The London Metal Exchange base metals prices had a mixed reaction to the dollar index's second daily increase in the morning of Wednesday February 17, with the metals that set new highs on Tuesday - copper and nickel - edging lower while the rest were higher. The dollar index increased to 90.73 at 9am on Wednesday from its reading of 90.55 on Tuesday at the close, with the rise being even more sta...Read More

All future new-build vessels to be owned by shipping operator Maersk will have dual-fuel technology installed, allowing either carbon-neutral operations or the use of standard very low sulfur fuel oil (VLSFO), the company said on Wednesday February 17."Our ambition to have a carbon-neutral fleet by 2050 was a 'moonshot' when we announced it in 2018. Today, we see it as a challenging, yet achievabl...Read More

Sales of passenger cars in the EU dropped by 24.04% year-on-year in January 2021, the European Automotive Manufacturers Association (ACEA) said on Wednesday February 17.New car sales in the EU totaled 726,491 vehicles in January 2021, down from 956,447 units sold in the corresponding month of 2020."In January 2021, the EU passenger car market posted an accelerated decline, as Covid-19-related rest...Read More

Domestic prices for hot-dipped galvanized coil increased in Europe over the week to Wednesday February 17, supported by a material shortage, sources have told Fastmarkets.The bullish mood in the market might be undermined, however, by weaker demand from the automotive industry, market sources said.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel hot-dipped galvanized coil, domestic, exw Northern Eur...Read More

Prices for steel hollow sections in Europe have moved up this week but with feedstock tightness remaining an issue, market sources told Fastmarkets on Wednesday February 17.Fastmarkets' price assessment for steel sections (medium), domestic, delivered Northern Europe, was ?,?860-880 per tonne ($1,043-1,067) on Wednesday, up from ?,?850-870 per tonne week on week.The price of hot-rolled coil has on...Read More

Recovery hopes tied into the rollout of Covid-19 vaccines and some brighter economic data has driven up bond yields that in turn has lifted the dollar, and that seems to be creating some hesitancy in the metals this morning, Wednesday February 17.* The US Dollar Index is firmer* US 10-year treasury yields have stepped up a gear as recovery is still being priced in* As a barometer, spot gold prices...Read More

Domestic prices for steel hot-rolled coil in Northern Europe have recovered, but were unchanged in the South, over the week to Wednesday February 17, supported by reduced availability, sources have told Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets calculated its daily steel hot-rolled coil index, domestic, exw Northern Europe, at ?,?729.00 ($884.19) per tonne on Wednesday, up by ?,?1.50 per tonne from ?,?727.50 per to...Read More

Prices for steel H-beams in Europe have fallen this week, with a four week stalemate ending after mills reduced their offer prices, sources told Fastmarkets on Wednesday February 17.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel beams, domestic, delivered Northern Europe, was ?,?740-760 ($898-922) per tonne on Wednesday, down from ?,?750-770 per tonne one week earlier."[The cost of] scrap is again...Read More

Trident aims to fill valuable nicheSPONSOREDtrident royaltiesThe TSX and LSE-listed miner reported EBITDA of US$725 million in Q4, beating consensus forecasts of $712 million and well above a forecast by investment bank Jefferies of $643 million.Read More

Neo Lithium moving closer to productionSPONSOREDneo lithiumPantoro charging towards second gold mineSPONSOREDpantoro limitedMaximus ready to resume search for more Wattle Dam richesSPONSOREDmaximus resourcesEnvironmental and social governance (ESG) is critical to the success of miningSPONSOREDonyen corporationRock sampling returned grades as high as 2.9% copper within a copper anomaly of greater t...Read More

Neo Lithium moving closer to productionSPONSOREDneo lithiumPantoro charging towards second gold mineSPONSOREDpantoro limitedMaximus ready to resume search for more Wattle Dam richesSPONSOREDmaximus resourcesEnvironmental and social governance (ESG) is critical to the success of miningSPONSOREDonyen corporationPolyMet continues to litigate that permit in the Minnesota Court of Appeals, in part to d...Read More

Tesla (TSLA) moved below $780.10 completing a double top pattern.Take Two Interactive (TTWO), a NASDAQ 100 stock moved below $191.81 completing a double top pattern.Pre-opening Comments for Wednesday February 17thU.S. equity index futures were lower this morning. S&P 500 futures were down 5 points in pre-opening trade.Index futures moved lower on inflation fears following release of economic n...Read More

Trident aims to fill valuable nicheSPONSOREDtrident royaltiesAtico said the relief valve, for the pipe which transported material to its tailings facility, had malfunctioned on February 11 "and as a result some material was discharged"."At this point in time, the company does not believe the incident posed any material threat to the health of employees, communities, or the environment," Atico said...Read More

Trident aims to fill valuable nicheSPONSOREDtrident royaltiesThe global activity dispersion index averaged 46.5 in January, sharply lower than the 55.2 recorded in December, with 2020 activity levels said to be remarkably higher than 2019 driven by China's post-pandemic recovery. The January drop was put down to a large decline in European activity levels and continued weakness in North Ameri...Read More

Turkish steel mills have preferred to focus on steel and billet sales so far this week, rather than resuming their deep-sea scrap purchases, market sources told Fastmarkets on Wednesday February 17.The mills have stayed away from the deep-sea scrap markets since the end of last week, when two Turkish steelmakers booked US cargoes at $410 per tonne cfr on an HMS 1&2 (80:20) basis.The daily scrap in...Read More

Greater use of scrap in the steelmaking process will be an important step toward achieving a sharp drop in CO2 emissions, the Japan Iron and Steel Federation (Jisf) said."We support and contribute to Japan's ambitious policy of carbon neutrality by 2050 and to that end, the Japanese steel industry will boldly take on the challenge of achieving zero-carbon steel," the federation said on Tuesday Feb...Read More

Seaborne prices were stable on Wednesday February 17 in a muted market, but market participants expect activity to resume when China returns from the New Year break on Thursday. Fastmarkets iron ore indices 62% Fe fines, cfr Qingdao: $166.88 per tonne, unchanged 62% Fe low-alumina fines, cfr Qingdao: $167.25 per tonne, unchanged 58% Fe fines high-grade premium, cfr Qingdao: $152.66 per tonne, unch...Read More

Mining giant BHP has listed high-grade iron ore and ferrous scrap as among the key future trends that will set the tone for the global steelmaking industry in its economic outlook released on Tuesday February 16.High-grade iron ore"High-quality seaborne iron ore fines and direct charge materials such as lump are important abatement sources for the blast furnace (BF)-based steelmaking route," BHP s...Read More

ArcelorMittal Liberia is aiming to produce its first iron ore concentrate at its Yekepa mine in the fourth quarter of 2023, the company said in an earnings report last week. Construction will begin this year for the second phase of the project that will produce 15 million tonnes per year of concentrate sinter fines, ArcelorMittal said without disclosing a specific start date for the building work....Read More

Seaborne hard coking coal prices outside China experienced a strong rebound on Wednesday February 17 due to demand from Indian steelmakers. Fastmarkets indicesPremium hard coking coal, fob DBCT: $141.20 per tonne, down $0.56 per tonnePremium hard coking coal, cfr Jingtang: $217.23 per tonne, unchangedHard coking coal, fob DBCT: $133.57 per tonne, up $8.50 per tonneHard coking coal, cfr Jingtang: $...Read More