Ferro-alloys prices have generally retreated over the past month, with demand concerns gaining in prominence.The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.Ferro-alloy pricing trends have generally diverged ove the past month, depending on the security of the supply-side position of the market. With most supply concerns fading with the resumption of industrial activity i...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.This month's key ferro-alloy forecast highlights:While the ferro-alloy industry's initial response to the Covid-19 outbreak was marked by rising prices primarily in response to supply-side concerns, focus has now shifted somewhat. As Chinese activity slowly returns to more normal levels, for alloys with a strong Chinese prod...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.Iron ore prices have shot up as market participants have judged the supply risks from Covid-19 higher at this point in time when there is already a tight seaborne market. Despite the efforts to ramp up, Vale is struggling to catch up with its pre-dam disaster export volumes and its slow recovery has only been hit further by...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.Iron oreSentiment in the iron ore market continues to be dominated by concerns about supply disruptions in Brazil. Prices spiked above $100 per tonne after reports that there had been a recent surge of Covid-19 cases at Vale's three mines in Itabira. A...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.Ferrous scrap consumption rates of Chinese integrated mills appear to have declined this year on a per-tonne basis. This year has seen the ratio of pig iron to steel output tighten, leaving increasingly less room for scrap consumption. Over the first four months of 2020, the pig iron-to-steel ratio has been above the pr...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.Lockdowns and restrictions of movement in several cities in Brazil have increased worries about the potential impact on iron ore export volumes. The situation has already had an impact on the market sentiment. These concerns, combined with strong demand from China, have boosted iron ore prices. The fall in shipments from Bra...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts is ready to view.Stainless steel prices are on the increase in June. As far as this market is concerned, it appears as though the Covid-19 pandemic has had little impact so far, with prices on the most common grades of stainless steel just 2-4% lower than they were at the turn of the year in most markets.Even in Asia, a region often talked ab...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts is ready to view.Stainless steel prices have fared relatively well over the past couple of months in the face of the threat from the Covid-19 pandemic.In grade-304 material, the most common grade of stainless steel, prices were down by about 5-7% since the turn of the year - not bad, when compared with the falls in prices of other assets so f...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.Having first hit Asia during early 2020, the Covid-19 viral outbreak is now having an even bigger impact on European countries and the US. Widespread lockdown measures have been put in place on people and industry, and economic activity has slowed markedly.For now, stainless steel markets in Europe and the US are yet to show...Read More
The new issue of the Seamless OCTG & Linepipe Market Tracker is now online at metalbulletinresearch.com.In this edition, Fastmarkets' research team delivers analysis of seamless OCTG and linepipe across international markets:Covid-19 underscores pipe outlookUnsurprisingly, the concern in the seamless pipe markets across the regions is the effect of the spread of Covid-19 on public health and econo...Read More
Coronavirus cases in the U.S. topped 2 million and fears of a rise in infections pummelled the stock market. The Dow Jones Industrial Average Index plunged 5.55%, or 1,505.44 points, to finish the June 8-12 trading week at 25,605.54, and the S&P 500 dropped 4.78%, or 152.62 points, to 3,041.31. Spot gold finished at US$1,730.50 per oz., a gain of US$46.50 per oz., or 2.76%.Shares of AngloGold Asha...Read More
Concerns about a new surge of coronavirus infections sent the S&P/TSX Composite Index down 3.77%, or 597.50 points, to finish the June 8-12 trading week at 15,256.57. Spot gold rose 2.76%, or US$46.50 per oz., to close at US$1,730.50 per oz., and the S&P/TSX Global Gold Index climbed 2.07%, or 6.28 points, to 309.78. Other indexes were mixed. The S&P/TSX Base Metals Index fell 3.71% (3.41 points)...Read More
The gold miner is making moves to improve its near-term financial flexibility.Read full newsRead More
State revenue from gold mining companies in Mali surged 63.5% to 403.6 billion CFA ($702 million) in 2019 compared with 2018, boosted by a strong turnover from companies operating in the West African nation, the government said on Wednesday.Read full newsRead More
Commodities are largely undervalued, offering clear opportunities for eagle-eyed investors seeking contrarian opportunities. Growth could abound in the following five metals, so let’s examine an exemplary stock for each one, along with the five persuasive reasons to get invested.Three metals stocks for energy disruptionIt’s no secret that hydrocarbon energy is a rapidly weakening inves...Read More
Russian imperial eagle, Saint Petersburg. (Image by George Shuklin, Wikimedia Commons). A report by Fitch Solutions states that global gold mine production growth is expected to rebound in the coming years underpinned by higher gold prices and mergers between major mining firms."We forecast global gold production to increase from 106moz in 2020 to 133moz by 2029, averaging 2.5% annual growth," th...Read More
Containment bons in the Ambarnaya river. (Image courtesy of Nornickel). Clean-up costs for the fuel spill that took place in late May at Nornickel's Heat and Power Plant ?,,- 3 near Norilsk, in north-central Russia, add up to $150 million, according to information released by the company this week.To this amount, the company will have to add a series of financial penalties that will be calculated...Read More
While we all remain focused on the pandemic, protests, and indices near all-time highs in spite of the new recession, it is easy to let some of the most promising market news fall to the wayside.Few are looking as a major trend in potential zero-emission technologies continues to gain traction. Yet the news keeps coming.While the U.S.A. has remained especially inward-looking, as is so often common...Read More
Microscope. (Reference image from Pikrepo). Arash Komeili, a Bakar Fellow at the University of California - Berkeley, just discovered that some species of aquatic bacteria may help miners in finding new ways to extract metals for commercial value or environmental cleanup. In an article prepared by UC, Komeili explained that the bacteria that he is studying are capable of drawing in dissolved iro...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Friday June 12 that are worth another look.The European Commission (EC) has initiated an anti-subsidy investigation into hot-rolled coil imports from Turkey, it said on June 12.A deal for third-quarter aluminium ingot supply to Japan has been concluded at a premium of $60 per tonne cif main Japanese ports (MJP), sources told Fastmarkets on...Read More