The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.Iron ore remains the most bullish commodity of the year, with prices fuelled by Chinese demand and supply disruptions in Brazil, along with bullish sentiment. But prices are expected to come down because Brazilian exports have begun to recover, and have reached their highest level since the Brumadinho dam disaster in 2019. W...Read More

The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.In the iron ore market, supply issues including heavy rains at the start of the year, followed by staffing problems during the Covid-19 pandemic, have affected exports from Brazil. This has helped Australia gain a larger market share, but since June, Brazilian export volumes have returned to levels last seen before the...Read More

The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.Chinese blast furnace (BF) utilization rates have stagnated and iron ore port stock volumes are rising, reaching their highest levels since March, which suggests that iron ore supply is becoming excessive while demand is not growing. Unsurprisingly, prices dropped last week and we expect the trend to continue. The market has...Read More

The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts is ready to view.We spoke in our previous tracker of stainless steel prices ending 2020 on a high. That trend has continued during early 2021 and, in fact, the upward rally in prices has increased its momentum.Compared with the monthly price increase of some 5% seen at the end of 2020, prices for grade-304 stainless steel in al...Read More

The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts is ready to view.Prices of stainless steel are generally set to reach highs for the year as 2020 comes to a close. For the most common nickel-containing grades of stainless steel, this upward trend is being driven above all by rising nickel prices, which themselves are hitting relatively high levels into the end of 2020.The price increases si...Read More

The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts is ready to view.While much commentary has been written about Asian economies performing far better than those elsewhere this year during the global Covid-19 pandemic, it is stainless steel markets in Europe and the United States that are ending the year in better shape than their Asian counterparts.We do not talk of demand levels or demand g...Read More

The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts is ready to view.While a world leader in many areas, the United States is a relatively small player when it comes to stainless steel. It produces a small amount of material, both in absolute and relative terms (i.e. compared to the size of its population), while a large share of its industry is in the hands of bigger European companies. Never...Read More

Aluminium primary foundry alloy (PFA) premiums in Europe rose to more than two-year highs on Friday March 12, while the premium in the United States was unchanged at a 19-month high.EuropePremiums in Europe were driven higher by a lack of supply, rising raw material costs and global logistics complications. Fastmarkets' assessment of the aluminium primary foundry alloy silicon 7 ingot premium, ddp...Read More

The pig iron export market from Brazil was stable during the week to Friday March 12, with no new deals heard because suppliers were fully booked, Fastmarkets heard.Fastmarkets' price assessment for pig iron, export, fob port of Vitoria/Rio, Brazil, was $520 per tonne on Friday, unchanged week on week.The latest sale from the south of Brazil to the United States was...Read More

Prices moved sideways on the London Metal Exchange at the close of trading on Friday March 12, with the base metals complex seeing another session of consolidation following recent rallies."After a volatile couple of weeks, the base metals have taken a breather and largely drifted sideways this week," Neil Welsh, a broker for Britannia Global Markets, said."Speculative interest has been a notable...Read More

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

Extraordinary volatility in London Metal Exchange trading, particularly in tin, may have been prevented, or at least significantly reduced, if the open-outcry trading floor had not been temporarily closed due to Covid-19, the global head of metals at ED&F Man Capital Markets has said.Fred Demler, who is also executive vice president at the Category 1 member of the exchange, said that there had als...Read More

Increased participation in London Metal Exchange price discovery does not necessarily translate into improved pricing quality, the chief executive officer of Sucden Financial has said.Marc Bailey told the virtual Fastmarkets Copper Seminar that a key problem with the LME's discussion paper on market structure was a link in the thinking that liquidity and transparency are the same thing."I would ta...Read More

Closing the London Metal Exchange ring could hinder liquidity, increase volatility, and affect pricing, and the exchange should therefore keep it open, according to the acting managing director for Minmetals (UK).Speaking during a panel at the virtual Fastmarkets Copper Seminar, Liangmin Gu said that in Minmetals' experience, volumes to determine settlement prices had fallen significantly since th...Read More

The domestic price for reinforcing bar (rebar) in Brazil rose slightly during March, with the vast majority of mills delaying previously expected increases to April, market participants told Fastmarkets.While some local steelmakers had raised prices by 5-8% in February, a few who did not decided for a 6% increase in March. For April, at least two mills were indicating an average 15% rise, but this...Read More

Domestic flat steel prices in Turkey continued to soar in the week to Friday March 12, but buyers were hesitant about booking big tonnages for July production, sources told Fastmarkets.Hot-rolled and cold-rolled coil producers were accepting orders to be produced in July, but buyers were reluctant to have to wait a minimum of four months for large quantities. Most market participants said tha...Read More

The European Commission's anti-dumping investigation into Chinese graphite electrodes sales into Europe has sparked a rush for material with market participants making plans in case duties are imposed, according to graphite electrode consultants GES.Since the EC declared on February 17 it was investigating whether Chinese graphite electrodes producers had broken anti-dumping rules, steel mills hav...Read More

Micon Awarded Front End Engineering Design and Definitive Feasibility StudySPONSOREDmicon internationalRex ready to rollSPONSOREDrex mineralsDavyhurst back producing gold; can it produce a lot more?SPONSOREDora banda miningSolaris Resources on winning streak in EcuadorSPONSOREDsolaris resourcesBHP's manager for Australian exploration, Jamie King, told one of the final sessions of PDAC this week th...Read More

Huntsman Set to Expand Nickel Sulphide Discovery at CanegrassSPONSOREDhuntsman explorationMontreal-based TRQ is 51% owned by Rio and holds 66% of the Oyu Tolgoi copper/gold mine (which is managed and operated by Rio) in Mongolia, with the government holding the remaining 34%.Read More

Hot-dipped galvanized (HDG) and color-coated coil prices in Turkey rose further in the week to Friday March 12 and some producers stopped accepting new orders at the end of the week, sources told Fastmarkets.The order books are expected to open next week with higher offer prices, sources said.Coated coil prices are increasing on strong demand and also higher prices for hot-rolled coil, the base pr...Read More