Iron ore prices fell sharply in the second half of November after climbing through October, with prices for higher-grade material pioneering the decline.Fastmarkets MB daily benchmark for 65% Fe fines dropped by 22% by Monday November 26 after peaking on October 29. The 62% Fe iron ore index declined by 16% over the period, as some Chinese steelmakers started to seek larger volumes of cheaper ores...Read More

The steel scrap sector in the United States still depends on exports to Turkey, a member of the Fastmarkets research team said during the ferrous session at the Bureau of International Recycling (BIR) conference in London.This dependence persists despite the changes in the international markets created by the US' imposition of its Section 232 tariffs on imports of steel products, metals analyst Le...Read More

Is a multi-year bull market about to start in Silver? We should find out soon!This chart looks at Silver since the early 1970s. It has spent the majority of the past 35-years inside of rising channel (1).It created a series of flat bottoms and lower highs in the late 1990s. When it broke out at (2), it rallied for years to come, where it gained several hundred percent.Silver hit the top of this ch...Read More

Key data from the June 20 pricing session in London and Shanghai.Fastmarkets' benchmark daily fob Australia alumina index declined to $332.38 per tonne - a fresh low since August 24, 2017 - on Thursday June 20 from $338.71 per tonne on the previous day. Key drivers:The market remains under pressure due to the presence of several unplaced cargoes in the market for July and September. Buyers ar...Read More

Brazil's Companhia Brasileira de Metalurgia e Minera????o (CBMM) is discussing another fresh capacity increase to 210,000 tonnes per year of ferro-niobium if bullish forecasts for the mineral materialize, chief marketing officer Adalberto Parreira told Fastmarkets MB in an interview.For now, capacity will officially grow to 150,000 tpy by 2020, from an expected output of 110,000 tpy in 2019, Parre...Read More

Here are five Fastmarkets MB stories you might have missed on Thursday June 20 that are worth another look.The London Metal Exchange has just finished its trial to calculate nickel prices using a volume-weighted average price method on the exchange's electronic trading platform. China will only permit 240,429 tonnes of copper scrap imports in the entire third quarter of 2019, sending pan...Read More

The London Metal Exchange has just finished its trial to calculate nickel prices using a volume weighted average price (VWAP) method on the exchange's electronic trading platform. If early indications are anything to go by, metals market participants did not embrace this method of price discovery in the way some had anticipated. For three months since Monday March 18, closing prices for nickel car...Read More

Fastmarkets proposes to reduce the frequency of publication of its fob Guinea and Brazil bauxite price assessments due to low spot liquidity in the past year. The proposed change is to publish those two price assessments on a monthly basis instead of fortnightly. If this is approved, the price assessment will made on the third Thursday of every month at 2-3pm London time. Fastmarkets selects the f...Read More

Nickel's three-month price on the London Metal Exchange continued its upward momentum during morning trading on Thursday June 20, buoyed by a multi-year low in LME stocks. The metal's futures price recently trded at $12,285 per tonne and has gained some $300 per tonne after trading below the nearby $12,000 per tonne support level on Wednesday. Meanwhile, nickel stocks on the LME continue to w...Read More

More dovish central bank talk, this time from the US Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), has pumped fuel into the price rebounds in equities, bonds and the metals this morning, Thursday June 20.Markets had started to rebound at the start of the week on the back of optimism that a US-China trade talks may start making progress again, but prices then consolidated on Wednesday.FOMC leaves door open...Read More

The European Commission is considering setting "eco-duties" on imported steel to level the production costs between imported and domestically produced material, market sources told Fastmarkets.The EC and European steel association Eurofer, representing steelmakers in the European Union, are currently in early stages of discussions on the duties, market participants said. European steelma...Read More

Brazilian apparent steel consumption soared by 28.2% year on year in May, national steel association A??o Brasil said on Wednesday June 19.The country's steel use came to 1.74 million tonnes last month compared with 1.36 million tonnes in May 2018, according to the association. In May 2018, the Brazilian steel market was affected by a truckers' strike, which resulted in production constraints...Read More

Latin American steel groups have praised news that China withdrew its request from a panel at the World Trade Organization (WTO) to be considered as a market economy."We've known for a long time that China has been a problem due to all the subsidies its industry receives, which have distorted the global steel market," Latin American steel association Alacero said on Wednesday June 19."China is not...Read More

Declining ferrous scrap costs combined with continued slow demand have worked to bring US steel reinforcing bar prices to their lowest levels in nearly 15 months. Fastmarkets AMM's biweekly price assessment for US domestic rebar fell to $32.50-33.50 per hundredweight ($650-670 per short ton) fob mill on Wednesday June 19, down by 2.2% from $33.50-34 per cwt two weeks ago. The assessment last...Read More

Turkish billet prices have weakened over the past week in line with the falling imported scrap values, source said on Thursday June 20.The price of steel billet exported from the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) to Turkey slipped this week. Mills in the CIS region were offering billet to Turkey at around $435-440 per tonne cfr, while mills in Turkey were bidding at around $420 per tonne an...Read More

Turkish domestic rebar and wire rod prices have weakened in line with the falling imported scrap values and limited demand over the past week, sources said on Thursday June 20.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for domestic rebar in Turkey was TRY3,160-3,190 ($542-547) per tonne ex-works, down from last week's TRY3,200-3,220 per tonne,...Read More

Sentiment weak as polished prices continue tosoften. Hong Kong fair opens with hope for better trading than Las Vegas shows.Outlook for Chinese local demand improves as luxury consumers shift to domesticspending, since weak yuan and trade war have reduced tourist shopping. Jewelersavoiding inventory buildup. Rough market cautious despite reported 4% to8% price cut on small rough during low-value D...Read More

Polished trading relatively quiet for this time ofthe year. Some companies reducing prices to boost activity and liquidity.Manufacturers cutting their rough intake, as they're maintaining low factoryproduction levels. Few overseas buyers in the market as focus shifts to HongKong for the show. Locals looking for 1 ct. and larger stones, as small sizesremain weak. RoundRead More

The Turkish long steel export market continued to suffer this week as the continuing lack of interest from the United States increased the downward pressure on prices, sources said on Thursday June 20.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for rebar exports out of Turkey was $445-460 per tonne fob on an actual-weight basis, unchanged week on week.Steel mills in the country tried to keep their o...Read More

RAPAPORT... Gem Diamonds has sold its Ghaghoo mine in Botswana for $5.4million, following a two-year search for a buyer. Pro Civil, a Botswana-based company, will acquire the asset, which has been on care and maintenance since March 2017. The company will also take on environmental responsibility for the deposit, Gem Diamonds said Thursday. "This sale is in line with our strategic objective t...Read More