Now is not the time for Freeport-McMoRan to be thinking about mergers and acquisitions, the mining company's chief executive officer says.According to Richard Adkerson, the company - which is just over half-way through a mega-project to transform its giant Grasberg copper-gold mine in Indonesia from an open-pit to an underground operation - is on the verge of creating huge shareholder value."I jus...Read More
Copper and nickel hit multi-month and multi-week highs respectively on the London Metal Exchange on Wednesday January 6, spurred by factors such as export delays in Peru, positive sentiment about electric vehicles and a weak US dollar. Three-month copper peaked at $8,169 per tonne, its highest since February 19, 2013, when it topped out at $8,153.50 per tonne. "Copper is the star base metal going...Read More
Iron ore registered increases across the board on active seaborne trading on Wednesday January 6, with lump prices surging due to tight supplies, sources told Fastmarkets. Fastmarkets iron ore indices 62% Fe fines, cfr Qingdao: $168.72 per tonne, up $0.86 per tonne62% Fe low-alumina fines, cfr Qingdao: $168.75 per tonne, up $0.75 per tonne58% Fe fines high-grade premium, cfr Qingdao:&nbs...Read More
Markets seem to be anticipating a Democratic win in the Georgia Senate run-off this morning, Wednesday January 6, and that could be bullish for commodities because a Democratic-controlled US Congress could push through larger fiscal stimulus packages.A Democratic-controlled Congress could, however, cause some headwind for some sectors of the equity markets, although those involved in the rollout o...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of base metals analysts are ready to view.Aluminium: SHFE tailwind for LME pricesAs we are entering the traditional strong demand season, we expect Chinese aluminium demand to show further recovery, and we expect demand from existing end-user sectors, new infrastructure projects and the export sector to show some increases. As a result, we believe that S...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 are ready to view. We also review our price forecasting accuracy for the second quarter 2020.Q2 2020 price forecast performance review According to the results of Fastmarkets' Apex for the second quarter of 2020 published this week, Fastmarkets' base metals research team was the second most accurate price forecaster for nickel (99.06%), lead...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.This month's key North American steel forecast highlights:US flat product prices maintained momentum through November, with increases accelerating in early December in response to supply shortfalls, rising scrap prices, and improving demand.While we correctly forecast further pricing gains in November, actual prices surpasse...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.Chinese domestic and export flat steel prices surged in November 2020, with the export hot-rolled coil index rising to $592 per tonne during the month from $519 per tonne previously, and the monthly average increasing by 7.5% over October.Economic activity in China continued to expand, with manufacturing output rising by 7.5...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.This month's key North American steel forecast highlights:?EUR? Flat steel product prices in the United States moved largely in line with our expectations in October, although the increases slightly outpaced our projections. US hot-rolled coil prices averaged $655 per ton in October, exceeding our forecast price of $640 per...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.Flat product prices in the US moved largely in line with our expectations in October, posting impressive gains across the product range, and slightly exceeding our forecasts for coil products.Domestic hot-rolled coil prices averaged $722 per tonne in October, exceeding our forecast of $705 per tonne forecast price.Although w...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.Key ferro-alloy forecast highlights for the coming months:?EUR? A strong recovery in both bulk and noble alloys is expected in 2021 but the markets are unlikely to return to the levels seen before the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic. We have seen a quicker-than-expected recovery across various regions amid the economic fal...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.Prices for most ferro-alloys maintained their upward momentum into October, solidifying previous gains and reflecting the improved demand from steelmakers, the rebuilding of depleted inventories, and the supply-side concerns following both planned and unplanned outages. Gains were noted for ferro-silicon, silicon metal, mang...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.This month's key ferro-alloys forecast highlights:Prices across most ore and alloy markets trended higher in September, buoyed by improving demand from steelmakers with the end of the summer holiday season in Europe and the United States, as well as maintained demand from Chinese steel mills. Tightening of alloy inventories...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.This month's key ferro-alloy forecast highlights:Prices across most ferro-alloy markets trended stable to lower in August as demand remained subdued in major markets, apart from China where steel output continues to rise at a rapid pace, supporting demand for ferro-alloys. As alloy makers seek to remedy supply/demand imbalan...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
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.Iron ore remains the most bullish commodity of the year, with prices fuelled by Chinese demand and supply disruptions in Brazil, along with bullish sentiment. But prices are expected to come down because Brazilian exports have begun to recover, and have reached their highest level since the Brumadinho dam disaster in 2019. W...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.In the iron ore market, supply issues including heavy rains at the start of the year, followed by staffing problems during the Covid-19 pandemic, have affected exports from Brazil. This has helped Australia gain a larger market share, but since June, Brazilian export volumes have returned to levels last seen before the...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.Chinese blast furnace (BF) utilization rates have stagnated and iron ore port stock volumes are rising, reaching their highest levels since March, which suggests that iron ore supply is becoming excessive while demand is not growing. Unsurprisingly, prices dropped last week and we expect the trend to continue. The market has...Read More