After suffering for some seven years through to 2015, the world's steelmakers have had cause for cheer over the past couple of years. After some heavy losses and write-downs, they finally appear to have emerged from the wreckage of the global financial crisis. An economic upswing has taken root in most regions of the world, Chinese steel output and export growth has slowed noticeably, and steel pr...Read More
For a number of years problems at Ilva, the largest steelworks in Europe, have been casting shadow over the performance of the whole Italian steel industry. Will an acquisition of Ilva by a consortium led by ArcelorMittal, now in its final stage, be a game changer for the market?Following multiple reports of environmental and health problems caused by the Taranto plant, in 2013 Ilva was placed und...Read More
China ended steel production in all of the country's illegal induction furnaces by the end of June last year, it ha claimed.Most operators in China are primarily small private mills that use low-quality scrap to produce substandard rebar. This is mixed with grade III (HRB400) rebar and sold at a discount to construction contractors.For a long period, the government had neither a record of nor cont...Read More
China's month-on-month new electric vehicles (NEV) sales rebounded in August after month-on-month declines in June and July. The drop in sales between May and June was the first drop since September 2016, but Fastmarkets MB had expected Chinese NEV sales to dip temporarily after the June subsidy changes came into effect because consumers and NEV manufacturers would have to adjust to the new subsid...Read More
MUMBAI, Nov 30 (Reuters) - The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) allowed exchanges to start commodity trading an hour earlier to increase participation of different stakeholders, the market regulator said in a statement on Friday.The commodity markets can open at 9 a.m. local time (0330 GMT), instead of 10 a.m. now, the market regulator said.The closing time for agriculture commodities...Read More
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
NEW DELHI, Nov 30 (Reuters) - India's economy grew a lower-than-expected 7.1 percent in the July-September quarter from a more than two-year high of 8.2 percent in the previous quarter, government data showed on Friday.The latest quarter's annual pace of growth was lower than a Reuters poll forecast of 7.4 percent.India's $2.6 trillion economy, Asia's third largest, grew 6.3 percent in the July-Se...Read More
(Corrects change in week to unchanged for Brent and an increase for U.S. crude from a drop for both.)* OPEC, Russia expected to agree supply cuts next week* Top three oil producers to attend G20 meeting this weekend* U.S. crude stocks build for 10 straight weeks amid record output* OPEC oil output falls by 160,000 bpd in Nov. - Reuters survey* Glut pushes crude into contango: https://tmsnrt.rs/2Q7...Read More
Seaborne pig iron has become relatively competitive versus ferrous scrap over the past year in most regions, and China is no exception. As the first chart below illustrates, the gap between the MBR's proxy for imported pig iron price in China and the Metal Bulletin's Chinese domestic heavy melt scrap price assessment had shrunk by late 2017. The premium averaged $17 per tonne this year to date, co...Read More
The closure of some induction furnaces in China in 2016 followed by the government's crackdown on all unlicensed IFs in mid-2017 freed up some scrap volumes, albeit arguably of low-quality material. Chinese domestic scrap prices came under pressure from the increased supply, which prevented them from keeping pace with the rise in steel and other raw material markets in the fourth quarter of 2016;...Read More
Investing.com - Gold prices were lower on Friday as investors moved away from the bullion amid expectations of another interest rate hike this year, while the G20 summit in Argentina was also in focus.Comex gold futures for February delivery slipped 0.16% to $1,228.40 a troy ounce as of 4:54 AM ET (9:54 GMT).Fed meeting minutes released on Thursday showed the central bank is expecting to hike inte...Read More
Manganese miners have reported a sharp drop in demand from manganese alloy smelters in China due to their preference for buying ore from Chinese ports in a bid to keep costs and inventories low ahead of the end of the year. Seaborne low grade manganese ore prices slid on November 30 due to sellers dropping prices amid weaker demand and a drop in silico-manganese futures prices on the Zhengzhou Com...Read More
An overview of the minor metals markets and the reasons for any price moves.Read More
Open interest in the CME's aluminium European duty-paid premium contract hit an all-time high the end of November, boosted by efforts to lock in premiums given wide forward spreads.The contract logged total open interest through December 2019 at 11,400 tonnes as of Thursday November 29.Fastmarkets MB assessed the spot P1020 Rotterdam duty-paid aluminium premium at $125-140 per tonne on November 30...Read More
Base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange closed higher on Friday November 30, with zinc, lead and nickel the best performers of the day.Zinc was the strongest performer on Friday, with its three-month price rising 2.9% from Thursday to close at $2,542 per tonne. After consistently dipping since January, LME zinc stocks settled at a fresh 2018-low of 117,550 tonnes on Friday.W...Read More
An overview of the battery raw materials markets and their price moves from the past week.Read More
Comex copper prices experienced further weakness ahead of world leaders converging in Argentina for the Group of Twenty (G20) meeting this weekend.The copper price for March settlement on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange fell 1.80 cents to $2.7735 per lb.Price movement is expected to be muted today with investors focusing on the weekend's G20 summit, where finance ministers.....Read More
Australian-Chinese miner MMG Ltd has completed the sale of its Sepon copper gold mine to China's Chifeng Jilong Gold Mining for $275 million, the company said on Friday November 30. The deal was first announced in June, when MMG agreed to sell its 90% stake in Lane Zang Minerals, owner of Sepon mine, to the Chinese mining company. Sepon is a Laotian open pit copper mine...Read More
Codelco's copper production and earnings fell in the first nine months of 2018, the Chilean state-owned copper producer said.Codelco produced 1.3 million tonnes of refined copper in the first nine months of the year, a drop of 2% from 1.32 million tonnes in the first nine months of 2017, it said.Including output from its stake in Anglo American Sur and El Abra, it produced 421,000 tonnes of refine...Read More