Stainless Steel News and Nickel Prices, Molybdenum, Metal Pricing, Ferrochrome

  Daily Nickel/Stainless Steel Briefing 

  • Nickel closed Thursday’s trading session at

    $6.86/lb

    ($15,130/tonne). Indicators at 6:55 am CST today show nickel trading around $.14/lb higher. Stockpiles of nickel stored in LME licensed warehouses rose on Thursday and end the week about where they did last week, just shy of 239,000 tonnes.We are reading that some metals analysts are giving a reason for the bullish nickel market as a drop in Chinese inventories. Shanghai Futures Exchange publishes their nickel stockpile numbers each Friday. Today’s released numbers are 33,374 deliverable tonnes. This time last year, they stood at 25,262 tonnes and they started the year at 37,304 tonnes.  China media is reporting Indonesia President Widodo has ordered that the nickel ore industry in that country must trade based on a benchmark price that will be set by the government. It will be interesting to see how this works out and when and if we find a story giving more details, we will link to it. Indonesia wants to become a major player in the production of electric vehicle batteries, so this move to remove some of the volatility in nickel prices, may be to give that industry a boost. London metal markets are closed on Monday but we will post an update. Lot to read today for those interested. While we may all have become numb to the horror of nearly 180,000 Americans being killed since March, there are still over 1000 of us dieing from this silent killer every day. So stay and play safe, and enjoy your weekend.

  • Average price of LME traded cash nickel so far this month – $6.55/lb
  • LME nickel chart – here   /   Euro/US Dollar chart – here

  Reports

  • Reuters metals morning – Copper set for third straight weekly rise after Fed policy shift – more
  • Refinitiv Inside Commodities – pdf here
  • ING The Commodities Feed – daily here
  • SMM Evening Comments – here
  • Barchart 304 Stainless Steel Scrap Index – $.2395
  • SHFE Stainless Steel  Futures –  15,080
  • United States Corporate Profits – more
  • United States Initial Jobless Claims – more
  • United States Kansas Fed Manufacturing Index – more
  • US Economic Indicators:Industrial Production – pdf here
  • US Economic Indicators:Durable Goods Orders & Shipments – pdf here
  • United States GDP Growth Rate – more
  • Manufacturing Engineering: September 2020 – online here
  • Manufacturing Outlook August 2020  – online here
  • USGS Molybdenum in May 2020 – pdf here
  • USGS Chromium in May 2020 – pdf here
  • ITA July Monthly Steel Factsheet – pdf here

  Why Stainless Steel

  • Alloyed for Lasting Value video – here
  • Self Repairing for Lasting Value video – here
  • 100 Years of Stainless Steel Video – here
  • Stainless steel: The role of nickel – here
  • The Life of Nickel – pdf here

     Thursday’s market review – Copper turns positive on U.S. Fed address – Copper gained on Thursday, reversing earlier losses after the U.S. Federal Reserve said it would promote higher inflation, a move that could weaken the dollar and boost commodities priced in the greenback. – more

      Eramet: Operations at Indonesia’s Weda Bay nickel smelter resume after flood – Activities at Indonesia’s Weda Bay smelter complex, one of the country’s main nickel processing hubs, returned to normal on Thursday after being hit by floods a day earlier, its operator said. – more

      Further call in New Caledonia to halt Vale sale – There is further pushback in New Caledonia to the sale of the Brazilian-owned Vale nickel plant to an Australian company. – more

      Russia’s Non-Ferrous Metals Export Up Month-on-Month in June – According to the RF Federal Customs Service, during January-June 2020 Russia exported some 1.1 mn tons of unwrought aluminum, down 33.5% year-on-year. In terms of value, unwrought aluminum export dropped by 36.7% year-on-year down to $1.8 bn. – more

      Boliden announces €40m nickel expansion in Finland – Swedish miner Boliden has announced a €40-million expansion of its nickel operations at Harjavalta, Finland. – more

      Zebediela nickel project exploration work to recommence – Aim-listed explorer and developer URU Metals reports that geological exploration work will soon restart at its 100%-owned flagship Zebediela nickel project, which is situated on the northern limb of the Bushveld Complex in Limpopo, South Africa – more

    Europe July 2020 – The European passenger plugin market is on fire, having registered over 113,000 registrations in July (+213% YoY, highest growth rate in 5 years), the market’s second record performance in a row,  … – more

  • New study discovers why ‘nickel-rich’ battery materials suffer from fatigue – more

      France accused of being partial as New Caledonia independence vote nears – New Caledonia’s UNI pro-independence party alleges the French state fails to be impartial in the lead-up to the October referendum on independence. – more

      Japan extracts cobalt, nickel from seabed – The Japan Oil, Gas & Metals National Corporation (JOGMEC) has extracted oceanic crust samples from the seabed that contain nickel and cobalt deposits. – more

      Despite Progress in Some Areas, US Economy Still Far From Pre-Pandemic Level – Most say the economy is growing again, yet scars are sure to remain from the catastrophic April-June quarter. – more

   Other News

  • Reuters The Day Ahead – pdf here
  • U.S. Futures Rise, Dollar Sinks After Powell Shift: Markets Wrap – more

  Morning Nickel Prices

  • Yesterday’s LME official prices here 
  • Shanghai Jinchuan nickel price –  here 
  • Shanghai Futures Exchange Stainless – here
  • India MCX Nickel Price – more
  • Baltic Dry Index – chart
Coronavirus By The Numbers – here
Coronavirus by John Hopkins – here
CDC Cases in the US – here
Coronavirus Recovery Tracker – more
US Fed MN Covid Economic Dashboard – more
US Fed NY Weekly Economic Index – more
Resurgence – how is your state faring? – more