Steel demand in Japan was largely steady in February, according to statistics released by the Japan Iron & Steel Federation (JISF).The country's total domestic steel consumption during the month edged up by 0.6% year on year to 3.59 million tonnes, according to data released on Monday April 16.The manufacturing sector consumed 1.2% more steel in February in comparison with...Read More
SHANGHAI, Apr 16 (SMM) – This is a roundup of global macroeconomic news last weekend and what is expected today.Last weekendDespite airstrikes in Syria by the US, UK and France, the US dollar index edged up slightly and closed at 89.78 on Friday April 13 as trade tension eased and the Federal Reserve Board’s March meeting took a aggressive stance.Most base metals rose but saw...Read More
SHANGHAI, Apr 16 (SMM) – In an emergency response to the heavily-polluted weather in the Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei area this week, Tangshan city has initiated measures to cut emissions from 20:00 on Sunday April 16, SMM learned.On top of current non-heating season cutbacks, a further cut of 50%in output was imposed on sintering machines. Coke ovens were required to prolong co...Read More
SHANGHAI, Apr 16 (SMM) – This is a roundup of global macroeconomic news last weekend and what is expected today.Last weekendDespite airstrikes in Syria by the US, UK and France, the US dollar index edged up slightly and closed at 89.78 on Friday April 13 as trade tension eased and the Federal Reserve Board’s March meeting took a aggressive stance.Most base metals rose but saw...Read More
SHANGHAI, Apr 16 (SMM) –Copper: LME copper rose and hit the five-day moving average but faced pressure at the 10-day moving average, as KDJ indicator extended downwards last Friday night. The SHFE 1806 contract mostly traded below all moving averages, and touched the joint of five- 10-, and 20- day moving averages with apparent pressure. The copper market was generally sluggish given un...Read More
SHANGHAI, Apr 16 (SMM) –Copper: LME copper rose and hit the five-day moving average but faced pressure at the 10-day moving average, as KDJ indicator extended downwards last Friday night. The SHFE 1806 contract mostly traded below all moving averages, and touched the joint of five- 10-, and 20- day moving averages with apparent pressure. The copper market was generally sluggish given un...Read More
SHANGHAI, Apr 16 (SMM) – This is a roundup of global macroeconomic news last weekend and what is expected today.Last weekendDespite airstrikes in Syria by the US, UK and France, the US dollar index edged up slightly and closed at 89.78 on Friday April 13 as trade tension eased and the Federal Reserve Board’s March meeting took a aggressive stance.Most base metals rose but saw...Read More
Colorado School of Mines will showcase the innovative, creative and entrepreneurial spirit of its students during a new weeklong celebration culminating with the university's hosting of The Wright Awards May 3.Mines Innovation Week kicks off April 25 with a one-of-a-kind food experience. Students from Introduction to Construction Engineering will build edible structures-think a Rice Krispies Treat...Read More
In a statement sent late Friday in response to emailed questions, Rio said the force majeure declared on April 5 was ongoing, as it was still assessing the impact on RBM's production and sales delivery.Read More
SHANGHAI, Apr 16 (SMM) – Operating rates at Chinese copper rod producers jumped to 79.4% in March, up 10.05 percentage points year on year and 31.73 percentage points on the month, as orders improved from the electric wire and cable industry, according to an SMM survey.In April, operating rates are expected to further increase to 80.9% as producers reported brisk orders during the high seaso...Read More
SHANGHAI, Apr 16 (SMM) –Copper: LME copper rose and hit the five-day moving average but faced pressure at the 10-day moving average, as KDJ indicator extended downwards last Friday night. The SHFE 1806 contract mostly traded below all moving averages, and touched the joint of five- 10-, and 20- day moving averages with apparent pressure. The copper market was generally sluggish given un...Read More
The domestic market for hot-rolled (HR) and cold-rolled (CR) steel sheet in the central region of Russia, around Moscow, was quiet during the week ended Monday April 16.Traders with sufficient stocks were able to wait for announcements of prices for May-rolled products, Metal Bulletin was told.Metal Bulletin's weekly assessment of the price for Russia-origin 4mm HR sheet was unchanged on April 16...Read More
Base metals traded on the London Metal Exchange experienced slight upward pressure this morning, Monday April 16, with the complex posting an average gain of 0.5% amid decent trading volumes. Aluminium (+0.8%) and zinc (+0.8%) are the leading the pack higher, while copper (-0.1%) is the only LME base metal to trade in negative territory. The slight upward pressure across the industrial metals coin...Read More
Aluminium on the London Metal Exchange continued its record-breaking rally by the close of trading on Monday April 16, rocketing over 5% to reach a high of more than $2,400 per tonne.The light metal closed a dollar short of the $2,400 pertonne mark, its highest since September 2011.Despite lighter volumes in comparison to last week's 35,871lot average, aluminium's strong sentiment continues to dom...Read More
The London Metal Exchange will allow open positions with Russian aluminium producer Rusal to remain open until June 5 and hedges to be unwound as long as payments are made into segregated accounts, it said in a notice to its members on Monday April 16. Some LME members holding hedging or clearing contracts with UC Rusal have been worried about having to immediately unwind positions since the Unite...Read More
Lack of buying support and falling prices weighed on the Chinese ferro-chrome price assessment on Friday April 13 and market participants predicted subsequent softening to trickle into Japan, where demand is soft; US high-carbon prices fell temporarily in a quiet trading week. Japan and South Korea ferro-chrome prices nudge down Weak demand from stainless steel mills weigh on Chinese ferro-c...Read More
The latest metal markets news and price moves to start the North American day on Monday April 16. Aluminium prices on the London Metal Exchange rose again during morning trading, soaring to six-year highs amid a strong base metals complex.The light metal's three-month price is back up above the $2,300 per tonne mark to start the week, up 2% from Friday's closing drop to $2,285 per tonne.Here is ho...Read More
Good morning from Metal Bulletin's offices in Shanghai as we bring you the latest news and pricing stories on Monday April 16.An escalation in geopolitical tensions over the weekend dampened sentiment during Asian morning trading on Monday with the base metals traded on the Shanghai Futures Exchange broadly down.Aluminium showed the most resilience during the early session in Asia, with participan...Read More
Liquidity is the ultimate paradox in finance. It's always there when you don't need it and never there when you need it most. The reason is crowd behavior, or what mathematicians call hypersynchronicity (a fancy word for everyone doing the same thing at the same time).When markets are calm, no one wants liquidity because investors are happy to hold stocks, bonds, currencies, commodities and other...Read More
All financial crises are the same and different at the same time.They are the same when it comes to the dynamics of contagion, illiquidity, bank failures and the high-panic state in which everyone in the world wants his money back at the same time.Yet each crisis is different in its specific causes.The 1994 Tequila Crisis was caused by Mexico's inability to roll over short-term unsecured debts. Th...Read More