304 Stainless Steel News Prices, 18-8, 316 stainless, pricing, nickel, free daily stainless steel index

  Daily Nickel/Stainless Steel Briefing (8:00 AM CST is 1PM in London)

  • Dow Jones reports three month nickel closed Wednesday’s trading session at $8.19/lb . Indicators at 7:00 am CST today show 3 month nickel trading around $.10/lb higher, with all London traded base metals trading higher this morning. Stockpiles of nickel stored in LME warehouses slipped on Wednesday and now total just over 122,250 tonnes. Spain is expected to announce new austerity measures today, Greece has reportedly agreed to more, Italy sold long term debt at its lowest level since March, and the US awaits numerous economic reports today. Equity and metals markets are trading higher this morning as volatility continues. Markets may calm a little next week as China takes a week long holiday break.
  • Baltic Dry Index – (current) (chart)
  • Dollar trading graph – (chart of dollar index) (live java chart)
  • Reuters metals morning – Copper edges higher on demand optimism, euro zone eyed – more
  • Bloomberg – Copper Rises as China Company Profits Fuel Stimulus Speculation – more
  • LME Morning – Base metals cautiously higher, eurozone and China in focus – more

  Reports

  • Reuters Metals Insider – pdf here
  • Commodities Daily – here
  • Commonwealth Daily Alert – pdf here
  • Oakvale Daily Market Report – more
  • KBC Commodity Report – here
  • Angel Metals Fundamental Report – here
  • Weekly Market Report – pdf here
  • DNB Metals Weekly – pdf here
  • Mico Metals Weekly – pdf here

  Commodity/Economic Comments

  • China E-Stainless Steel Daily Price Index – 93.55
  • China Stainless Steel Scrap Market News / Price – more
  • Yieh Daily Asian Stainless Steel News – more
  • European Debt Crisis Live – more
  • 2012 map of China steel mills now available – more
  • Norilsk picks Singapore as Asia trading hub – more
  • (SSY) The latest SteelBenchmarker from World Steel Dynamics shows 6% gain in the Chinese Hot Rolled Band (HRB) price to a 6-week high of $475/t. Elsewhere the HRB price in EU rose 4% during the same period to a 3-month high of $625/t and the US price declined 5% to a 2-month low of $692/t.
  • (Reuters) China’s average daily crude steel output fell 2.01 percent to 1.857 million tonnes between Sept 11-20 from the preceding 10 days, data from the China Iron & Steel Association (CISA) showed on Wednesday, as steel mills trimmed output amid poor demand.
  • (MF) According to statistics released by the customs, China exported 113,802 tons of stainless flat products including hot rolled and cold rolled products in August, rising by 9.4% from a month earlier while falling by 30 % year on year.
  • AMM notable quote – Marcegaglia USA Inc. president David Cornelius at the 26th annual ‘Stainless & Its Alloys Conference’ in Chicago 2012 – “A decade ago, nickel prices were primarily determined by supply and demand. Today, we have investors buying and selling nickel as you would any other commodity. As a result, the pricing is at times not reflective of the underlying fundamentals but driven by speculation of brokerage houses.”

   China steelmaker, miners cut output as slowdown bites – China’s steel market, the world’s biggest, is feeling the pinch of a slowing economy that has sapped demand for new ships and construction work. Its largest listed steelmaker has halted output at a 3 million tonnes-a-year plant, and over a third of the country’s iron ore mines stand idle. – more

    S.African mine labour strife halts slide in chrome – The impact of South African mine labour unrest has spread beyond precious metals to UG2 chrome ore, a by product of platinum and key ingredient in stainless steel, with output cuts putting a floor under prices after four months of decline. – more

   Serbians Unite Against Nickel Extraction – A popular Serbian proverb quips that when it comes to politics there are as many opinions as there are people in this central European country of seven million. – more

   Japan Crude Stainless Steel Production Rise Continues – July 2012 = 311,295 tons in a continued steady rise from the drop in May = Crude stainless steel production in July 2012 by the 7 major Japanese stainless steel mills was 311,295 tons, up 5.0% from 296,377 tons recorded in June. – more

    Colombia to renegotiate terms of BHP’s Cerro Matoso mine – Colombia will renegotiate out-dated contract terms including royalty payments for BHP Billiton’s Cerro Matoso nickel mine in a bid to get a better deal for the Andean nation, government officials and a tribunal said on Wednesday. – more

   Russia’s Norilsk Nickel sees African opportunity – Russia’s Norilsk Nickel, the world’s largest nickel and palladium miner, is taking its push to boost reserves to Africa, where it is considering deals and the acquisition of copper, nickel and platinum licenses, its CEO said on Wednesday. – more

   Intex Mulls Mindoro Nickel Refinery – With the way its mining plan is configured, a nickel refinery plant could well be a part of Norwegian-based mining company, Intex Resources ASA’s grand plan. – more

  Morning Nickel Inventory and Price Statistics & Figures

  • Today’s almost official prices here  /  Yesterday’s actual LME official prices here or here
  • Shanghai Jinchuan nickel price – available here or here (updated)
  • India MCX Nickel Price – more  more
  • 100 Years of Stainless Steel Video – online here
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