Alcoa Corp has called on the aluminium industry to assess the cost effectiveness of its smelting capacity and make cuts where appropriate - or face a ratcheting up of inventories and a protracted period of low prices. Roy Harvey, the US producer's chief executive officer, said that while curtailments were costly, both financially and in terms of job losses, they were more than necessary at this mo...Read More

Alumina prices on an fob Australia basis continued to climb over the past week with buyers from China happy to pay above market levels to import cargoes, Fastmarkets heard on Tuesday May 19."The stronger aluminium prices and demand in China are propping up the international price of alumina," a trader said. "Plants are restarting and life is getting back to normal there, after the [Covid-19 pandem...Read More

Does it seem somewhat bizarre that with the Fed running an open-ended hyperinflation campaign, that silver is still trading at $15?Marc Faber interviewed by Chris Marcus of Arcadia EconomicsDoes it seem somewhat bizarre that with theFed running an open-ended hyperinflation campaign, that silver is still trading at $15?Dr. Marc Faber of the GloomBoomandDoomReport finds it odd, although simultaneous...Read More

Seaborne iron ore prices remained bullish on Tuesday May 19 with solid increases in steel prices and strong transaction volumes for steel products.Fastmarkets iron ore indices62% Fe fines, cfr Qingdao: $98.36 per tonne, up by $1.52 per tonne.62% Fe low-alumina fines, cfr Qingdao: $100.99 per tonne, up by $1.46 per tonne.58% Fe fines high-grade premium, cfr Qingdao: $86.01 per tonne, up by $3.45 pe...Read More

A lot happened in the silver market during yesterday's BIG RISE in price, but LONG LIQUIDATION wasn't one of them! Here are the details...by Harvey Organ of Harvey Organ BlogMAY 18//INTERESTING RESULTS ON 8 HEALTHY SUBJECTS PROPELS MODERNA AND THE STOCK MARKET//DOW UP 911.95 POINTS//NASDAQ UP 220 POINTS//GOLD WHACKED BY $15.40 DOWN TO $1731.80//SILVER UP 40 CENTS//PALLADIUM AND PLATINUM ALSO UP//C...Read More

Some of the silver miners' stock prices outperformed the competitors. Why? Could the silver miners with better stock performance be tied to...by Steve St Angelo of SRSrocco ReportThe leading primary silver mining companies have experienced significant stock rallies from their lows in March. Some of the primary silver miners' stock prices outperformed the competitors. Why? Could the silve...Read More

Seaborne coking coal prices went up slightly on Tuesday May 19 due to trading activity in the Chinese market, but concerns arose over tighter restrictions on imports, sources said.Fastmarkets indicesPremium hard coking coal, fob DBCT: $116.98 per tonne, up $0.67 per tonne Premium hard coking coal, cfr Jingtang: $124.91 per tonne, up $0.81 per tonneHard coking coal, fob DBCT: $90.56 per tonne, up $...Read More

If so few would agree to short silver at current prices, why are the 8 big shorts so heavily short? What is their reason or motivation for being short?by Ted Butler of Butler Research via Silver SeekMay 18, 2020Having focused intently on the running open losses of the 8 big shorts (ex-JPM) for the past year, the latest price surge would seem to put the 8 big shorts in particular serious jeopardy....Read More

The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.Aluminium: 'Sell the rally' mentality here to stayAlthough the London Metal Exchange aluminium price has managed to recover modestly from recent lows, we suspect this is mostly short-covering. The lack of producer restraint, growing exchange inventories, a weak demand outlook and the 7 million tonnes of oversupply forecast f...Read More

What does the behavior of the one precious metal that we love to hate and that we hate to love have in common with a legendary race horse?by Michael Ballanger via Streetwise ReportsIn the late 1930s, a young stallion was born in Lexington, Ky., at the legendary Calumet Farm, that went on to win seventeen major races from 1940-1942, including the Triple Crown (Kentucky Derby, Preakness and Belmont...Read More

The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.Aluminium: 4-million-tonne surplus for 2020We have made further downward revisions to our aluminium demand expectations for 2020 and, although there have been smelter capacity reduction in China too, the net effect is that our forecast for the global surplus this year has swelled to 4 million tonnes, from 2.7 million tonnes...Read More

The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.Average LME aluminium price down by 2.5% week on weekAlthough LME aluminium began this week on the rebound, prices extended their recent downtrend further last week, approaching the $1,400-per-tonne level. The weekly average LME aluminium cash price was down 2.5% last week to $1,432.50 per tonne from previous week's $1,469.6...Read More

Global markets are contracting in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic, and the prices for flat steel products continue to retreat, with prices for coated steels down by a further 5% since late March in most of the markets that Fastmarkets tracks.The latest edition of Fastmarkets' Galvanized Steel and Tinplate Market Tracker, for April 2020, is now available to view.Further price falls are almost cer...Read More

Ferro-alloys prices have generally retreated over the past month, with demand concerns gaining in prominence.The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.Ferro-alloy pricing trends have generally diverged ove the past month, depending on the security of the supply-side position of the market. With most supply concerns fading with the resumption of industrial activity i...Read More

The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.The first quarter continued the trend of 2019 - for China to actively import relatively cheap metallics and semi-finished steel - but can this be sustained? The answer to this question will come down to the price competitiveness of the products, we believe. One additional incentive to continue to import metallics this year -...Read More

The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.The recent decline in Chinese scrap prices - to their lowest in a couple of years - even as demand rises, suggests that Chinese scrap supply is increasingly sufficient. In terms of scrap demand, the question is more about price attractiveness. Mini-mills were reducing demand in February, largely because steel margins on scra...Read More

The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.While downward pressure mounts on the steelmaking raw material markets, premiums for higher-grade iron ores have been sustained despite narrowing operating margins at Chinese steelmakers. Chinese mills are operating with shrinking margins since the end of last year but the premium for high-grade ores remains high. Historical...Read More

The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts is ready to view.Stainless steel prices have fared relatively well over the past couple of months in the face of the threat from the Covid-19 pandemic.In grade-304 material, the most common grade of stainless steel, prices were down by about 5-7% since the turn of the year - not bad, when compared with the falls in prices of other assets so f...Read More

RAPAPORT... The Diamond Producers Association (DPA) has revealed plans for a radical overhaul that will see it change its name, drop the "Real Is Rare" tagline and introduce a new advertising campaign for the holidays.Starting June 1, the marketing group will unveil a fresh identity and launch new consumer and trade websites and social-media campaigns, David Kellie, the DPA's new CEO, said Tu...Read More

RAPAPORT... Baselworld's organizers are planning to change the event's name, restructure its format and choose a new location following its falling-out with exhibitors and the cancellation of its January 2021 show."The date of January 2021 has been abandoned and the name of Baselworld is going to be dropped," a spokesperson for parent company MCH Group told Rapaport News Monday. "A new format...Read More