Chinese domestic prices for antimony gained some momentum late last week when all the private antimony producers in Lengshuijiang, in China's central province of Hunan, were required to halt production for safety checks, sources told Fastmarkets on Tuesday April 9.On April 3, before a national public holiday on April 5, relevant authorities in Lengshuijiang, which is China's major antimony product...Read More
Global risk sentiment soured overnight following news that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has downgraded its global growth outlook for 2019 to 3.3% from 3.5% previously. The IMF forecasts the slowdown seen in the second half of 2018 to continue into the first half of this year before picking up in the second half of 2019. The projected growth rate for next year was unchanged at 3.6%.As a re...Read More
The following Fastmarkets UK non-ferrous scrap and foundry ingot prices changed on Wednesday April 10:Aluminium scrapLoose old rolled cuttings: ?680-710 per tonne from ?690-720Cast wheels: ?1,140-1,170 per tonne...Read More
Share this articleA Vale SA iron ore mining operation. Source: Vale SA.Vale SA [VALE-NYSE], the world's largest producer of iron ore and nickel, is facing charges in Brazil over a deadly tailings dam breach.A Wall Street Journal report says prosecutors are planning to file criminal charges against the Brazilian miner and its employees over the collapse of the mine waste dam in January 2019, that k...Read More
U.S. equity index futures were higher this morning. S&P 500 futures were up 3 points in pre-opening trade. Index futures responded to encouraging news on China/U.S. trade negotiations.Index futures were virtually unchanged following release of economic news at 8:30 AM EDT. Consensus for the March Producer Price Index was an increase of 0.3% versus a gain of 0.2% in February. Actual was an incr...Read More
A summary of base metals premiums from across the globe for the week to Tuesday April 9.Please click...Read More
Base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange were mostly lower at the close of trading on Tuesday April 9, with a dip in the dollar index below the psychological level of 97 doing little to prompt rallies, while stock inflows continue push prices lower. Despite trading comfortably above $6,500 per tonne for much of the day, copper's three-month price closed $13 per tonne shy of the psychologica...Read More
Soci?(C)t?(C) Generale will close its proprietary and over-the-counter (OTC) commodities business including its metals trading, as part of a global cost cutting exercise involving 1,600 job losses, the company said on April 9.The French bank is a category I London Metal Exchange dealer and plans to continue this activity through its brokerage arm Newedge Group, informed sources confirmed to F...Read More
Freeport-McMoRan is moving ahead at "full throttle" with plans to develop a new smelter in Indonesia in partnership with state-owned PT Indonesia Asahan Aluminium (PT Inalum), the chief executive officer of the US copper producer said.The smelter is part of a package agreed by the company and the government, ending several years of negotiations over the fate of Freeport's activities in Indonesia,...Read More
Sustainability is an essential factor in mining or corporations run the risk of serious economic and reputational damage, Codelco chief executive officer Nelson Pizarro said. The world looks at the mining industry very negatively when there are disasters such as landslides, wall collapses and tailings dam breaches, he said at CRU's 18th World Copper Conference in Santiago, Chil...Read More
The world will need the same amount of copper over the next 25 years that it has produced in the past 500 years if it is to meet global demand, according to the head of copper at global miner Rio Tinto.Arnaud Soirat, chief executive officer of the mining company's copper and diamonds division, said that consumption of copper arising from what he termed the "electrification of everything" made the...Read More
The Turkish steel mills continued to show minimal interest in deep-sea scrap purchasing on Tuesday April 9, with only one transaction heard so far this week, sources said.Some market participants had expected the mills to resume their deep-sea purchases at the recent International Rebar Producers & Exporters Association conference (Irepas 80), which took place in Barcelona on April 7-9.A...Read More
Freeport-McMoRan is moving ahead at "full throttle" with plans to develop a new smelter in Indonesia in partnership with state-owned PT Indonesia Asahan Aluminium (PT Inalum), the chief executive officer of the US copper producer said.The smelter is part of a package agreed by the company and the government, ending several years of negotiations over the fate of Freeport's activities in Indonesia,...Read More
The London Metal Exchange three-month base metals prices are generally subdued this morning, averaging up 0.2% while trading volume is considerably lower at 5,790 lots as of 06:23am London time on Tuesday April 9. While the United States and China trade negotiations are grinding closer to a positive conclusion, the Trump administration is considering imposing additional tariffs of $11 billion wort...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets MB stories you might have missed on Tuesday April 9 that are worth another look.Among the key talking points across the battery raw materials markets ahead of Fastmarkets' second annual Battery Materials Conference this week in Shanghai include the outlook for China's cobalt metal imports, cobalt hedging appetites, whether a shift to nickel-rich cathode chemistr...Read More
Chile's copper and lithium reserves will be in high demand for development by both domestic and international companies as a result of the ongoing push toward electro-mobilty, according to the country's Minister for Mining.Baldo Prokurica noted that Chile is the world's largest producer of copper and the world's second-largest producer of lithium, both key raw materials for electric vehicle (EV) b...Read More
Key talking points across the battery raw materials markets ahead of Fastmarkets' second annual Battery Materials Conference, taking place this week in Shanghai, China. Will China's cobalt metal imports pick up significantly in 2019? When global cobalt metal prices bottomed out in late March and made a quick turnaround at the beginning of April, some Chinese traders and consumers resumed their app...Read More
Prices for imported steel billet in the United Arab Emirates increased this week in the latest deals heard, while rebar prices remained stable, sources told Fastmarkets on Tuesday April 9.Domestic rebarLocal rebar producers in the UAE kept their prices unchanged for May production, with demand expected to remain weak because the Islamic holy month of Ramadan starts early in that month.Observance o...Read More
Rebar prices in eastern China surged further on Tuesday April 9 on an optimistic outlook among sellers for demand to strengthen over the rest of this month.Domestic Eastern China (Shanghai): 4,070-4,100 yuan ($606-610) per tonne, up 70-90 yuan per tonneNorthern China (Beijing): 3,960-3,990 yuan per tonne, up 10 yuan per tonneEnd-user demand for rebar has been strong since mid-March and is expected...Read More
The latest bids, offers and deals in the global markets for rebar, wire rod, steel beams and other long steel products. Latest transaction: rebarRebar East China, domestic, grade...Read More