Supply of steel scrap in Australia is being squeezed by regional Covid-19 lockdowns and a general decline in economic output, scrap market participants have told Fastmarkets.The reduction in scrap generated in Australia is reducing the volume of material being offered for export from the country and raising prices for whatever material is being offered.Covid-19 transmission in the country is affec...Read More

Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Monday August 31 that are worth another look.The United States' government has reduced the Section 232 quota for imports of semi-finished steel products from Brazil in the fourth quarter, according to a proclamation from president Donald Trump published late on Friday August...Read More

Plans for a London Metal Exchange spot trading platform have sparked intense debate within the aluminium industry. But opponents and supporters don't necessarily fall into the camps that one might expect. For starters, a decision by the LME not to change its futures contract, establish a new green aluminium contract or set thresholds to define what constitutes low-carbon metal is proving key in st...Read More

"...markets naturally flow then ebb, taking two steps forward before retreating one step back. Their price action gradually meanders around..."by Adam Hamilton of Zeal LLCThe silver miners' stocks have had a roller-coaster ride of a year, getting sucked into March's stock panic before skyrocketing out in a massive upleg. While much-higher prevailing silver prices radically improve silver-stock f...Read More

Sometimes it is better to let a situation speak for itself. Alcoa, Rio Tinto Aluminium, Novelis, Constellium, Arconic, Kaiser Aluminum, Tri-Arrows Aluminum, American Metal Chemical Corp, Hydro Extrusion North America, JW Aluminum, Real Alloy, Reynolds Consumer Products, Scepter, Silberline Manufacturing Co, Smelter Service Corp and Wagstaff. The US Aluminum Association, which represents more than...Read More

The London Metal Exchange is looking for ways to boost its options market, which has been struggling for some years to replicate the growth seen in the same sector among its peers.The exchange has launched a consultation, scheduled to end on July 29, on developing electronic options via a new trading platform while retaining its current inter-office options trading structure.Items up for discussio...Read More

If silver can close above $28.50 the last day of August, it will set up a much more positive technical move for the metal to continue towards... by Steve St Angelo of SRSrocco ReportThe market will finally realize that silver is a better investment when the world's financial bubbles start popping everywhere. This will cause the silver price to reach levels that will make the past $50 record see...Read More

The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.These include an increase in our copper mine disruption estimates, upgrades to our production outlook for Indonesian nickel pig iron (NPI), a smaller refined zinc surplus, and an upgrade to our zinc price forecasts.Aluminium: Big disconnect between price and fundamentalsAluminium has extended its uptrend on the London Metal...Read More

The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view. We also review our price forecasting accuracy for the second quarter 2020.Q2 2020 price forecast performance review According to the results of Fastmarkets' Apex for the second quarter of 2020 published this week, Fastmarkets' base metals research team was the second most accurate price forecaster for nickel (99.06%), lead...Read More

The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.Aluminium: Comfortable consolidationAluminium appears comfortable consolidating for the moment, and this will leave prices in a stronger position to challenge overhanging long-term trend-line resistance from the May 2018 high, which stands at $1,670 per tonne currently.Copper: Consolidation unlikely to lastCopper reached its...Read More

The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.Aluminium: Upside breakout last weekThe price of aluminium on the London Metal Exchange surprised us with a break to the upside in the week ended July 10, when prices on the Shanghai Futures Exchange raced to three-and-a-half-year highs. While we think there is more short-term upside potential if technical and liquidity fact...Read More

The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.US market under pressureUS prices for welded pipe products were under pressure because market participants, especially distributors, have started to take steps to generate cash and were moving material if they were able to do so, even if it meant selling at low prices.We expect more such "fire sales" in the coming months, bu...Read More

The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts is ready to view.August 2020 has seen the prices of most steel products move up in tandem around the world, in contrast to recent months when steel prices have moved in different directions depending on the market.This dynamic has been seen in most coated steel markets as well, with the prices for hot-dipped galvanized coil (HDG), pre-painted...Read More

The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.US market at risk of slidingPrices for pipe products were at a floor in the United States in mid-August, and have been broadly stable at that level since the start of the second quarter, but they are at risk of declining further in the coming months.Drilling rig counts have yet to find a floor and have fallen below most esti...Read More

The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.This month's key North American steel forecast highlights:US domestic prices for hot-rolled coil moved down in line with our expectations, averaging $461 per ton in July versus our forecast price of $460 per ton. Although domestic HRC prices slipped to less than $450 per ton in late July/early August, we maintain the view th...Read More

The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.This month's key ferro-alloy forecast highlights:Numerous ore and alloy markets enjoyed upward pricing momentum in the first half 2020, with supply-side constraints supporting prices despite collapsing demand from steelmakers and other key end users. While supply side issues related to Covid-19 lockdowns have been resolved,...Read More

RAPAPORT... The World Federation of Diamond Bourses (WFDB) has named Kim Pelletier as CEO of its Get Diamonds trading platform, it said Monday.Pelletier is a former vice president for sales and marketing at diamond-trading site Polygon. She was most recently president of IGC Jewelry & Diamonds, has served as vice president of Hearts On Fire, Memoire and John Hardy, and was a field directo...Read More

RAPAPORT... The organizers of Swiss gem and jewelry show GemGen??ve have canceled this year's event as travel restrictions and health precautions have made it too challenging.The coronavirus "has made it impossible for GemGen??ve to be the interactive experience that we intend it to be," the group said Sunday.GemGen??ve will fully reimburse all exhibitors who signed up for the fair, which was due...Read More

The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.In previous reports, we noted that upside risks to our forecasts existed. These were based on Chinese steel production, and in turn alloy consumption, outperforming our expectations.Chinese crude steel production is rising each month in a year-on-year comparison, prompting our revised view that Chinese alloy consumption will...Read More

(IDEX Online) - Troubled Petra Diamonds has yet to receive any offers from potential buyers as its debts mounts and revenue slumps.The UK-listed miner launched a formal sales process in June to sell the company either as a whole or in parts.Petra, founded by Adonis Pouroulis in 1997, bought the famous Cullinan mine, in South Africa, and other deposits deemed unprofitable by De Beers, including the...Read More