Millions of tonnes of material are likely to be redirected to steel markets outside of the United States if US President Donald Trump levies strict tariffs or quotas on imports after the Section 232 investigation. While US domestic steel prices are expected to spike if the US Department of Commerce's 232 recommendations lead to trade defense measures, there are two schools of thought as to how thi...Read More
SHANGHAI, Feb 23 (SMM) –Copper: We see copper continue to rebound after touching a low at 51,000 yuan/mt ahead of Chinese New Year. LME copper is expected to trade at $7,140-7,200/mt today with SHFE copper at 53,200-53,900 yuan/mt. In the physical market, spot discounts are seen smaller at 250-180 yuan/mt as downstream customers resume operations gradually.Aluminium: LME aluminium is expecte...Read More
Millions of tonnes of material are likely to be redirected to steel markets outside of the United States if US President Donald Trump levies strict tariffs or quotas on imports after the Section 232 investigation. While US domestic steel prices are expected to spike if the US Department of Commerce's 232 recommendations lead to trade defense measures, there are two schools of thought as to how thi...Read More
Domestic prices for rebar in Poland have been stable this week because mills are expected to announce new prices next week, sources told Metal Bulletin on Friday February 23.Metal Bulletin's weekly price assessment for domestic 12mm B500B-grade rebar in Poland was 2,310-2,340 zloty ($680-688) per tonne ex-works on February 23, unchanged over...Read More
Italian long steelmaker Pittini is in discussions to acquire compatriot steelmaker Ori Martin's Ceprano rebar mill in central Italy, Metal Bulletin understands.The Ceprano mill is expected to stop rebar production on Monday February 26 but will continue selling material from stock, a market source told Metal Bulletin on Wednesday February 21."Pittini's plan could be to replace production at Cepran...Read More
Metal Bulletin rounds up some of the key news and price moves across the global metal markets this week.Base MetalsGlencore metal traders banked a record $2 billion in profits in 2017 - a year where traded volume of copper, zinc and ferro-alloys grew substantially.Wieland Group will strengthen its position as Europe's largest semi-finished copper products producer by acquiring Aurubis' rolled-prod...Read More
Good morning from Metal Bulletin's London office, bringing you the latest news and pricing stories on Friday February 23.Base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange dipped across the board during morning trading, with prices awaiting further direction to move higher.Here's how base metals prices looked at 11:28am London time: Read our live futures report here."Thursday's intraday price dips on...Read More
Good morning from Metal Bulletin's offices in Asia, bringing the latest news and pricing stories on Friday February 23.Base prices on the Shanghai Futures Exchange (SHFE) rose across the board during Asian morning trading on Friday February 23, the second trading day after Lunar New Year holidays. Check Metal Bulletin's live futures report here. LME snapshot at 0200 London timeLatest 3M LME...Read More
SHANGHAI, Feb 23 (SMM) – Nonferrous metals futures on the SHFE performed strongly today except for tin, which edged down slightly. Nickel gained some 2% while copper was up 1.6%. Aluminium went up 1.5%, and zinc and lead inched up.Ferrous metals prices rose across the board as coke jumped close to 3% and iron ore increased by over 2%. Rebar and coking coal went up close to 2% and hot-rolled...Read More
SHANGHAI, Feb 23 (SMM) – Nonferrous metals futures on the SHFE performed strongly today except for tin, which edged down slightly. Nickel gained some 2% while copper was up 1.6%. Aluminium went up 1.5%, and zinc and lead inched up.Ferrous metals prices rose across the board as coke jumped close to 3% and iron ore increased by over 2%. Rebar and coking coal went up close to 2% and hot-rolled...Read More
Metal Bulletin rounds up some of the key news and price moves across the global metal markets this week.Base MetalsGlencore metal traders banked a record $2 billion in profits in 2017 - a year where traded volume of copper, zinc and ferro-alloys grew substantially.Wieland Group will strengthen its position as Europe's largest semi-finished copper products producer by acquiring Aurubis' rolled-prod...Read More
SHANGHAI, Feb 23 (SMM) – Nonferrous metals futures on the SHFE performed strongly today except for tin, which edged down slightly. Nickel gained some 2% while copper was up 1.6%. Aluminium went up 1.5%, and zinc and lead inched up.Ferrous metals prices rose across the board as coke jumped close to 3% and iron ore increased by over 2%. Rebar and coking coal went up close to 2% and hot-rolled...Read More
U.S. equity index futures were higher this morning. S&P 500 futures were up 11 points in pre-opening trade. The Canadian Dollar moved higher following release of Canada's January Consumer Price Index. Consensus was an increase of 0.5% versus a decline of 0.4% in December. Actual was an increase of 0.7%.Royal Bank (RY $102.16 Cdn) is expected to open higher after reporting higher than consensus...Read More
SHANGHAI, Feb 23 (SMM) – China’s metal scrap imports in January slumped to 490,000 mt, down 25.1% year on year, according to Chinese customs data. This also marked the lowest monthly level since February 2016.Copper scrap imports stood at 200,000 mt last month, down 27.5% from January 2017. Aluminium scrap imports were 190,000 mt, up 11% year on year, while steel scrap imports were dow...Read More
SHANGHAI, Feb 23 (SMM) –Copper: We see copper continue to rebound after touching a low at 51,000 yuan/mt ahead of Chinese New Year. LME copper is expected to trade at $7,140-7,200/mt today with SHFE copper at 53,200-53,900 yuan/mt. In the physical market, spot discounts are seen smaller at 250-180 yuan/mt as downstream customers resume operations gradually.Aluminium: LME aluminium is expecte...Read More
SHANGHAI, Feb 23 (SMM) –Copper: We see copper continue to rebound after touching a low at 51,000 yuan/mt ahead of Chinese New Year. LME copper is expected to trade at $7,140-7,200/mt today with SHFE copper at 53,200-53,900 yuan/mt. In the physical market, spot discounts are seen smaller at 250-180 yuan/mt as downstream customers resume operations gradually.Aluminium: LME aluminium is expecte...Read More
SHANGHAI, Feb 23 (SMM) –Copper: We see copper continue to rebound after touching a low at 51,000 yuan/mt ahead of Chinese New Year. LME copper is expected to trade at $7,140-7,200/mt today with SHFE copper at 53,200-53,900 yuan/mt. In the physical market, spot discounts are seen smaller at 250-180 yuan/mt as downstream customers resume operations gradually.Aluminium: LME aluminium is expecte...Read More
The benchmark cash/three-month spread in aluminium at the start of this week hit backwardation levels not seen since before the Global Financial Crisis, which is a landmark event but not necessarily a signal of a major shift in market dynamics.It is most probably a short-term aberration caused by the potent combination of February date shorts clashing with dominant longs but given added spice and...Read More
The base metals complex on the London Metal Exchange is mixed this morning, Friday February 23, with prices down by an average of 0.2%. Zinc prices lead the decline with a 0.8% fall to $3,501 per tonne, copper and nickel prices are off by 0.4% with the former at $7,143 per tonne, aluminium prices are bucking the trend with a 0.4% rise, while the rest are little changed. Volume has returned to arou...Read More
Metal Bulletin Research (MBR) has a very good track record in producing accurate price forecasts for the base metals. In MB’s Apex survey, which ranks the quarterly forecasting accuracy of the around 20 commodity banks and trading desks, MBR regularly features in the top-five leader boards.For the latest complete quarter, Q4 2017, MBR’s forecasts for the period, submitted in early Octobe...Read More