A summary of Chinese battery materials producer GEM's financial and production results for the six months ended June 30, 2021, as released by the company on Thursday August 26.In brief GEM's annual capacity of ternary precursor materials totaled 130,000 tonnes at the end of June, unchanged from the end of last year. The company has shifted production focus to nickel-rich ternary precursor material...Read More
Steel hot-rolled coil prices in Europe remained largely flat on Thursday August 26 in typically slow summer trading conditions, while buyers and mills attempted to gauge the market direction for September.Market participants in Northern Europe have been returning to the market after holidays but trading in the region remained limited. Buyers were cautious about making new deals, expecting prices t...Read More
Sentiment in the European market for steel heavy plate was negative in the week to Wednesday August 25 due to declines in the costs for raw materials and semi-finished steel prices, as well as slow demand, sources told Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets' price assessment for steel domestic plate, 8-40mm, exw Southern Europe, was ?,?920-940 ($1,081-1,105) per tonne on August 25, down by ?,?10-20 per tonne wee...Read More
Major steel production exports out of China in July decreased from June due to the removal of an export rebate on May 1.For instance, the hot-rolled coil export was 817,276 tonnes in July, down by 20% from 1.03 million tonnes in June, according to customs data.Market participants expect exports to keep the month-on-month...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Thursday August 26 that are worth another look.Fastmarkets has plotted the locations of the continuing and proposed projects for the decarbonization of the European steel sector.The striking workers union at...Read More
Prices for imported steel billet continued to decrease in Egypt during the week ending Thursday August 26 and demand remained weak, sources told Fastmarkets.Demand for rebar was limited to government projects, sources said.Egypt removed its construction ban on July 1 but rebar demand remained low because of high prices and a liquidity shortage.Domestic rebarEgyptian rebar producers kept...Read More
Check out this recent headline from CNN Business:"The Taliban Are Sitting on $1 Trillion Worth of Minerals the World Desperately Needs."My response:And???The Taliban could be sitting on $100 trillion worth of vital minerals and it wouldn't matter.Journalist Julia Horowitz writes:Afghanistan is one of the poorest nations in the world. But in 2010, U.S. military officials and geologists revealed tha...Read More
Domestic long steel prices in Turkey have continued to weaken in line with falling scrap costs and the strengthening lira, market sources said on Thursday August 26.Turkish steel producers were keeping their deep-sea scrap purchases at a slow pace to be able to put downward pressure on scrap prices.The most recent deep-sea scrap trade was recorded on August 25, when a steel mill in the Iskenderun...Read More
The Turkish steel mills have gone quiet in the deep-sea scrap markets once again after booking a single cargo earlier in the week, market sources said on Thursday August 26.A steel mill in the Iskenderun region booked a Belgium-origin cargo on Wednesday, comprising 22,500 tonnes of HMS 1&2 (80:20) and 12,500 tonnes of bonus at an average price of $450 per tonne cfr. The HMS 1&2 (80:20) price of th...Read More
Seaborne iron ore prices were up on Thursday August 26 amid an uptrend in Chinese futures and for front-month swap contracts, sources said.Fastmarkets iron ore indices 62% Fe fines, cfr Qingdao: $152.92 per tonne, up $4.26 per tonne62% Fe low-alumina fines, cfr Qingdao: $153.80 per tonne, up $4.85 per tonne58% Fe fines high-grade premium, cfr Qingdao: $122.88 per tonne, up $5.92 per tonne65% Fe Br...Read More
Japanese lower-grade scrap prices are facing renewed pressure, and Shindachi busheling prices have continued to be propped up in recent weeks by reduced generation at automaker Toyota, sources told Fastmarkets.Key Japanese mills reduce some scrap bid pricesGaps between bids and offers narrow downward with lower cost scrap emerging in the Chinese marketTaiwan imported containerized scrap prices edg...Read More
Prices for imported steel billet continued to decrease in Egypt during the week ending Thursday August 26 and demand remained weak, sources told Fastmarkets.Demand for rebar was limited to government projects, sources said.Egypt removed its construction ban on July 1 but rebar demand remained low because of high prices and a liquidity shortage.Domestic rebarEgyptian rebar producers kept...Read More
Billet prices in Turkey have gone down over the past week thanks to falling imported scrap costs and limited demand, market participants told Fastmarkets on Thursday August 26.Turkish steel producers' demand for imported scrap has been limited in recent weeks.The most recent deep-sea scrap trade was recorded on Wednesday August 25, when a steel mill in the Iskenderun region booked a Belgian cargo...Read More
Iranian export prices for steel billet continued to decrease in the week to Wednesday August 25 amid the general global downtrend, Fastmarkets heard.Steel output from the country's mills was expected to improve in September, when the weather will be less hot and mills will be allowed a more generous allocation of electricity to be used for steelmaking.For the moment, Iranian producers had to cut p...Read More
China's domestic stainless steel prices were down on Wednesday August 25 compared with a week earlier, but the market had picked up after experiencing losses earlier this week.DomesticStainless steel cold-rolled coil 2mm grade 304 domestic (Wuxi): 18,200-18,600 ($2,810-2,871) per tonne, down by 600-700 yuan per tonne from a week earlierThe three-month nickel contract on the London Metal Exchange e...Read More
In today's Bulletin, we follow-up with developments at some of the junior companies that we omitted from our last letter all positive and we comment on two popular music legends who have passed away. Orogen Royalties Inc. (OGN:TSX.V), whose first cash-flowing asset will be a royalty on the Ermitano silver project, with production scheduled to commence early next year, continues to farm out pr...Read More
Fastmarkets has plotted the locations of the continuing and proposed projects for the decarbonization of the European steel sector.This includes projects and targets for green steel, carbon capture, carbon neutral, net zero, low-carbon emissions and fossil-free steel. Hotspots appear in Germany, France and Sweden, where steelmaking is already well established. Policy, funding and sharing of infras...Read More
Major steel production exports out of China in July decreased from June due to the removal of an export rebate on May 1.For instance, the hot-rolled coil export was 817,276 tonnes in July, down by 20% from 1.03 million tonnes in June, according to customs data.Market participants expect exports to keep the month-on-month...Read More
Fastmarkets has plotted the locations of the continuing and proposed projects for the decarbonization of the European steel sector.This includes projects and targets for green steel, carbon capture, carbon neutral, net zero, low-carbon emissions and fossil-free steel. Hotspots appear in Germany, France and Sweden, where steelmaking is already well established. Policy, funding and sharing of infras...Read More
There are many factors affecting goldprices on a daily basis, but… how can GameStop stock be one of them?Given today’s pre-market slide in gold,it seems that the triangle-vertex-based turning point worked once again.Declines are likely next.In yesterday’sanalysis, I explained why the situation remains very similar to whathappened in 2013, and that remains up-to-date. On top of t...Read More