London Metal Exchange base metals prices sold off in end-of-week trading on Friday May 21, with copper, nickel and aluminium closing at their lowest levels since April. Three-month copper futures closed at $9,881.50 per tonne at 5pm, down $166.50 (1.7%) against yesterday's close. Importantly, the red metal finished the week below the symbolic $10,000 per tonne, coming as the physical market for re...Read More

Automotive manufacturer Ford Motor Co and South Korean energy conglomerate SK Innovation have signed a memorandum of understanding to create a joint venture to manufacture battery cells and energy storage arrays for electric vehicles (EVs) in the United States, Ford said.The venture, to be called BlueOvalSK, will produce roughly 60 gigawatt hours (GWh) annually starting mid-decade, with the potent...Read More

Fastmarkets' copper concentrate treatment charge/refining charge (TC/RC) index continued to rebound this week with Chinese smelters carrying on purchasing in the mid-to-high $30s and 3 cents, sources told Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets copper concentrate TC index, cif Asia Pacfic was at $29.70 per tonne/ 2.97 cents per lb on May 21,  its highest level since March 5. Bids came in...Read More

Chinese nickel products provider Lygend Mining has started its first production of mixed hydroxide precipitate (MHP) in Indonesia successfully, the company said on May 19, 2021.Lygend's MHP production project is the first high-pressure acid leach (HPAL) project to reach production in Indonesia, Fastmarkets understands.Both Lygend Mining and its Indonesian partner Harita Group operate the project,...Read More

A summary of China's base metal imports for April 2021. Copper ore and concentrate April total: 1.92 million tonnes, down by 11.5% month on month, down by 4.8% year on year Refined copper April total: 319,135 tonnes, down by 10.1% month on month, up by 10.9% year on year Copper scrap April total: 167,767 tonnes, down by 2.5% month on month, up by...Read More

German chemical conglomerate BASF will acquire a 51% stake in China's Hunan Shanshan Energy (Hunan Shanshan), a Chinese maker of lithium-ion battery materials that serves the battery materials' market, it said on Friday May 21.Ningbo Shanshan New Energy and Ningbo Yongxiang Investment, subsidiaries of China's Ningbo Shanshan, have signed an equity acquisition agreement with BASF to purchase stakes...Read More

Deliverable stocks for most base metals - bar lead - in Shanghai Futures Exchange-registered warehouse fell in the week to Friday May 21, with tin recording the highest decrease in percentage terms. Tin stocks totaled 6,024 tonnes this week, down by 943 tonnes (13.5%) from 6,967 tonnes a week before. The largest outflow was from 830 Huangpu warehouse in Guangdong province, where volumes were down...Read More

Japan's third-quarter aluminium quarterly benchmark looks likely to cross another six-year high after offers were heard at $180-190 per tonne earlier this week, primarily supported by the open Chinese arbitrage window.The arbitrage window to ship aluminium to China has been widening since it opened on April 29, with Chinese importers standing to gain a profit of $63.59 per tonne on May 20 for ever...Read More

Prices for cold-rolled and hot-dipped galvanized coil in the United States again jumped to all-time highs this past week, with market participants continuing to cite the lack of spot supply as the main driver behind the surge. Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel cold-rolled coil, fob mill US rose to $89 per hundredweight ($1,780 per short ton) on Thursday May 20, up by 3.49% f...Read More

World crude steel production increased year on year but declined month on month in April, with the 64 countries that report to the World Steel Association (Worldsteel) producing 169.5 million tonnes of crude steel last month.That total is up by 23.27% from 137.5 million tonnes in April 2020 and but down slightly from a revised 170.1 million tonnes produced in March 2021, according t...Read More

Hot-rolled coil prices in the United States held above $78 per hundredweight for a third consecutive day, with buyers scrambling to acquire steel, market participants said.Fastmarkets' daily steel hot-rolled coil index, fob mill US was calculated at $78.54 per cwt ($1,570.80 per ton) on Friday May 21, down 0.87% from $79.23 per cwt on Thursday May 20 but up 2.52% from $76.61 per cwt on May 14. Thu...Read More

Fastmarkets price for Brazilian steel slab climbed to another all-time record on Friday May 21 on higher deals to the United States and the domestic market, with July-shipment availability reported as wholly filled.Fastmarkets assessed steel slab export, fob main port Brazil, at $980-990 per tonne on Friday, up by $10-30 from $950-980 per tonne one week earlier and by $50-80 from $900-940 per tonn...Read More

Base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange were mainly stronger this morning, Thursday May 20, on dip buying, while those on the Shanghai Futures Exchange were down across the board in reaction to the 3.5% average loss on the LME on Wednesday.China’s rhetoric on its determination to wrestle inflationary pressures in commodities triggered weakness in the metals.Base metalsLME three-month...Read More

Flat steel prices continued to increase in Turkey during the week to Friday May 21, with mills accepting orders for October production, sources told Fastmarkets.Demand was strong in local and export markets and market participants expect further price increases because mills are already booked for over five months.In addition, prices are expected to strengthen amid speculation that China could imp...Read More

Huntsman Set to Expand Nickel Sulphide Discovery at CanegrassSPONSOREDhuntsman explorationThe two first entered into the option agreement in September 2020 and have since completed a jointly designed validation program, which provided further support for the project's copper potential.Read More

Hot-dipped galvanized coil prices in Turkey increased during the week to Friday May 21 while demand was strong, sources told Fastmarkets.Demand was strong in the domestic and export markets, with several deals heard during the week, Fastmarkets was told.HDG prices continued their uptrend in Europe, one of the biggest export markets for Turkish HDG, sources said.The price increases were moderate du...Read More

Indian mills increased domestic hot-rolled coil prices by 1,000-1,750 rupees ($14-24) per tonne this past week amid continued gains in international prices for the commodity.Fastmarkets' price assessment for steel HRC, domestic ex-warehouse India widened upward by 1,000 rupees to 63,500-68,000 rupees per tonne on Friday May 21 from 63,500-67,000 rupees per tonne the previous week. ....Read More

An overview of the new energy materials markets and their price moves from the past week.Susan Zou, Yingchi Yang,...Read More

Huntsman Set to Expand Nickel Sulphide Discovery at CanegrassSPONSOREDhuntsman explorationThe mine will feature the latest digital technology to help with decision-making including the use of artificial intelligence and predictive software within the FutureSmart Mining programme of theRead More

Huntsman Set to Expand Nickel Sulphide Discovery at CanegrassSPONSOREDhuntsman explorationStay-at-home virtual presentations are the order of the day for the Barcelona event, as is fielding questions about copper in response to the red metal's spectacular rise to (nominal) record levelsRead More