The London Metal Exchange's mission to create more transparency in stock levels may not be popular with the whole market but it is a big step toward fixing key issues with the exchange, sources told Fastmarkets. The LME is expected to implement a series of reforms in 2020 that will make big changes to warehousing after it launched a market consultation in July this year. Extending the queue-b...Read More

Market analysts are preparing their predictions for base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange ahead of LME Week 2019, but the recent volatility in LME nickel prices and spreads is proving an obstacle to price forecasting for the fourth quarter of the year.Trading houses and research analysts are giving ever wider ranges, seemingly not knowing whether to err on the side of their bear or bull...Read More

The price of steel billet in the Turkish market increased over the past week because of tight supplies and rising imported scrap costs, sources said on Thursday October 24.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel billet import, cfr main port Turkey, was $380-385 per tonne on Thursday, up from the $365-380 per tonne.Mills in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) region have increased t...Read More

Domestic long steel prices in the Turkish market have retreated slightly over the past week on the back of a strengthening lira against the US dollar, sources said on Thursday October 24.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel reinforcing bar (rebar) domestic, exw Turkey was TRY2,850-2,910 ($494-505) per tonne on Thursday, down from last week's TRY2,880-2,950 per tonne, including 18% V...Read More

The export prices of rebar and wire rod from Turkey have continued to increase over the past week, because of the rising cost of scrap and the reduced supplies due to production cuts in the country.Demand was still weak in any case, sources said on Thursday October 24.The mills in the country have raised their offer prices for exports of rebar to $410-420 per tonne fob on an actual weight basis, c...Read More

The price for steel rebar in Egypt was stable in the week ended Thursday October 24, but the import price for steel billet has increased again, sources have told Fastmarkets.Egyptian rebar producers reduced their domestic prices on October 9, but have not made any further changes since then.Ezz Steel, Egypt's biggest producer, was currently offering rebar at E ?10,900 ($672) per tonne, El Marakby...Read More

China's hot-rolled coil producers continued to shift their focus to the country's domestic market, with prices there being largely stable on Thursday October 24 amid declining inventory levels.DomesticEastern China (Shanghai): 3,500-3,520 yuan ($495-498) per tonne, unchangedNorthern China (Tangshan): 3,490-3,500 yuan per tonne, widening downward by 10 yuan per tonnePrices stayed largely stable on...Read More

U.S. equity index futures were higher this morning. S&P 500 futures were up 6 points in pre-opening trade. Index futures were virtually unchanged following release of economic news at 8:30 AM EDT. Consensus for Weekly Initial Jobless Claims was 215,000 versus 214,000 last week. Actual was 212,000. Consensus for September Durable Goods Orders was a drop of 0.8% versus a gain of 0.2% in August....Read More

The proposed takeover of steelmaker British Steel by a Turkish army pension fund is looking uncertain with the UK government indicating it is willing to open talks with other interested parties, the official receiver said.Ataer Holdings, a division of Turkish army pension funk Oyak, had been in exclusive talks with the British government regarding the proposed takeover of the Scunthorpe-based...Read More

The latest bids, offers and deals in the global markets for hot-rolled coil, cold-rolled coil, hot-dipped galvanized coil, pre-painted galvanized iron, plate, sheet and other flat steel products. Latest transaction: hot-rolled coilHot-rolled coilEast China, domestic, commercial-grade...Read More

China's domestic rebar prices were unchanged on Thursday October 24 , although market participants told Fastmarkets they expected prices to start dropping amid weakening demand despite data showing a sharp decrease in inventory levels.Eastern China (Shanghai): 3,580-3,610 yuan ($507-511) per tonne, unchangedNorthern China (Beijing): 3,550-3,590 yuan per tonne, unchangedSpot market inventories...Read More

Fastmarkets wishes to resolve several misalignments in historical prices on its iron ore index and also align data published in the Excel file on the MB Iron Ore Index website with that published in its Price Book and Excel Add-In. Fastmarkets has identified several data misalignments between its iron ore index histories that are available in different locations. Most of these instances originated...Read More

Fastmarkets has corrected three errors in its iron ore index historical prices in its newsletter alert and in the Excel file on the MB Iron Ore Index website. The correct values on these occasions were those published in the Fastmarkets Price Book and distributed via the Excel Add-In.In the course of consolidating our databases, Fastmarkets identified three instances of mismatched prices between t...Read More

Export pig iron prices from the Commonwealth of Independent States increased this week on the resumption of sales to key markets, with buyers accepting higher prices due to shortages of the steelmaking raw material. Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for high-manganese pig iron, export, fob main port Black Sea, CIS, was $283-287 per tonne on October 24, increasing from $270-280 per tonne fob. CI...Read More

Turkish steel producers have remained out of the deep-sea scrap import markets as most of them are fully booked for November shipment cargoes, sources said on Thursday October 24.Steel mills in Turkey have booked at least 16 cargoes, totaling 500,000 tonnes of scrap so far in October and went quiet at the end of last week."Most of the mills have booked sufficient deep-sea scrap for November shipme...Read More

After spending most of the day rangebound, seaborne iron ore prices again edged up on Thursday October 24, despite limited activity in the market.Fastmarkets iron ore indices62% Fe fines, cfr Qingdao: $87.34 per tonne, up $0.16 per tonne.62% Fe Pilbara Blend fines, cfr Qingdao: $87.16 per tonne, up $0.16 per tonne.62% Fe low-alumina fines, cfr Qingdao: $85.96 per tonne, up $0.30 per...Read More

One of the largest producers of metallurgical coal expects rising steelmaking capacity in India and Southeast Asia as well as constraints on investments in steelmaking coal capacity to be the long-term drivers of the market.Fastmarkets indicesPremium hard coking coal, fob DBCT: $152.40 per tonne, unchangedPremium hard coking coal, cfr Jingtang: $164.07 per tonne, unchangedHard coking coal, fob DBC...Read More

Vermelho - one of the largest and highest-grade undeveloped laterite nickel-cobalt resources in the world - will generate US$7.3 billion in total cash flow over 38 years, Horizonte Minerals (TSX: HZM; LON: HZM) says.The company acquired the Brazilian asset last year from Vale (NYSE: VALE) for US$8 million in cash - US$2 million upfront and the balance on production.The project will produce nickel...Read More

The three-month nickel price on the London Metal Exchange was higher during morning trading on Thursday October 24, climbing just under 1% amid moderate turnover, while a similar uptick in zinc saw the galvanizing metal close in on nearby resistance levels. Nickel's futures price was recently seen at $16,775 per tonne, while just under 2,500 lots were exchanged as of 9:45am London time. Supporting...Read More

Declining nickel prices on the London Metal Exchange put China's stainless steel market under pressure over the past week.The three-month nickel contract on the exchange ended Wednesday October 24's trading session at $16,420-16,425 per tonne, down $510-515 per tonne from a week earlier.The contract price is also $2,030-2,050 per tonne lower compared with September 2's five-year high of $18,450-18...Read More