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

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

  • Three month nickel closed Monday’s trading session at $5.84/lb . Indicators at 6:45 am CST today show 3 month nickel trading around $.10/lb lower, with other London traded base metals trading lower as well. Stockpiles of nickel stored in LME approved warehouses fell from record highs on Monday and now total just over the 433,800 tonne level. Nickel continues to dive and analysts are once again, scratching their heads and wondering where all the nickel is coming from. The sky is not falling – yet.
  • Average price of cash nickel so far this month – $6.26/lb
  • Average price of LME traded nickel in 2014 – $7.65/lb / 2013 – $6.80/lb / avg 2012 – $7.95/lb
  • (USGS) Metal Prices in the United States Through 2010 – pdf here
  • Baltic Dry Index – (current) (chart)
  • Dollar trading graph – (chart of dollar index) (live java chart)
  • Reuters metals morning – Nickel near 6-year low on doubts supply will tighten – more

  Reports

  Commodity/Economic Comments

  • China Stainless Steel Scrap Market News / Price – more
  • Yieh Daily Asian Stainless Steel News – more
  • Gerdau Steel Market Update – more
  • European Debt Crisis Live – more
  • 100 Years of Stainless Steel – more
  • (Edward Meir 3/30)  Nickel fared particularly badly, sinking to $13,260 at one point, the lowest level since November of 2013 and is under pressure again today, off by some $200/ton and getting to a low of $13,060 at one point. We suspect that the unresolved LME tax situation with the Malaysian government — despite assurances to the contrary — is likely what is weighing on the complex, as the concern is that 210,000 tons of metal stored in Johor will now be sold onto the open market.
  • Edward Meir of INTL FC Stone puts major technical support for nickel at $5.44/lb
  • (Twitter) Deutsche Bank cuts 2015 nickel price forecast to $16,575/t ($7.52/lb)
  • (SSY) Daily crude steel output at China Iron and Steel Association member mills fell further to 1.65 Mt in the period 11-20 March, according to data from the industry body reported by SteelFirst.
  • Japan Fastener Imports and Exports Hit Record High – more
  • Recent warming of Pacific Ocean could be early indication of El Niño – more

    LME drops proposal to stop issuing Malaysia warrants  – The London Metal Exchange said on Monday it has withdrawn its proposal to stop issuing warrants for metal in Malaysia from July after the government resolved issues over its new tax reforms. – more

    Higher returns for stainless steel scrap – Global: As a result of an improvement in demand from the mills, stainless steel scrap values mounted a recovery during March. Prices for the 304 grade climbed from US$ 1275-1325 per tonne in late February to US$ 1340-1390 a month later while the range for 316 material advanced from US$ 1760-1810 to US$ 1800-1850 over the same period. – more

    China’s moly producers to face another challenging year in 2015 – Chinese producers of molybdenum concentrate and ferromolybdenum will face yet another challenging year in 2015 characterized by relatively low prices and steady demand, market sources said at a molybdenum event in Xiamen at southern China’s Fujian province over the weekend. – more

    Layoffs at Special Metals affect about 70 – Layoffs believed to affect 70 or more jobs were announced at the Special Metals plant in Huntington on Monday, and company officials declined to say whether the reductions were permanent or temporary. – more

    Chinese-backed smelter plan causes concern among Sulawesi fishermen – As a pair of Chinese-controlled mining companies proceed with plans to construct nickel smelters in Indonesia’s Central Sulawesi province, in line with a national edict to increase in-country mineral processing capacity, locals fear the factories will only intensify environmental degradation from the same firms’ mining operations. – more

  • From infrastructure to smelters, C. Sulawesi eyes Rp 20t projects – The Central Sulawesi regional government aims to realize direct investments totaling Rp 20 trillion (US$1.53 billion) this year, driven by a number of projects ranging from infrastructure to smelters. – more

    Courtesy AISI – In the week ending March 28, 2015, domestic raw steel production was 1,628,000 net tons while the capability utilization rate was 68.9 percent. Production was 1,868,000 net tons in the week ending March 28, 2014 while the capability utilization then was 77.7 percent. The current week production represents a 12.8 percent decrease from the same period in the previous year. Production for the week ending March 28, 2015 is down 0.7 percent from the previous week ending March 21, 2015 when production was 1,639,000 net tons and the rate of capability utilization was 69.3 percent.

    Ramu mine suffers as Mother Nature bites back – Dumping millions of tonnes of toxic waste into a pristine marine environment was bound to have consequences. Maybe severe rains and flooding was not what was expected – but Mother Nature moves in mysterious way. – more

  Morning Nickel 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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