Prices for cold-roll and galvanized steel sheet in the United States climbed for the second straight week after buyers sensed a bottom in pricing and helped the mills fill order books for the remainder of the third quarter. Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel cold-rolled coil, fob mill US rose to $32.50 per hundredweight ($650 per short ton) on Thursday August 20, up by 1.6% from $...Read More
Liberty Steel Group has resumed operations at one of its blast furnaces at its Ostrava steelworks after nearly four months of downtime, the company said on Friday August 21. Liberty has restarted blast furnace (BF) No 2 at its plant in Ostrava in the Czech Republic on Friday and plans to gradually ramp up production to adapt to market demand, a company spokesperson told Fastmarkets. The BF wa...Read More
The domestic price of hot-rolled coil in Northern Europe moved up on Friday August 21 after producers announced a rise in offers, sources have told Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets' daily steel hot-rolled coil index, domestic, exw Northern Europe, was calculated at ?,?433.75 ($513.83) per tonne on Friday, up by ?,?1.87 from ?,?431.88 per tonne on Thursday.The index was also up by ?,?14.58 per tonne week on...Read More
Turkish prices in the domestic market for hot-dipped galvanized coil (HDG) and color-coated coil were mostly stable in the week to August 21, with demand remaining weak because of the holiday season, sources told Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets' price assessment of steel HDG, domestic, exw Turkey was unchanged at $660-670 per tonne on Friday.Turkish producers were offering HDG at $660-680 per tonne ex-wor...Read More
Markets were for the most part upbeat this morning, Friday August 21, with all of the base metals on the London Metal Exchange firmer, as were most Asian-Pacific equities, although they are firmer within consolidation patterns.But after the accelerated gains at the start of the week, with the S&P 500 regaining all the losses suffered from the coronavirus hit and with the base metals now on average...Read More
Liberty Ostrava, part of the Liberty Steel Group, will install two hybrid furnaces at its integrated steel mill in the Czech Republic as part of the company's Greensteel plan to become carbon-neutral by 2030, it said on Thursday August 20.It has received approval from the country's ministry of environment for its Environmental Impact Assessment of the implementation of new low-carbon technologies...Read More
U.S. equity index futures were lower this morning. S&P 500 futures were down 17 points in pre-opening trade.The Canadian Dollar was virtually unchanged at US 75.62 cents following release of Canada's June Retail Sales report at 8:30 AM EDT. Consensus was an increase of 24.5% versus a gain of 18.7% in May. Actual was an increase of 23.7%. Excluding auto sales, consensus was an increase of 15.0%...Read More
UK inter-merchant spot prices for light iron scrap increased in the week to Friday August 21 on tight availability, due to falling scrap generation in recent months while domestic and export demand has remained steady, sources told Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel scrap 5C, loose old light, domestic, delivered inter-merchant, UK was ?95-105 ($125-138) per tonne...Read More
The import pig iron market in the United States was quiet during the week to Friday August 21, but buyers are expected to start restocking soon, according to market sources.Fastmarkets' price assessment of pig iron, import, cfr Gulf of Mexico, US was unmoved week on week at $340-345 per tonne on Friday, with no activity reported. "The US will need to buy at some point, but for now they...Read More
Asian import scrap prices continued to rise in the week to Friday August 21 amid solid demand in Vietnam, Taiwan and South Korea, but buyers in Turkey remained away from the market while the Indian market softened.Turkish mills face weak lira, low long-steel demand, and want lower scrap pricesUS export markets quiet with lack of recent sales from East CoastVietnamese import scrap prices benefit fr...Read More
Brazil's pig iron export market was quiet during the week to Friday August 21, but suppliers remain optimistic amid full order books, sources told Fastmarkets. Fastmarkets assessed the price of pig iron, export, fob port of Vitoria/Rio, Brazil at $343-348 per tonne on Friday, up from $340 per tonne one week earlier.Almost no...Read More
The price of austenitic stainless steel scrap in the UK edged up this week on higher nickel costs, sources told Fastmarkets on Friday August 21. Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for stainless steel scrap, 18/8 solids, domestic, delivered merchants UK was ?840-850 ($1,104-1,117) per tonne on Friday, up by ?10-20 per tonne from ?820-840 per tonne a week ago.The daily official three-month nick...Read More
Turkish steel producers have ended a second consecutive working week with no deep-sea scrap bookings due to poor demand for their long steel products, sources told Fastmarkets on Friday August 21.The most recent deep-sea bookings were heard on August 7 for United States- and Baltic Sea-origin HMS 1&2 (80:20) at $285 per tonne cfr.Since then, the Turkish mills have paused their scrap purchases as d...Read More
The price of containerized ferrous scrap imports into India was little changed this week, ending its six-week rally, following other global markets' pause in buying activity, sources told Fastmarkets on Friday August 21. Fastmarkets calculated the steel scrap, shredded, index, import, cfr Nhava Sheva, India at $309.47 per tonne on Friday, just 17 cents down from $309.64 per tonne one week pre...Read More
Seaborne premium hard coking coal prices edged up on Friday August 21, with ex-China demand picking up, sources said.Fastmarkets indicesPremium hard coking coal, fob DBCT: $104.71 per tonne, up $0.54 per tonne Premium hard coking coal, cfr Jingtang: $114.63 per tonne, up $0.03 per tonneHard coking coal, fob DBCT: $85.19 per tonne, up $0.17 per tonneHard coking coal, cfr Jingtang: $98.29 per tonne,...Read More
Iron ore fines prices were lower across the board on Friday August 21 after news Tokyo Steel will resume exports to China delivered a blow to market expectations for domestic steel production and demand for iron ore. Fastmarkets iron ore indices 62% Fe fines, cfr Qingdao: $127.38 per tonne, down $1.94 per tonne 62% Fe low-alumina fines, cfr Qingdao: $126.71 per tonne, down $1.88 per tonne&nbs...Read More
Taiyuan Iron & Steel (Tisco), China's second-largest stainless steel producer, suspended the trading of its stock on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange on Friday August 21 following an announcement on Thursday evening that there will be a change in its controlling shareholder.Market participants expect the Baowu Steel Group, the country's largest producer of carbon steel, to replace Shanxi province's Sta...Read More
The cobalt market has consolidated recent gains and sellers are now looking at an anticipated return of consumer demand in Europe to stoke further price increases, but not all market participants are certain this will materialize. Fastmarkets' price assessment for cobalt standard grade, in-whs Rotterdam stood at $15.25-15.50 per lb on Friday August 21, unchanged from the previous day. The sta...Read More
The Cobalt alloy grade, in-whs Rotterdam, $/lbtrade log including business, bids and offers reported to Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets publishes trades logs for its key price assessments and indices to bring more transparencyinto the markets it covers and the pricing process it applies.Fastmarkets...Read More
The Cobalt standard grade, in-whs Rotterdam, $/lb trade log including business, bids and offers reported to Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets publishes trades logs for its key price assessments and indices to bring more transparencyinto the markets it covers and the pricing process it applies.Fastmarkets assessed Cobalt standard grade, in-whs Rotterdam, $/lb at 15.25-15.50 on Friday...Read More