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

  Daily Nickel/Stainless Steel Briefing 

  • Nickel closed Thursday’s trading session at

    $10.94/lb

    ($24,110/tonne). Indicators at 7:00 am CST today show nickel trading around $.55/lb lower. Stockpiles of nickel stored in LME licensed warehouses fell on Thursday and started today’s session just below the 67,300 tonne level.  Stockpile numbers have fallen more so far this month, than they have since the nickel trading debacle of mid March. Cancelled warrants remain in the 13% area, so we think we are getting a truer picture of what is actually happening out there. If you went to bed with nickel trading in the $24,000/tonne range and woke up this morning with it trading in the $22,000 tonne range, they did not eliminate the number 23 while you were sleeping. Nickel traders just zipped right thru it. Base metals in general are in a free fall today, and nickel is no different. Not sure how much the bears are still holding after March, but if they are, they are cashing in this week. Speaking of the mid March debacle, LME has reportedly hired Oliver Wyman Consultancy to do an independent review of how it botched, uh-huh, handled the crisis. A federal study was released yesterday, stating that mining in parts of northern Minnesota pose a serious environmental risk. The proposed Twin Metals nickel mine is in this area. Stay safe out there and have a great weekend!

  • Average price of LME traded cash nickel so far this month – $12.06/lb

  Reports

  • Reuters metals morning – Copper heads for worst weekly loss in a year, tin plunges – more
  • Refinitiv Inside Commodities – pdf here
  • ING The Commodities Feed – daily here
  • Barchart 304 Stainless Steel Scrap Index (lb) – $.4169
  • 304 SS Scrap Prices Local

    (updated bi-weekly)

    – more

  • Weekly Pricing Pulse: Growth fears spark broad sell-off on commodity markets – more
  • Macquarie Global Economic and Markets Outlook June 2022 – pdf here
  • KPMG 2022 Macroeconomic Review – pdf here

   Shanghai Metals Market

  • SHFE Stainless Steel  Futures (yuan) – more
  • SHFE Nickel Futures (yuan) – more
  • SHFE Inventory

    (updated each Friday)

    – more

  • Shanghai Jinchuan nickel price –  here

  London Metals Market

  • Yesterday’s LME official prices here
  • LME nickel chart – here 

    Thursday’s market review – Copper tumbles to 16-month low as recession fears grow – Copper prices fell to a 16-month low on Thursday as fast-rising interest rates and weak economic data fanned fears of a global slowdown that would reduce demand for metals. – more

      Global stainless crude steel production down by 3.8% in Q1 y-o-y – According to the latest data released by the International Stainless Steel Forum (ISSF), in the first quarter of this year, the global output of stainless crude steel reached 14.45 million tons, …. – more

     LME appoints consultancy to review chaotic nickel suspension – The London Metal Exchange said on Thursday it had appointed management consultants Oliver Wyman to carry out an independent review of the events that led to a week-long suspension of nickel trading in March. – more

     China crude steel products falls 3.5% on May, 2021 to 96.6Mt – Worldsteel reported crude steel production in China at 96.6 million metric tonnes, 3.5% lower than in May, 2021. – more

     European steel prices slide to pre-war levels – European steel coil prices continued their downward slide, in May and early June. Service centres and distributors refrained from buying, fearing further price erosion. Mills sought orders, in the face of reduced demand. – more

     India: Finished long stainless steel production falls 5%, m-o-m, in May – India’s production of finished long stainless steel products was recorded at 58,000 t in May’22, down 5% as against 61,000 t in Apr and total production for Jan-May stood at 310,000 t, as per SteelMint data. – more

     Long-awaited federal study finds threat to Boundary Waters from hardrock mining – Hardrock mining on public land in northern Minnesota risks contaminating the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, even with measures designed to head off those problems, a long-awaited federal study says. – more

  • Local View: A toxic waste dump is ready to happen in paradise – more

   Other News

  • Reuters The Day Ahead – pdf here
  • Oil and gas prices move together like rockets and feathers – more
  • Europe’s road to recession – more

  Economic Stats and Prices

  • U.S. Steel Import Monitor – here
  • SIMA Melt & Pour Dashboard – here
  • US Economy At a Glance – more
  • US Economic Indicators – more
  • US Economic Activity – (every Monday) – pdf here
  • US Fed NY Weekly Economic Index – more
  • FX Street Economic Calendar – more
  • Iron Ore Price Graph – 1  2  3 
  • India MCX Nickel Price – more
  • Baltic Dry Index – chart
  • COVID By The Numbers – here
  • How is your state faring? – more
  • What time is it in….? – more
  • Euro/US Dollar chart – 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
  •   Слава Україні! – more