The union at Escondida and BHP, the Chilean copper mine's majority shareholder and operator, have agreed to extend wage negotiations until Friday August 13, so a deal can be signed and a strike averted.The new labor contract has been accepted by the No1 Workers Union and ratified by its members and just needs to be signed, the miner said on Thursday.Members of the union, which represents workers a...Read More
Copper concentrate treatment and refining Charges (TC/RCs) continued their surge in early August, with traders and smelters setting down strong bids at clear levels after weeks of inactivity.The Fastmarkets TC/RC index, which tracks the mid-point of the market, came in at $54.6 per tonne / 5.46 cents per pound on August 13, up from $51.8 / 5.18 cents last Friday to reach its highest point in fifte...Read More
After three consecutive increases, prices for carbon steel plate in the United States held flat in the week to Friday August 13, but market participants expect mills to raise prices soon.Fastmarkets' weekly assessment for steel cut-to-length plate carbon grade, fob mill US remained at an all-time high of $83 per hundredweight ($1,660 per short ton) on Friday, unchanged from August 6 but 219.23% hi...Read More
Hot-rolled coil prices in the United States remained above $96 per hundredweight ($1,920 per short ton) for a second day, but slipped from an all-time high reached on Thursday August 12.Fastmarkets' daily steel hot-rolled coil index, fob mill US was calculated at $96.11 per cwt ($1,922.20 per ton) on Friday August 13, down by 0.45% from $96.54 per cwt on Thursday, which was the highest since Fastm...Read More
Prices for cold-rolled and galvanized steel sheet in the United States climbed again to all-time highs, with many buyers reporting persistent difficulty in finding sufficient spot volumes from domestic mills - potentially for the rest of the year.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel cold-rolled coil, fob mill US spiked to $107 per hundredweight ($2,140 per short ton) on Thursday August 1...Read More
The domestic price for steel rebar in Brazil - which had not moved in three months - fell on Friday August 13 amid mill discounts, confirming lingering signs of a downturn.In Brazil, rebar supply recovered in 2021, and scrap prices started being cut. The global scenario lent headwinds to the Brazilian rebar price, with a downturn seen particularly in Turkey.Brazil-based steelmakers often follow in...Read More
A drill intercept of 60m grading 1% copper from 139m depth reported today included an interval of 23m at 1.7% copper.Read More
An overview of the new energy materials markets and their price moves in the week to Friday August 13.Susan Zou, Yingchi Yang and...Read More
U.S. equity index futures were higher this morning. S&P 500 futures advanced 3 points in pre-opening trade.Walt Disney added $5.71 to $185.00 after reporting higher than consensus fiscal third quarter revenues and earnings. Wal-Mart added $0.41 to $149.47 after Stifel Nicolaus raised its target price from $150 to $155.Target advanced $1.18 to $263.06 after Stifel Nicolaus raised its target pri...Read More
The import pig iron market in the United States was soft and calm during the week ended Friday August 13 due to oversupply, sources said.Fastmarkets' price assessment for pig iron, import, cfr Gulf of Mexico, US was at $585-595 per tonne on Friday, narrowing downward from $585-600 per tonne cfr a week before.No new deals were...Read More
The light iron scrap market in the United Kingdom dropped by ?5 ($7) per tonne at the top end of its price range over the week to Friday August 13 due to the seasonal summer slowdown and weaker monthly domestic delivery settlements, sources told Fastmarkets.A drop in prices at UK dockside markets, a major influence on domestic prices, has also weighed on the light iron market, sources said.Fastma...Read More
Global ferrous scrap prices have continued to fall in the week to August 13 due to high freight rates, Covid-19 outbreaks in importing countries and poor downstream steel demand.Turkish scrap prices fell amid weak downstream demandUnited States scrap exports were poor due to high freight costsWeak demand for imports in Vietnam due to Covid-19China abstains from purchasing due to large bid-offer sp...Read More
The price of shredded steel scrap into Pakistan and India diverged on Friday August 13 with Pakistan reporting restocking behaviour while demand in India remained low, sources told Fastmarkets.PakistanFastmarkets calculated its weekly steel scrap, shredded, index, import, cfr Port Qasim, Pakistan at $532.37 per tonne on Friday, up from $530.64 per tonne one week earlier.Deal prices increased durin...Read More
The export price for pig iron from the Commonwealth of Independent States went down during the week to Thursday August 12 in new sales to neighboring markets.Fastmarkets assessed the price for high-manganese pig iron, export, fob main port Black Sea, CIS, at $540-560 per tonne on Thursday, down from $550-580 per tonne the previous week."The price will continue to go down until the CIS suppliers ar...Read More
Turkish steel mills ended the week in silence and remained out of the deep-sea scrap market on Friday August 13, sources told Fastmarkets.No new deals were reported this week, but several deals completed in the previous week came to light.On Monday, news emerged of a steel mill in the Iskenderun region purchasing a United States-origin cargo for September shipment comprising 30,000 tonnes of HMS 1...Read More
Australia-listed lithium miners Orocobre and Galaxy have gained the shareholders' and court approvals that were necessary for their proposed merger, the companies announced on Friday August 13.On August 6, Galaxy's shareholders voted in favor of the deal, and on August 13 the Supreme Court of Western Australia made orders approving the proposed merger, the companies said.According to the merger sc...Read More
Seaborne coking coal prices trended higher in the cfr China market following a strong domestic coking coal market and fell slightly in the fob market on Friday August 13 with market participants adopting a wait-and-see attitude.Prices for seaborne pulverized coal injection (PCI) increased in the cfr China market in the week to August 13 based on good restocking demand from end users and rose sligh...Read More
Iron ore prices across the board drop on Friday August 13 due to continued thin liquidity in the seaborne market, with one market participant describing the outlook as "grim."Fastmarkets iron ore indices 62% Fe fines, cfr Qingdao: $162.07 per tonne, down $0.89 per tonne62% Fe low-alumina fines, cfr Qingdao: $162.74 per tonne, down $0.45 per tonne58% Fe fines high-grade premium, cfr Qingdao: $130.6...Read More
China's domestic hot-rolled coil prices extended their losses on Friday August 13, as market participants weighed demand concerns against shrinking production.DomesticEastern China (Shanghai): 5,750-5,780 yuan ($887-892) per tonne, down by 30-40 yuan per tonneNorthern China (Tangshan): weekly assessment: 5,700-5,750 yuan ($880-887) per tonne, upward widening by 40 yuan per tonne The China Iron & S...Read More
Base metal stocks in Shanghai Futures Exchange-approved warehouses were largely down in the week to Friday August 13, with tin falling most in percentage terms due to a supply tightness in the country.Tin inventories totaled 2,193 tonnes in the week to August 13, down by 651 tonnes (29.7%) from the previous week. The 830 Huangpu Logistics warehouse in Guangdong reported the largest outflow, with v...Read More