German steelmakers settled their monthly steel scrap contracts for June at substantially higher prices due to the current tight supply, sources told Fastmarkets on Friday June 11.Fastmarkets' monthly price assessment for steel scrap, E8 thin new production steel, domestic, delivered consumer, Germany, was ?,?460-500 ($560-609) per tonne on June 11, up by ?,?50-80 per tonne from ?,?410-420 per tonn...Read More

London Metal Exchange ring dealing members have a decision to make - whether to remain one or not.The LME has just announced it will reopen the open outcry trading floor, which was temporarily closed due to Covid-19, on September 6.Its plan, however, comes with a twist; some ring dealers say, a knife.The official prices - which the global trade and industry use as the global reference for physical...Read More

Technology entrepreneur Elon Musk once described the ongoing use of fossil fuels and their generation of a vast carbon footprint as "the dumbest experiment in human history."Not everyone will agree with his assessment of the petroleum, gas and coal sectors, which have powered the world's growth for decades. Nonetheless, the twin goals of supply chain security and sustainability are now driving a t...Read More

Bill Gates has a theory about green premiums: He wants to eliminate them entirely. The American business magnate and philanthropist calls green premiums the additional cost of choosing a clean technology over one that emits a greater amount of greenhouse gases.In other words, the price that metals and mining companies are starting to charge their customers for producing low-carbon produc...Read More

A tight container freight market is making it harder to replenish molybdenum stocks in Europe, resulting in sustained wide premiums compared with prevailing prices in Asia, according to Fastmarkets' sources Prices for molybdic oxide have soared in both Asia and Europe over the past six weeks, but prolonged transit times caused by lengthy waits for a shipping slots; longer shipping times due to inc...Read More

Metal held outside London Metal Exchange warehouses decreased for the second month in a row, by a slight 6% in April to 1.17 million tonnes, after falling 40% in March. The LME's latest off-warrant stock report showed a decrease of 74,358 tonnes over the fourth month of the year, following a decrease of 841,034 tonnes in March. The volume per metal dropped for five of the six main metal contingent...Read More

Seaborne coking coal prices were largely stable in cfr market on Friday June 11 amid low trading activity in North American coking coal cargoes. The fob market rose because of continuous buying interest for July-laycan cargoes from Australia, market sources said.Prices for seaborne pulverized coal injection (PCI) surged upward in the cfr market in the week to June 11 due to continuing supply tight...Read More

Iron ore prices were up slightly on Friday June 11 amid concerns over supplies of both iron ore and steel in the Chinese domestic market, sources said.Fastmarkets iron ore indices62% Fe fines, cfr Qingdao: $219.26 per tonne, up by $2.42 per tonne62% Fe low-alumina fines, cfr Qingdao: $221.25 per tonne, up by $2.21 per tonne58% Fe fines high-grade premium, cfr Qingdao: $192.78 per tonne, up by $0.8...Read More

Zinc producers in China's southwestern province of Yunnan should be able to fully resume their operations by mid-June, sources said.Yunnan will remove its power restrictions by the end of June that have stunted local zinc output, the provincial energy bureau said.A few zinc smelters in Yunnan have already resumed production, however, sources that spoke to Fastmarkets said.Production capa...Read More

With scarce silver in backwardation, we have a...by Harvey Organ of Harvey Organ BlogJUNE 10//CPI NUMBERS FROM GOVERNMENT TODAY, A RED HOT 5% PER ANNUM (REAL NUMBERS: CLOSER TO 12%)/CPI SPARKED GOLD AND SILVER A LITTLE: GOLD UP $1.40 TO $1893.50//SILVER ADVANCED TO THUNDEROUS APPLAUSE GAINING ONE CENT//STRONG QUEUE JUMP IN GOLD AS NEW STANDING 70.29 TONNES//SILVER AT 13.025 WITH A SMALL QUEUE JUMP...Read More

The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.United States sheet prices hit record highs again in May, with upward momentum carrying into June. Actual US HRC prices averaged $1,712 per tonne in May, largely in line with our forecast of $1,698 per tonne. Strong underlying supply-and-demand conditions both in the US and globally are supporting prices as well as long lead...Read More

The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.Global welded pipe prices surged in May as strong demand and still-insufficient supply lifted flat steel prices.The biggest jumps were seen in China, which was hit by the unexpected announcement of the elimination of export rebates on welded pipes in April. Chinese seaborne prices reached $1,570 per tonne fob for longitudina...Read More

The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.Recent weeks have largely been a repetition of the weeks leading up to our previous tracker in mid-April. A flurry of price increases have been announced, and largely obtained, by leading steelmakers in both Europe and the United States while buyers struggle to secure spot tonnages.Although steel output is rising in both reg...Read More

The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.Bulk ferro-alloy prices have shown impressive gains again this month, with ferro-silicon, silicon metal and manganese alloy prices all making significant increases. Noble alloy markets also enjoyed upward momentum, with both vanadium and molybdenum prices rising sharply.Recovering demand from steelmakers globally, together w...Read More

The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts is ready to view.Recent weeks have brought two key developments with regard to trade policy on stainless steel products that will be to the detriment of consumers.In China, the country's stainless steelmakers no longer enjoy a 13% export rebate as of May 1, reducing greatly their incentive to export and instead leading them to focus on supply...Read More

Italian domestic steel scrap prices increased substantially in the month to Friday June 11, with mills facing extreme shortages of the steelmaking raw material, sources told Fastmarkets.The southern European country's steelmakers were unable to source the necessary volumes of scrap due to shortages across Europe, particularly for new scrap grades, market sources said.Supplies of new scrap, includi...Read More

Zinc showed the biggest increase, at 1.6%, at the close on Friday June 11, while all other prices on the London Metal Exchange ended a week of consolidation on firmer footing.Zinc's three-month price rose to $3,044.50 per tonne, rising from a $2,995 per tonne on Thursday, and up by 1.5% since the start of the week. Similarly, lead's price was up 1.4% on Friday to $2,205.50 per tonne, giving i...Read More

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

Spot copper-concentrate processing charges remained stable in the week to June 11 amid sluggish market conditions, Fastmarkets heard.Major Chinese smelters were carrying out maintenance so spot buying interest was low, which kept Fastmarkets copper concentrate treatment charge/refining charge (TC/RC) index, cif Asia Pacific largely unchanged.  A few spot parcels of...Read More

Metal held outside London Metal Exchange warehouses decreased for the second month in a row, by a slight 6% in April to 1.17 million tonnes, after falling 40% in March. The LME's latest off-warrant stock report showed a decrease of 74,358 tonnes over the fourth month of the year, following a decrease of 841,034 tonnes in March. The volume per metal dropped for five of the six main metal contingent...Read More