The European hot-rolled coil (HRC) market has remained under pressure from the traditional seasonal slowdown in demand and uncertainty over the final decision in a safeguarding case, sources told Fastmarkets this week.And high stocks and seasonal destocking mean distributors have little interest in making new deals. Having set provisional 25% tariffs for 23 steel products ...Read More
The pig iron export market in the Commonwealth of Independent States remained inactive during the week ended Thursday December 13 as buyers preferred to postpone bookings ahead of the year-end holidays.Fastmarkets' CIS export price assessment for high-manganese pig iron was unchanged at $355-360 per tonne fob Black Sea on December 13."Buyers prefer to wait until January, because [the] pig iron pri...Read More
The latest news and price moves to start the Asian day on Friday December 14.London Metal Exchange base metal prices were broadly higher on Thursday December 13 due to an easing in China-US trade tensions, with the three-month zinc contract gaining ground due to historic low inventories. Read more in our live futures report.Here are how prices looked at the close of trading:The European Commi...Read More
Good morning from Fastmarkets MB's offices in Asia as we bring you the latest news and pricing stories on Thursday December 13.Base metals prices on the Shanghai Futures Exchange were mixed during Asian morning trading on Thursday, with easier trade tensions between China and the United States failing to provide significant upward momentum to the complex.Moves were fairly limited across the SHFE b...Read More
Since its merger with Xstrata, Glencore - previously a trading and marketing firm - has become a mining firm whose earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization is dominated by earnings from its industrial activities. The recent appointment of Peter Freyberg as head of the company's industrial mining assets, a newly created position with oversight and responsibility for all Glenco...Read More
Comex copper prices moved higher on the morning of Thursday December 13 in the United States, with easing global trade tensions providing a boost to risk appetite.The copper price for March settlement on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange gained 0.90 cents to $2.7790 per lb.Worries that the trade war between the US and China will only escalate in 2019 have softened in recent we...Read More
China's hot-rolled coil prices continued to rise on Thursday December 13 on strong gains in the futures market.DomesticEastern China (Shanghai): 3,770-3,800 yuan ($547-552) per tonne, up 20-30 yuan per tonneNorthern China (Tianjin): 3,600-3,620 yuan per tonne, up 20 yuan per tonneA Hangzhou-based source told Fastmarkets MB that a few traders bought HRC from the spot market on seeing the surge in t...Read More
London Metal Exchange base metal prices are broadly higher on Thursday December 13 due to good signals from China-US trade tensions, with the three-month zinc price leading the complex due to historic low inventories."More positive steps from China on trade seem to be easing some of the concerns in the market, although traders are probably nervous that any positivity could be unwound with one pres...Read More
UK ferrous scrap prices for deliveries in December have uniformly dropped by ?20 per tonne due to weaker export prices and a slowdown in domestic consumer demand, trade sources told Fastmarkets MB on Thursday December 13.The move follows a rollover on consumer delivery settlements in the past two months. UK suppliers had signaled a likely drop in December shipment prices due to a fall in European...Read More
Turkish steel mills continued to stay out of the deep-sea scrap markets on Thursday December 13. They are unlikely to resume buying any time soon due to the continuing lack of demand for finished steel in the country's domestic and export markets.Steel mills in Turkey have been holding back from scrap purchases for more than two weeks now, with only one cargo booked since November 2...Read More
Comex copper prices moved higher on the morning of Thursday December 13 in the United States, with easing global trade tensions providing a boost to risk appetite.The copper price for March settlement on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange gained 0.90 cents to $2.7790 per lb.Worries that the trade war between the US and China will only escalate in 2019 have softened in recent we...Read More
As part of its series on blockchain in commodities, Fastmarkets takes a closer look at the evolution of blockchain networks for trade financeMarco PoloOne of the fastest growing trade and working capital finance networks in blockchain is the Marco Polo network, a joint venture with technology firm TradeIX and software firm R3, along with a number of major banks and their clients.Designed to facili...Read More
London Metal Exchange base metal prices are broadly higher on Thursday December 13 due to good signals from China-US trade tensions, with the three-month zinc price leading the complex due to historic low inventories."More positive steps from China on trade seem to be easing some of the concerns in the market, although traders are probably nervous that any positivity could be unwound with one pres...Read More
Primary aluminium stocks at the three main Japanese ports (MJP) dropped 7% month on month in November, based on data released by major Japanese trading house Marubeni on Thursday December 13.Total MJP aluminium stocks stood at 295,400 tonnes at the end of November, compared with 317,300 tonnes at the end of October, the third consecutive drop since September. The total stock level, however, remain...Read More
It was another firmer start for the three-month base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange this morning, Thursday December 13, with all the metals in positive territory and showing average gains of 0.6%.More positive steps from China on trade seems to be easing some of the concerns in the market, although the traders are probably nervous that any positivity could be unwound with one president...Read More
Arbitrage for copper, aluminium, zinc and nickel imported into China on Thursday December 13* Copper -$116.88 (-804.62 yuan) Aluminium -$429.32 (-2,955.46 yuan) Zinc -$104.15 (-716.99 yuan) Nickel $143.04 (984.71 yuan) *Fastmarkets calculates the physical arbitrage for import into China daily by using SHFE front-month and LME three-month...Read More
Companhia Sider??rgica Nacional (CSN) expects Brazilian apparent consumption of flat steel to grow in 2019 while imports' share of usage remains stable, an investor presentation published on Wednesday December 12 showed.The company estimated that Brazilian flat steel consumption will reach 13.43 million tonnes next year, 6% above the 12.67 million tonnes forecast for 2018. Import penetration in bo...Read More
US flat-rolled import prices have dipped, with cheaper hot-rolled coil and cold-rolled coil mirroring declines in global steel prices, market participants said.Fastmarkets AMM's price assessment for imported hot-rolled coil fell to $680-720 per ton cfr port of Houston on Wednesday December 12, down from $700-750 per ton two weeks earlier. The assessment for imported cold-rolled coil ...Read More
Wire rod prices in the United States have stayed flat over the past two weeks, while industry sources were divided as to whether mill hikes announced in November will be accepted by the marketplace in January 2019. Fastmarkets AMM's price assessment for industrial quality low-carbon rod held firm at $39.25-41.25 per hundredweight ($785-825 per short ton) fob mill on Wednesday December 12, with imp...Read More
Turkish billet prices have fallen over the past week because mills in the country have been struggling with weak rebar demand in both the domestic and the export markets, sources said on Thursday December 13.Fastmarkets MB's weekly price assessment for billet imports into Turkey was $435-445 per tonne cfr, widening downward from last week's range of $440-445 per tonne.Billet producers in the CIS r...Read More