Baowu Steel, China's largest steelmaker, is adding 4.03 million tonnes to its hot metal capacity and 3.61 million tonnes to crude steel capacity at its Zhanjiang city production site in Guangdong province, south China.The increases come at the expense of production cuts at operations in Shanghai and in Jiangsu province.Baowu cut 1.18 million tons of capacity at its Nanjing-based subsidiary Shangha...Read More

The world's largest coking coal producer, BHP, is "cautiously optimistic" about India's economic potential, with the country on the brink of becoming the top importer of the steelmaking raw material. India's coal imports are expected to hit 69 million tonnes by 2020, when it will overtake China as the top importer of coking coal, according to the Australian government's latest Energy and Resources...Read More

China's Hebei province plans to cut its annual crude steelmaking capacity by 40 million tonnes in three years' time, provincial party secretary Wang Dongfeng said at a meeting discussing capacity cuts on Wednesday July 4, according to the country's national news agency Xinhua. Three cities in what is China's largest steel-producing province - Baoding, Zhangjiakou and Langfang - will be cleared of...Read More

The import market for hot-briquetted iron (HBI) in Italy was flat during the week ended Thursday July 5 on low demand, according to sources in the market.Metal Bulletin's import price assessment for HBI in Italy was $320-330 per tonne cfr on Thursday, unchanged week on week."The market [for HBI] is totally flat here, because everyone involved in the metallic trade is waiting for the results of the...Read More

By Ira EpsteinBounce in metal?https://www.iraepstein.com/ Read More

Source: Michael Ballanger for Streetwise Reports 07/05/2018 Sector expert Michael Ballanger details his forecast for precious metals markets in the second half of 2018. -->Given the impressive reversal in gold last Monday, which appeared to occur during the Asian and European trading sessions as opposed to the Crimex pit session, it looks like the precious metals are adhering to the well-br...Read More

By Gary TanashianOn June 26 we provided an antidote to some media hysterics about a "Death Cross" in gold.On that same day we had an NFTRH update (still password protected, but below is the screenshot of the intro) illustrating for subscribers a developing positive risk vs. reward proposition in gold and silver.On June 28 we noted the out-performance by counter-cyclical gold miners to cyclical c...Read More

By Frank HolmesBeginning in 2010, central banks around the world turned from being net sellers of gold to net buyers of gold. Last year official sector activity rose 36 percent to 366 tonnes - a substantial increase from 2016.The top 10 central banks with the largest gold reserves have remained mostly unchanged for the last few years. The United States holds the number one spot with over 8,000 t...Read More

By Jordan Roy-Byrne CMT, MFTA Despite its lack of bullish fundamentals and the poor price action, Gold is now technically oversold and has reached strong support with sentiment approaching potentially extreme levels. The conditions are in place for a rally. That being said, bearish sentiment by itself is not enough to push Gold beyond a relief rally. While the combination of the net speculativ...Read More

By David HaggithFor a year and a half I've been writing about the retail apocalypse that is going to add to US financial woes. This is not a problem created by economic collapse but a problem that I have said will greatly contribute to economic collapse and that is so massive and widespread that it assures some level of economic decline all on its own. As everyone knows, the problem is largely c...Read More

By Ryan Wilday In last week's article, my charts showed that I expected a corrective rally into the zones we are now pushing against. As always, I marked key resistance with a box and price has entered those areas. These zones are $6724-$7045 in bitcoin (BTC-USD) and $461-$489 in ethereum (ETH-USD).Because I don't view the downside trend as complete, nor do we have price through resistanc...Read More

- Is the currency reset or global monetary reset (GMR) upon us? - Russia sold half their Treasuries in April and bought 600k ozs of gold in May - China has stopped buying US Treasurys and PBOC is quietly accumulating gold bullion - China has over $3 trillion in foreign exchange reserves and Russia has $461 billion - Physical gold market is finite and tiny vis-?-vis the fx markets and bond market...Read More

In his final column for Metal Bulletin, Lord Copper looks over the events that have shaped the metals industry during his tenure and considers and what might be in store over the coming years.ValeteWell, it's been a good run since December 2009 but now has come the parting of the ways. This is the last time Lord Copper will grace the pages - or, rather, the pixels - of Metal Bulletin. Looking back...Read More

Export pig iron prices from the Black Sea have gone up this week with Italian buyers accepting higher prices after a long silence in the market. But export prices from the Baltic Sea region were unchanged because buyers considered current offers to be too high.Metal Bulletin's export price assessment for high-manganese pig iron from the CIS region rose to $390-395 on Thursday July 5, from $385-390...Read More

Base metals on the London Metal Exchange were mixed at the close of trading on Thursday July 5, pressured by macroeconomic uncertainty amid continued sell-offs in copper, zinc and tin prices.While zinc prices continue to be hampered by a flurry of short-covering, the metal's three-month price avoided another drop below the nearby support level of $2,700 per tonne at the afternoon close. In ad...Read More

The latest metal markets news and price moves for the start of the North American day on Thursday July 5.Base metals on the London Metal Exchange ticked higher across the board during morning trading with lead prices climbing by 1.7% after a fresh 15,000 tonne cancelation in Antwerp. Here's how base metals prices look at 12:12pm London time:Read our live futures report here."With the LME nearby sp...Read More

Good morning from Metal Bulletin's offices in Asia as we bring you the latest news and pricing stories on Thursday July 5.Base metals prices on the Shanghai Futures Exchange were broadly down during Asian morning trading on Thursday, with the complex continuing to come under pressure from growing trade concerns. Check Metal Bulletin's live futures report here.Worldwide Warehouse Solutions (WWS) ha...Read More

In his final column for Metal Bulletin, Lord Copper looks over the events that have shaped the metals industry during his tenure and considers and what might be in store over the coming years.ValeteWell, it's been a good run since December 2009 but now has come the parting of the ways. This is the last time Lord Copper will grace the pages - or, rather, the pixels - of Metal Bulletin. Looking back...Read More

SHANGHAI, Jul 5 (SMM) – Both nonferrous and ferrous metals fell across the board, except for rebar, on Thursday July 5 as the imminent US tariffs on Chinese imports weighed on market sentiment.SHFE zinc led the decreases with a slump over 4%. Copper tumbled close 3% and nickel dropped over 2%. Lead and tin lost close to 2% with aluminium fell close to 1%.Coke, iron ore and cok...Read More

SHANGHAI, Jul 5 (SMM) – In monthly tenders issued by two organic silicon plants this week, #421 chemical-grade silicon was mostly offered at 13,500-13,800 yuan/mt on acceptance. This was flat from the purchasing price by two organic silicon producers in late June, SMM learned. Downstream consumers continued to purchase as required as silicon prices declined. As of Ju...Read More