Inner Mongolia, China's ferro-chrome production heartland, has imposed restrictions on its metallurgical sector in a move that has fueled the high-carbon ferro-chrome markets in China and Europe, and although this may ease off, the gains were unlikely to be lost while alloy ramp-ups continue, sources have told Fastmarkets.The decision to restrict energy consumption in Inner Mongolia since December...Read More
The recent downward correction in aluminium prices and premiums was expected after a strong uptrend in 2021, but tighter supply from China is set to continue supporting high prices, Brazilian aluminium producer Companhia Brasileira do Alum?-nio (CBA) said on Tuesday November 9.Chinese aluminium output cuts, meant to reduce carbon emissions, deepened a global supply deficit in the third quarter. Es...Read More
Domestic prices for hot-rolled coil across Europe were fairly stable on Tuesday November 9 due to limited trading, sources told Fastmarkets.Despite slow market activity, bullish sentiment prevails in the market, particularly for material produced and delivered in the first quarter of 2022. Upward sentiment has been supported by higher energy, transportation and emission costs faced by European ste...Read More
Sellers of physical copper are holding out for a higher premium for 2022 contracts in the United States.No major deals were reported by the end of the American Copper Council (ACC) fall meeting in Miami, Florida this past week, although there was talk of a US copper premium in the 10-cents-per-lb range.In the US, Fastmarkets assessed the copper grade 1 cathode premium, ddp Midwest US at 8-9 cents...Read More
Prices for steel rebar and billet imports into the United Arab Emirates increased during the week ended Tuesday November 9, although offer prices for billet were higher than the rebar deal prices because of a shortage of the semi-finished material, sources have told Fastmarkets.The reason for the high billet price, compared with rebar, was that most billet producers in Oman have sold large quantit...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts is ready to view.With nickel prices down by almost 20% over the space of around ten days during late February and early March, one might have been expecting us to be reporting sharply-lower prices of stainless steel, at least for the most common nickel-containing grades of stainless steel.This is not the case, at least in Europe and the Unite...Read More
The three-month copper contract is trading near record highs on the London Metal Exchange, cash prices are rising even faster, and inventories are descending toward zero. Try running a hedge book in those conditions.It's been a very real quandary facing the physical trade and industry, which awoke on Tuesday October 19 to find copper's cash to November spread had flared to a backwardation of more...Read More
Base metal futures prices were largely down across the London Metal Exchange complex at the 5pm close of trading on Tuesday November 9, despite gains made on Monday.Prices reversed across the board on the LME, initially trending higher before eventually scaling back by the close.The US Dollar Index rose throughout the day, supporting this price move. It was up to 94.05 by 5pm, from 93.96 at 9am.Th...Read More
Carbon offsets and trading are an effective and quick way to contend with a future global ecosystem of green taxes, or the "green taxonomy," a sustainability consultancy said"Companies need to realize that states are very actively preparing tax and duties plans to favor green products, and this will result in new barriers to entry," carbon specialist and Keops Consulting founder Milena L??pez told...Read More
Prices for flat steel products continued to increase in Russia's Central Federal District around Moscow during the quiet holiday week ended Monday November 8, on limited offers from the mills, sources have told Fastmarkets.Some believed that prices have reached their peak and would remain flat until the end of the year, due to rumors about planned short-term maintenance stoppages at mills and the...Read More
London Metal Exchange aluminium stocks dropped below the 1-million-tonne mark for the first time since October 2019 and on-warrant volumes were at their lowest in nearly 16 years on Tuesday November 9, while the metal complex's prices were little changed from the end of trading on Monday.There was a 21,925-tonne fresh cancellation of aluminium on Tuesday, spread mostly between warehouses in Singap...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts is ready to view.As we approach the end of the first half of 2021, steel markets in Europe and the United States continue to heat up. This six-month period is largely unprecedented, with both steel prices and steelmakers' margins hitting a number of new record highs throughout.The rally is likely nearing its end, however, with global steel ou...Read More
The latest forecasts and analysis of the ferrous scrap and iron metallics market from the Fastmarkets research team are ready to be viewed.Stifled automotive output this year, driven by a supply shortage of semiconductor chips used in vehicles, has tightened prime scrap availability and widened the spreads between this grade of steelmaking raw material and obsolete scrap.While wide prime-over-obso...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.This month's key North American steel forecast highlights:US prices for hot-rolled coil moved in line with our forecasts in August, averaging $1,910 per ton, within 1% accuracy of our forecast of $1,925 per ton. The market has achieved much-needed stability in recent weeks, with prices fluctuating in the range of $1,900-1,94...Read More
The Russian Federation's Ministry of Finance is preparing a list of machine-building plants to be excluded from a liquid steel excise tax, Aleksey Sazonov, Russian Federation deputy minister of Finance said on November 8 during a State Duma committee meeting on budget and taxes."A number of Russian machinery-building plants have their own small steelmaking capacities...They will be excluded from e...Read More
Domestic demand for rebar in China weakened further on Tuesday November 9, causing prices to narrow downward. Domestic Eastern China (Shanghai): 4,900-4,940 yuan ($766-773) per tonne, narrowing downward by 40 yuan per tonneMany traders lowered their rebar offers on losses in the futures market with the exception of a few, who maintained theirs.But both approaches failed to generate interest among...Read More
Prices for steel rebar and billet imports into the United Arab Emirates increased during the week ended Tuesday November 9, although offer prices for billet were higher than the rebar deal prices because of a shortage of the semi-finished material, sources have told Fastmarkets.The reason for the high billet price, compared with rebar, was that most billet producers in Oman have sold large quantit...Read More
Base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange were down across the board on Tuesday November 9, but those on the Shanghai Futures Exchange were mainly firmer while they followed the strength seen on the LME on Monday, when the complex closed up by an average of 1.2%.While some of China's data shows a struggling economy, recovery and infrastructure spending elsewhere bode well for metals demand.W...Read More
Mexican ferrous scrap prices were little changed in the week ended Friday November 5, with buyers passing on minor price adjustments to certain grades.Scrap sellers were putting strong pressure on clients, trying to apply price increases after the United States market reached settlements for November with increases of $20 per gross ton in prime scrap grades, and $40-60 per gross ton on most obsole...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Tuesday November 9 that are worth another look.Carbon offsets and trading are an effective and quick way to contend with a future global ecosystem of green taxes, or the "green taxonomy," a sustainability consultancy said.Growing consumer appetite for sustainable products...Read More