Export prices for Brazil-origin slab widened upward due to continued strong demand in the United States.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel slab, export, fob main port Brazil was $740-780 per tonne on Friday March 5, widening upward by $20 from $740-760 per tonne on February 26. Past deals were closed at $740-760 per tonne fob for April shipment, with the higher end of the ran...Read More
Flat-rolled steel import prices continued to trend upward in South America during the week ended Friday March 5, with China and Japan raising their offers for May-shipment material and freight costs remaining elevated.The price increases were taking into account costlier bulk freight rates in addition to the potential export tax rebate cut in China, market participants said. The pot...Read More
The pig iron export market from Brazil continued to increase during the week to Friday March 5 on new sales.Fastmarkets' price assessment for pig iron, export, fob port of Vitoria/Rio, Brazil, was $520 per tonne on Friday, up from $500-515 per tonne a week before.One sale of pig iron from the south of Brazil was heard to the United States at $520 per tonne fob...Read More
The pig iron import market in the United States went up again during the week to Friday March 5 on new sales at higher prices, market sources have said.Fastmarkets' price assessment for pig iron, import, cfr Gulf of Mexico, US, was $570 per tonne on Friday, an increase of $20 per tonne from $550 per tonne a week earlier.One cargo of 50,000 tonnes for May shipment was booked from Russia at...Read More
Fastmarkets examines these questions following Tsingshan's announcement - believed to be a game changer for the nickel market - mainly focusing on the EV demand outlook, raw materials and the implications on exchanged-traded nickel pricing in the future as well as some uncertainties.Nickel matte has suddenly gained a lot of market attention after Chinese stainless steel producer Tsingshan Holding...Read More
The prices of most base metals on the London Metal Exchange closed lower week-on-week on Friday March 5, coming off highs realized at the end of February.The nickel three-months LME Daily Official price closed at $16,425 per tonne in Friday's session and showed the steepest decline, down by 11.5% compared with the corresponding time last week.Supply-side nickel issues helped to stoke bearish senti...Read More
Deliverable base metals stocks at Shanghai Futures Exchange-registered warehouses mostly rose in the week to Friday March 5, except nickel, which recorded a 14.4% plunge in inventory, according to the exchange's latest stocks report. Nickel stocks totaled 11,393 tonnes on Friday, a fall of 1,913 tonnes (or 14.4%) from 13,306 tonnes a week earlier. The outflows mainly occurred at warehouses operat...Read More
Why exactly would the Cartel not take advantage of this paint-by-numbers freebie?(by Half Dollar) Everybody is still too bullish.In general, everybody is certain that yield curve control is coming, and that's like totally bullish for everything, so they say, and no doubt something is coming from the Fed, but it's not coming at no dang 1.6% interest rate on the stinkin' 10-Year!Oh no.There has to b...Read More
Prices for seaborne low-volatility pulverized coal injection (PCI) material in both the fob and cfr markets declined on Friday March 5, with limited buying interest and low supply, sources told Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets indicesPremium hard coking coal, fob DBCT: $122.99 per tonne, down by $1.46 per tonnePremium hard coking coal, cfr Jingtang: $214.51 per tonne, unchangedHard coking coal, fob DBCT: $...Read More
The prices of most base metals on the London Metal Exchange closed lower week-on-week on Friday March 5, coming off highs realized at the end of February.The nickel three-months LME Daily Official price closed at $16,425 per tonne in Friday's session and showed the steepest decline, down by 11.5% compared with the corresponding time last week.Supply-side nickel issues helped to stoke bearish senti...Read More
Steel scrap prices continued to surge this week due to sustained demand from buyers in all markets, with the exception of India. Downstream steel prices have supported raw material price increases in Asia, with buyers melting scrap to feed demand for billet and long steel products.Turkey books Canadian, Baltic Sea scrapUS export prices to go higherVietnam buys deep-sea bulk cargoesTaiwan chases co...Read More
China's production of refined zinc and concentrates will increase in 2021, with new mining projects and a recovery in existing domestic production boosting its capacity, attendees at an International Zinc Association (IZA) virtual panel discussion heard on Wednesday March 3.Fewer production interruptions caused by environmental inspections at domestic smelters, new projects coming online and a ram...Read More
Spot copper concentrate treatment and refining charges (TC/RCs) fell sharply to fresh multi-year lows on Friday March 5 due to smelters competing with traders for direct-from-mine cargoes. Fastmarkets' benchmark copper concentrates TC index, cif Asia Pacific...Read More
Fastmarkets has corrected its price assessment for the aluminium 6063 extrusion billet premium, in-whs dp Rotterdam, which was published incorrectly on Friday February 26 due to a reporter error. The price assessment for aluminium 6063 extrusion billet premium, in-whs dp Rotterdam should have been $440-470 per tonne, instead of $440-490 per tonne as published. This occurred due to a calculati...Read More
An overview of the new energy materials markets and their price moves from the past week.Susan Zou and Sybil Pan...Read More
Deliverable base metals stocks at Shanghai Futures Exchange-registered warehouses mostly rose in the week to Friday March 5, except nickel, which recorded a 14.4% plunge in inventory, according to the exchange's latest stocks report. Nickel stocks totaled 11,393 tonnes on Friday, a fall of 1,913 tonnes (or 14.4%) from 13,306 tonnes a week earlier. The outflows mainly occurred at warehouses operat...Read More
Low-carbon primary aluminium is not yet commanding a premium in Europe but deals have been concluded with a low-carbon premium for aluminium billet and slab, participants told Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets assessed its new aluminium low-carbon differential P1020A, Europe at zero on Friday March 5."For P1020A it is still pretty hard to command any extra differential for low-carbon units, we have tried bu...Read More
ArrowMetals will become a seller of nickel sulfate after agreeing a tolling arrangement with Cyprus refinery Hellenic Minerals to produce battery-grade material.Arrow, which is part of Arrow Resources, based at Steinhausen in Switzerland, has entered into a tolling agreement to supply Hellenic Minerals with the laterite raw materials needed to produce battery-ready sulfate containing 10,000 tonnes...Read More
Indian steel mills have cut domestic hot-rolled coil prices for March sales by 1,000 rupees ($14) per tonne on sluggish demand and lower domestic iron ore prices.Fastmarkets' price assessment of steel hot-rolled coil domestic, ex-warehouse India was 54,000-55,250 rupees per tonne on Friday March 5, down by 1,000 rupees from last week's assessment of 55,000-56,250 rupees per tonne. ...Read More
Hot-dipped galvanized (HDG) and color-coated coil prices in Turkey rose further during the week to Friday March 5, supported by strong demand in domestic and export markets, especially Africa, sources told Fastmarkets.Market participants believe prices will keep climbing in line with the price increases seen for hot-rolled coil, the base product for coated coil.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment...Read More