Ferrous scrap prices in Mexico continued to rise across nearly all grades in the week ended Friday June 11, with most consumers struggling to secure volumes.Both the obsolete and prime grades are in heavy demanded, with the market outlook for most steel products positive.Fastmarkets assessed the steel scrap No1 busheling, consumer buying price, delivered mill Monterrey at 11,200 pesos ($566)...Read More

Market participants in Europe expect domestic prices for hot-rolled coil in the region to remain fairly stable in the short term due to an ongoing shortage of material, sources told Fastmarkets on Tuesday June 15.Trading activity has been slow in June, with buyers preferring to hold back from making new deals and accepting current mill prices if they need to restock specific material or if they ha...Read More

Here are five Fastmarkets stories on Tuesday June 15 that are worth another look.With responsibilities across Tata Steel's diverse international portfolio of steelmaking assets, chief executive officer and managing director T V Narendran has a wide-ranging view of, and experience in, the global steel industry. He told Kunal...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

Alongside Fastmarkets' annual global ranking of steelmakers by crude steel output in 2020, our correspondents around the world review developments in their regional steel sectors.The year 2020 will forever be remembered as the one in which the Covid-19 pandemic spread globally, impacting every area of life and business. The world's steel industry was no exception, with many of the largest steelmak...Read More

Keen selling was seen across the London Metal Exchange and throughout the day on Tuesday June 15, which took the price of copper to its lowest level since late April this year.Copper's three-month closing price was $9,569 per tonne, showing a 4% decrease from Monday's closing price of $9,971.50 per tonne.Its intraday low of $9,511 per tonne was the lowest price for copper since April 23, while the...Read More

Seaborne iron ore prices mostly edged upward on Tuesday June 15 despite limited liquidity and the downtrend in the financial markets.Fastmarkets iron ore indices62% Fe fines, cfr Qingdao: $221.87 per tonne, up by $1.10 per tonne62% Fe low-alumina fines, cfr Qingdao: $223.09 per tonne, up by $1.47 per tonne58% Fe fines high-grade premium, cfr Qingdao: $194.60 per tonne, down by $0.62 per tonne65% F...Read More

Weakness was evident across the base metals in London and Shanghai on the morning of Tuesday June 15 despite pre-market Western equity index futures driving higher and high volumes traded on the London Metal Exchange.14,205 lots had been traded on the LME by 5.52am London time compared with typical volume of 6,000 lots at this timeMarkets seem to be nervous about the measures China's authorities m...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

The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of base metals analysts are ready to view, including an upgrade to our aluminium price forecasts.Aluminium: Price forecasts raisedWe correctly expected the macro reflationary theme to raise the prices for all base metals but, with it being the base metal with by far the weakest fundamentals, we had expected the price of aluminium to underperform relative...Read More

The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.These include an increase in our copper mine disruption estimates, upgrades to our production outlook for Indonesian nickel pig iron (NPI), a smaller refined zinc surplus, and an upgrade to our zinc price forecasts.Aluminium: Big disconnect between price and fundamentalsAluminium has extended its uptrend on the London Metal...Read More

The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts is ready to view.As we approach the end of the first half of 2021, steel markets in Europe and the United States continue to heat up. This six-month period is largely unprecedented, with both steel prices and steelmakers' margins hitting a number of new record highs throughout.The rally is likely nearing its end, however, with global steel ou...Read More

The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.This month's key North American steel forecast highlights:?EUR?  US sheet prices hit record highs again in May, with upward momentum persisting into June. Actual US hot-rolled coil prices averaged $1,553 per ton in May, largely in line with our forecast of $1,540 per ton. Prices remain supported by strong underlying sup...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.This month's key ferro-alloy forecast highlights:?EUR?  Impressive advances in ore and alloy prices persisted in March, with most markets posting significant price gains. Strengthening demand from steelmakers along with supply shortages and depleted inventories in numerous markets, as well as freight and transportation...Read More

The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.This month's key ferro-alloy forecast highlights:?EUR?In a strong start to the year, January saw ore and alloy pricing gains across all markets priced by Fastmarkets - with the exception of Chinese silicon metal export prices, which retreated slightly last month after posting impressive gains in December 2020.The combination...Read More

The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.Fastmarkets analysts were invited to present our outlook for the coking coal market at Coaltrans Asia, held online on November 23-25. One of the key topics at the event was the trade tensions between China and Australia, which overtook Mongolia to become the largest coking coal exporter to China this year...Read More