Brazil was a net importer of finished steel during the first quarter of 2021 for the first time since 2014 amid a domestic supply-demand imbalance, according to data from the economy ministry.The country purchased 49,976 tonnes of steel more thanit exported. The figure takes into account unalloyed, non-special steel - hot- and cold-rolled coil, galvanized and Galvalume, and heavy plate, as we...Read More
The recent rally in the bond yields pushed gold prices down, but this trend won’t continue forever, as the Fed will likely be forced to step in.In March, we saw a continuation of the rally in bond yields that started in February. As the chart below shows, the 10-year real interest rates have soared from -1.06 on February 10 to -0.66 percent on March 23. What is clear from the chart is the st...Read More
China's crude steel, hot metal and finished steel production all rose sharply year on year in March and the first quarter of 2021, according to data released by National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Friday April 16.March productionCrude steel: 94.02 million tonnes, up by 19.1% from March 2020Hot metal: 74.75 million tonnes, up by 8.9% year on yearFinished steel: 119.87 million tonnes, up by 20.9%...Read More
The S&P 500 red candle and then some – erased in aday, that‘s what you get with the Fed always having your back. The staircaseclimb certainly looks like continuing without any real breather. Whatever steepascent you compare it to (Jun or early Sep 2020), this one is different in thatit doesn‘t offer but token corrections. Not that it would be reasonable toexpect a steep downs...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Monday April 19 that are worth another look.Brazilian steel and iron ore producer Companhia Sider??rgica Nacional (CSN) was able to continue to operate normally at its coal and container terminals at the port of Itagua?- over the weekend despite...Read More
Brazil-headquartered steelmaker Gerdau has launched a new subsidiary to supply ready-for-use, value-added graphene products and to develop new markets for the carbon allotrope in the Americas region, the company told Fastmarkets on Thursday April 15.Gerdau Graphene, as the new company is called, aims to be a service center of sorts for graphene products in the region. It will source the solvent-di...Read More
Ignore what centralbankers are saying; instead, watch what they are doing.While they poo-poo goldor pretend it doesn't exist, global central banks have been quietly but aggressivelyaccumulating gold bullion for several years now. The Central Bank of Russia,for example, has been a consistent buyer of gold.Other major central bankshave also been acquiring and holding the metal, although some scaled...Read More
Three-month prices for base metals on the London Metal Exchange showed mixed fortunes at the close of trading on Monday April 16, despite the US Dollar Index being at a six-weeks low, with only copper showing a gain a of more than 1%, and nickel falling from its Friday price.Copper's three-month price was up by 1.8% at 5pm on Monday to $9,376 per tonne, compared with Friday's closing price of $9,2...Read More
Domestic prices for steel hot-rolled coil increased further across Europe over the week to Friday April 16 due to a combination of strong demand and short availability. In addition, at the end of last week, ArcelorMittal increased its official HRC offers to ?,?970 ($1,162) per tonne ex-works, up by ?,?50 per tonne from its previous offers. Fastmarkets calculated its daily steel hot-rolle...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Monday April 19 that are worth another look.Brazilian steel and iron ore producer Companhia Sider??rgica Nacional (CSN) was able to continue to operate normally at its coal and container terminals at the port of Itagua?- over the weekend despite...Read More
Proposed changes to the London Metal Exchange's market structure may actually have the opposite effect to its desired intention: destroying liquidity, not increasing it.Attention has been focused on the proposed permanent closure of the LME ring, the incentivization of electronic trade and changes to margin methodology, which were central issues in the exchange's recently closed discussion paper.B...Read More
The Shanghai Futures Exchange's plans to list ferro-chrome futures, potentially this year, will bring welcomed hedging opportunities and may weaken the dominance of China's stainless steel mills in the ore and alloy markets, participants told Fastmarkets.While no definite date or specifications of the ferro-chrome futures have been announced, Fastmarkets asked participants what changes these contr...Read More
Usually after a London Metal Exchange discussion paper there is a decent idea of what the outcome is likely to be. But this time around, it seems much harder to tell which path the LME will take. The proposals under debate include the permanent closure of the exchange's open outcry trading floor, known as the ring, which dates back to 1877. They also include the incentivization of electronic trade...Read More
Australian lithium-spodumene producer Altura Mining has appointed Alex Cheeseman chief executive officer with immediate effect, the company said on Friday April 16. Cheeseman was previously the general manager of marketing for Altura prior to the administration process that was initiated in October 2020.Read More
It seems that copper's biggest market has soured on the metal. Premiums paid over exchange prices for copper cathodes imported into China have fallen in recent weeks, dropping to a five-month low in a decline that shows no signs of slowing down.Fastmarkets' benchmark copper grade-A cathode ER premium, cif Shanghai was at $40-48 per tonne on Wednesday April 14, a five-month low.Falling premiums for...Read More
Nickel briquette has steadily become a more favored choice of feedstock for Chinese battery-grade nickel sulfate producers in recent months, resulting in a notable pick-up in spot trading activity for the former.But recent declines in the Chinese nickel sulfate price have raised questions among market participants about whether this trend will continue. Fastmarkets examines the major factors behin...Read More
Three-month prices for base metals on the London Metal Exchange showed mixed fortunes at the close of trading on Monday April 16, despite the US Dollar Index being at a six-weeks low, with only copper showing a gain a of more than 1%, and nickel falling from its Friday price.Copper's three-month price was up by 1.8% at 5pm on Monday to $9,376 per tonne, compared with Friday's closing price of $9,2...Read More
It seems that copper's biggest market has soured on the metal. Premiums paid over exchange prices for copper cathodes imported into China have fallen in recent weeks, dropping to a five-month low in a decline that shows no signs of slowing down.Fastmarkets' benchmark copper grade-A cathode ER premium, cif Shanghai was at $40-48 per tonne on Wednesday April 14, a five-month low.Falling premiums for...Read More
Seaborne premium hard coking coal prices edged up slightly on Monday April 19.In the cfr market, imported coking coal prices were supported by positive market sentiment due to expectations of short supplies and rising domestic coking coal and metallurgical coke prices, while buying interest has started to revive after falling offer prices in the fob market, sources told Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets ind...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.This month's key North American steel forecast highlights:?EUR? There is no end in sight to the shortfall in flat steel supply that has characterized US markets in early 2021, and we expect record-high US pricing for hot-rolled coil to persist through the second quarter of 2021 and into the second half of the year. We are fo...Read More