Domestic prices for steel mesh-quality wire rod in Europe were largely unchanged in most regions over the past week, supported by improving demand, sources told Fastmarkets on Wednesday July 1.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel wire rod (mesh-quality), domestic, delivered Southern Europe, remained at ?,?420-440 ($472-494) per tonne on Wednesday, stable week on week.The assessment was b...Read More

Domestic steel rebar prices have ticked upward in the south of Europe, supported by improved buying activity, but were steady in the north, sources told Fastmarkets on Wednesday July 1.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel reinforcing bar (rebar), domestic, delivered Southern Europe, was ?,?420-435 ($472-488) per tonne on July 1, compared with ?,?410-425 a week earlier.Italian producers i...Read More

The price of steel hollow sections in Europe moved up on Wednesday July 1, following feedstock price rises. Fastmarkets' price assessment for steel sections (medium), domestic, delivered Northern Europe was ?,?550-560 ($617-628) per tonne on Wednesday, up from ?,?535-550 per tonne a week earlier. The price rise came after producers of hot-rolled coil, the feedstock material for sections, anno...Read More

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Latin American apparent steel consumption is set to fall by around 17% in 2020 due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on end-user demand, according to calculations made by the region's steel association, Alacero. The automotive industry in particular was significantly affected by restrictions imposed to fight the spread of Covid-19. Auto output fell by more than 90% year on year during Ap...Read More

A summary of the financial results for 2019 for the Czech Republic's largest steelmaker, Trineck?(C) ? 3/4 elez??rny (TRZ).In brief Trineck?(C) ? 3/4 elez??rny generated its lowest annual profit since 2008. Weakening demand from the automotive industry, a toxic combination of rising feedstock prices and deteriorating finished steel prices, a high level of steel imports from third countries, and gl...Read More

The price for steel H-beams in Southern Europe narrowed week on week on Wednesday July 1, despite producers looking to achieve price increases, sources have told Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel beams, domestic, delivered Northern Europe was ?,?510-550 ($573-618) per tonne on Wednesday, flat week on week.Feedstock prices have remained largely unchanged over the past...Read More

Turkey produced 2.30 million tonnes of crude steel in May 2020, a 25.90% decrease year-on-year, the Turkish Steel Producers' Association (TCUD) said on Wednesday July 1.The country produced 13.5 million tonnes of crude steel in January-May 2020, a 5.6% decline year-on-year, TCUD added.Steel end-product consumption was 1.8 million tonnes in May alone, a 14.10% decrease year-on-year. But in January-...Read More

There are many crosswinds for the markets to contend with this morning, Wednesday July 1, with better manufacturing data in Asia and interest rate cuts in China, but a deteriorating Covid-19 situation - especially in parts of the Americas - and raised geopolitical tension over Hong Kong.* China’s Caixin and Japan’s manufacturing purchasing managers’ indices (PMIs) climbed to 51.2 fr...Read More

CANADA DAY U.S. equity index futures were lower this morning. S&P 500 futures were down 8 points in pre-opening trade. Index futures recovered following release of the June ADP Private Employment report released at 8:15 AM EDT. Consensus was an increase of 3.000 million versus an upwardly revised gain of 3.065 million in May. Previous May report indicated a drop of 2.760 million. Actual in Jun...Read More

Brazilian iron ore pellet producer Samarco is on schedule to resume operations by the end of 2020 despite health and safety measures taken to prevent Covid-19 from spreading among workers, the company told Fastmarkets on Wednesday July 1.Samarco was expected to restart production in December 2020, Vale's chief financial officer Luciano Siani said on April 29. Hot commissioning was scheduled t...Read More

Recyclers operating at East Coast docks in the United States have lowered their buying prices amid expectations of weaker-priced ferrous scrap export cargo sales to Turkey, with a new sale concluded at a $5-per-tonne discount.Turkey returned to the US market on Wednesday July 1, purchasing a 40,000-tonne cargo that included 16,000 tonnes of an 80:20 mix of No1 and No2 heavy melting scrap (HMS...Read More

Turkish steel producers have resumed their deep-sea scrap purchases for August shipments after achieving lower prices, sources said on Wednesday July 1.A steel mill in the Iskenderun region booked a US cargo, comprising 16,000 tonnes of HMS 1&2 (80:20) at $256 per tonne, 6,000 tonnes of shredded at $261 per tonne and 8,000 tonnes of plate and structural scrap (P&S) at $266 per tonne cfr. The cargo...Read More

The seaborne premium hard coking coal fob Australia index edged higher on Wednesday July 1 after a transaction was sealed at around $110 per tonne.Fastmarkets indicesPremium hard coking coal, fob DBCT: $113.57 per tonne, up $0.11 per tonne Premium hard coking coal, cfr Jingtang: $122.79 per tonne, down $0.01 per tonneHard coking coal, fob DBCT: $91.83 per tonne, up $0.27 per tonneHard coking...Read More

Seaborne iron ore prices observed rangebound movements on Wednesday July 1 after concerns surrounding higher steel product inventories surfaced in the market, sources said.Fastmarkets iron ore indices 62% Fe fines, cfr Qingdao: $99.17 per tonne, down $0.26 per tonne.62% Fe low-alumina fines, cfr Qingdao: $102.50 per tonne, down $0.05 per tonne.58% Fe fines high-grade premium, cfr Qingdao: $90.13 p...Read More

China will ban the import of all solid waste from 2021 for environmental reasons, but ferrous scrap will not be affected by the move.Well-placed sources with deep knowledge of government policy told Fastmarkets on Wednesday July 1 that the ban - announced by the Ministry of Ecology and Environment a day earlier - does not affect imports of the steelmaking raw material.Import restrictions imposed s...Read More

The London Metal Exchange may introduce significant changes to its options offering, with plans to develop an electronic options market in tandem with the exchange's current inter-office method. The exchange sent out a discussion paper to members on Wednesday July 1 detailing proposed changes it says could attract a host of new customers into trading its products. Options would be traded through t...Read More

A new wave of Covid-19 infections in the United States has left the production ramp-up in the automotive sector pending, resulting in low lead spot trades and flat premiums in the week to Tuesday June 30, while global zinc premiums were stable on slow demand.Covid-19 cases increase in US leaving automotive production ramp-up pending and lead sales thin US zinc premiums hold in illiquid market Asia...Read More

China's hot-rolled coil prices weakened in the domestic market on Wednesday July 1, leading to expectations among market participants that exports could resume.DomesticEastern China (Shanghai): 3,720-3,730 yuan ($526-527) per tonne, narrowing downward by 20 yuan per tonnePrices weakened on futures losses, but a Shanghai-based trader said that trading remained stable on steady demand.Most market pa...Read More

The London Metal Exchange three-month copper price held the previous day's gains, trading up 0.8% to $6,063.50 per tonne during the morning on Wednesday July 1, with ongoing supply concerns and positive China PMI shoring up demand and buoying copper futures."Copper advanced on Wednesday. It gained more than 20% in the second quarter, making up for the loss in the first three months of the year," M...Read More