Physical demand fell 36% year-on-year to 677 tonnes, with primary demand drivers such as jewellery, which usually accounts for about 55% of consumption, contracting 53% in the period to the lowest level seen in the past two decades.All key regions saw "severe losses" as demand was paralysed due to the virus outbreak and lockdowns in many markets, in tandem with gold's 8% rise to average US$1,711/o...Read More

Prices for cobalt salts, including cobalt tetroxide and sulfate, surged in the first half of this week, with suppliers refraining from offering large tonnages in the market. Fastmarkets' price assessment for cobalt tetroxide 72.6% Co min, delivered China was 190,000-195,000 yuan ($27,125-27,839) per tonne on Wednesday July 29, up by 10,000 yuan per tonne (5.5%) from 180,000-185,000 yuan per tonne...Read More

The price of steel scrap imported into Turkey rose further on Thursday July 30 on new bookings, continuing the trend started on July 29.A steel mill in the Iskenderun region booked two cargoes, one from the Baltic region and one from Western Europe.The first comprised 27,000 tonnes of HMS 1&2 (80:20) at $276 per tonne, 5,000 tonnes of bonus scrap at $286 per tonne and 3,000 tonnes...Read More

South Korean steelmakers were able to book bulk scrap cargoes from Japan over the past week at low prices although offers for US-origin deep-sea material continued to jump, sources have told Fastmarkets.Three cargoes of Japanese H2-grade scrap have been bought by a South Korean steelmaker at ?26,000 ($248) per tonne cfr over the past week, which would be equivalent to ?24,000 per tonne fob, Fast...Read More

ED&F Man's Ed Meir clinched the top spot on the base metals predictions leaderboard for the second quarter of 2020 with 98.87% accuracy while ING's Wenyu Yao took the top spot for precious metals predictions over the period with a 98.75% accuracy rating.For steel raw materials, Casper Burgering of ABN Amro topped the leaderboard with a 90.89% accuracy score. Click on the image below to download th...Read More

Base metals prices were for the most part firmer this morning, Thursday July 30, while broader markets were more mixed.The United States Federal Reserve provided more liquidity to international markets at its meeting that ended on Wednesday, but did not make any major changes. It also said that the path of the US economic recovery would depend on the course of Covid-19 in the country. Given the la...Read More

Two weeks after UC Rusal called for new Nornickel management and a relocation of its head office to Norilsk, Siberia - recently the center of three polluting events in six weeks - Nornickel has made several accommodations for its major shareholder. Rusal owns 27.82% of Moscow-based Nornickel.Having just announced multiple management changes, including the departure from public relations of a senio...Read More

SUNDRIDGE - The Ontario government is investing $95,540 in the Eagle Lake Gun Club in Sundridge to help build a provincial centre of excellence for biathlon training and racing. Funding through the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corporation (NOHFC) will be used to upgrade its biathlon infrastructure and trail network, creating two jobs."We are helping build a new facility that will attract elite a...Read More

Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Thursday July 30 that are worth another look.Brazil's largest flat-rolled steel producer by capacity, Usiminas, is looking to correct the current domestic price discount to imports in the short term, commercial vice-president Miguel Homes said on July 30....Read More

Elon Musk...The super-rich super genius responsible for mainstreaming electric cars and sending reusable rockets into space has been getting a lot of flack lately.And not from the folks who've been shitting all over him and his electric car company before it even went public. Most of those folks just hated on Musk because the thought of an environmentally-friendlier vehicle that didn't rely on o...Read More

Talon Metals Corp. (TSX: TLO) is a base metals company, in a joint venture with Rio Tinto, on the high-grade Tamarack Nickel-Copper-Cobalt Project, located in Minnesota, USA, comprised of the Tamarack North Project and the Tamarack South Project.Talon, the Tamarack Project operator (as of October 2019), has an earn-in right to acquire up to 60% of the project. We learned from Sean Werger, Presiden...Read More

Domestic prices for hot-rolled coil in Northern Europe have been fairly stable day on day on Thursday July 30, sources told Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets' daily steel hot-rolled coil index, domestic, exw Northern Europe was calculated at ?,?412.95 ($486.87) per tonne on July 30, up by just ?,?0.45 per tonne from ?,?412.50 per tonne on Wednesday July 29.Thursday's index was based on a deal heard at ?,?41...Read More

INK Ultra Money has an eye-opening Real Vision episode with David Andolfatto, economist and senior vice president at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. In an insightful interview with Pedro da Costa, David answers some big questions including whether the Fed has launched helicopter money and the central bank's role in generating wealth inequality. It is a great interview and is another exampl...Read More

In Insights this week, we explain why the old BOY playbook of the Bernanke, Obama and Yellen years is quickly being made obsolete by the forces of COVID-19, politics, and the debt-saddled global economy. Instead of chasing dividend stocks for yield, investors will likely be better off seeking to hedge inflation with Canadian insider stocks. Meanwhile, we show how insiders can help guide investors...Read More

Turkish rebar export prices have increased over the past week amid rising imported scrap costs, although demand for material was still limited, sources said on Thursday July 30.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel reinforcing bar (rebar), export, fob main port Turkey, was $420-430 per tonne on Thursday, up from the $415-425 per tonne of last week.The mills in Turkey raised their offers t...Read More

Prices in Egypt for steel billet imports and domestically produced steel rebar increased in the week to Thursday July 30 because of higher offers, despite soft demand, sources have told Fastmarkets.CIS-origin billet was offered this week at $415-425 per tonne cfr, up from offers at $405-410 per tonne cfr last week.Traders said that it was impossible to import billet because of the low rebar prices...Read More

A summary of ArcelorMittal Europe's financial results for the second quarter of 2020.In briefEarnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (Ebitda) dropped due to lower steel shipments and lower steel sales prices in the quarter.Fastmarkets' daily steel hot-rolled coil index, domestic, exw Northern Europe averaged at ?,?420.46 ($494.23) per tonne in April-June 2020, compared with....Read More

The price of steel scrap imported into Turkey rose further on Thursday July 30 on new bookings, continuing the trend started on July 29.A steel mill in the Iskenderun region booked two cargoes, one from the Baltic region and one from Western Europe.The first comprised 27,000 tonnes of HMS 1&2 (80:20) at $276 per tonne, 5,000 tonnes of bonus scrap at $286 per tonne and 3,000 tonnes...Read More

ED&F Man's Ed Meir clinched the top spot on the base metals predictions leaderboard for the second quarter of 2020 with 98.87% accuracy while ING's Wenyu Yao took the top spot for precious metals predictions over the period with a 98.75% accuracy rating.For steel raw materials, Casper Burgering of ABN Amro topped the leaderboard with a 90.89% accuracy score. Click on the image below to download th...Read More

The state of the global iron ore supply remains a key risk factor for market participants in 2020 due to mining operations being affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, sources said.Market sentiment is mixed about whether the tight supply situation will persist in the second half of 2020, especially after Vale said its output for this year was likely to reach just the lower end of its forecast range."I...Read More