tonne the week before."It's quite busy. There is a lot...Read More
Copper smelters returned to the spot market this week with treatment and refining charges (TC/RC) relatively stable.For smelter purchases, clean tonnages for shipment in the fourth quarter and in January were seen with TCs in the low $60s. One extra clean cargo sold in the high $50s, while a lower-grade cargo of...Read More
Secondary alloy prices in the United States climbed again sharply on Thursday October 28, with strong demand, low supply and soaring raw material prices, especially for silicon, combining to drive transactions higher."Silicon is expensive and supply is tight," one producer said simply. "Alloy is very firm due to [the] spike in silicon prices and increasing manufacturing cost," a second...Read More
Import steel billet prices into China fell again toward the end of the week, hampered by continued power shortages and efforts by traders to re-route cargoes sold to that country.Chinese trading companies have tried to divert their position billet cargoes into Southeast Asian markets during the week, a behavior that started with panic over falling prices setting in the prior week. Most of these ca...Read More
Fastmarkets has corrected its chromium price, in warehouse Rotterdam, which was incorrectly published on Friday October 29 due to an editing error.The price was also published 13 minutes later than its publication time of 3pm London time.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for MB-CR-0001 chromium alumino-thermic 99% min, in-whs Rotterdam, on Friday has been changed to $10,500-12,000 per tonne aft...Read More
The three-month copper contract is trading near record highs on the London Metal Exchange, cash prices are rising even faster, and inventories are descending toward zero. Try running a hedge book in those conditions.It's been a very real quandary facing the physical trade and industry, which awoke on Tuesday October 19 to find copper's cash to November spread had flared to a backwardation of more...Read More
Base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange closed lower on a week-on-week basis on Friday October 29, after Chinese state planners intervened to cool surging thermal coal prices this week.The LME three-month aluminium price closed at $2,716 per tonne on October 29, down from $2,746 per tonne at Thursday's close and was down by nearly 5.3% from last Friday's $2,868 per tonne. The price is also...Read More
The European market for hot-rolled coil remained calm on Friday October 29 with both producers and buyers holding back from trading, sources told Fastmarkets.European steelmakers have been focused on settlement of long-term agreements with big buyers, such as the automotive and white goods sectors. As a result, they have not been active in the spot market.Buyers, in the meantime, have been taking...Read More
The recent decline in aluminium prices stoked bearish sentiment in the alumina market, pushing prices down 5% on Friday October 29.Fastmarkets calculated its daily alumina index, fob Australia at $452.16 per tonne on Friday, down from $476.73 per tonne on Thursday.A deal was reported on Friday for 30,000 tonnes at $450 per tonne fob Western Australia, for loading in the second half of November loa...Read More