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

  Daily Nickel/Stainless Steel Briefing (7:00 AM CST is 12 PM in London)

  • Nickel closed yesterday’s trading session at

    $7.82/lb

    ($17,220 tonne). Indicators at 6:00 am CST today show nickel trading around $.12/lb higher. Stockpiles of nickel stored in LME licensed warehouses have fallen sharply over the past two days and started todays sessions just under the 147,700 tonne level. Today’s large withdrawal pushed nickel stockpiles back below the 150,000 tonne level for the first time since August. With stockpiles falling by over 10,000 tonnes since Monday, and canceled warrants remaining over the 64% level, inventory concerns have apparently moved back into the forefront of traders minds. The $8/lb level has been putting up some resistance, albeit psychological, so we will have to see if these concerns are enough to turn the trend from weakening or sideways to positive again.

  • Average price of LME traded cash nickel so far this month – $7.90/lb
  • Average price of LME traded nickel in first half of 2019 – $5.59/lb / 2018 – $5.95/lb / 2017 – $4.73/lb / 2016 – $4.36/lb /

  Reports

  • Reuters metals morning – London copper recovers from 1-month low – more
  • Reuters Daily Inside Metals – pdf here  
  • SMM Evening Comments – closed, no report
  • Reuters The Day Ahead – pdf here
  • Special Metals Raw Material Monthly Averages – more
  • U.S. Imports of Stainless Steel Mill Products – more

  Commodity/Economic Comments

  • China Stainless Steel Scrap Market News / Price – more
  • Scotiabank Reports – more
  • Baltic Dry Index – (chart)
  • Stainless steel: The role of nickel – here
  • Alloyed for Lasting Value video – here
  • Self Repairing for Lasting Value video – here
  • US-China trade talks set for Oct. 10 as clock ticks on tariffs – more
  • Europe Stocks Drop With U.S. Futures; Dollar Rises: Markets Wrap – more

     Yesterday’s market review – Copper hits 1-month low, dollar reinforces negative mood – Copper prices hit one-month lows on Tuesday as worries about demand in top consumer China, coupled with a strong dollar, triggered a fresh bout of selling amid low liquidity. – more

      Base Metals And Industrial Commodities: Q3 2019 Evaluation And Outlook For This fall 2019 – Invesco DB Base Metals ETF – Base metallic costs fell by 23.43% in 2015, however in 2016 they appreciated by 26.77%. – more

      Japanese stainless steel exports slide in Aug m-o-m – According to the statistics from the Japan Iron and Steel Federation (JISF), Japan exported around 75,000 tons in August, falling by 12.8% from 86,000 tons in the previous month. The total export value was about US$288,000. – more

      Australia cuts 2019 aluminum price forecast by 5% on US-China trade tensions – However, copper prices were forecast to rise to $6,328/mt by 2021 from $6,668/mt in 2018 and nickel to $15,784/m from $13,420/mt over that same period due to growing consumption, the department said. – more

      Sumitomo Corp to book Y70 bln loss on nickel unit in FY19/20 on parent basis – Japanese trading house Sumitomo Corp said on Tuesday it will book an appraisal loss of about 70 billion yen ($647 million) related to the Ambatovy nickel project in the year to March 2020 on a parent-only basis due to slow output at the Madagascar project. – more

      Papua New Guinean man dies after eating fish caught near nickel mine spill – A man dies in Papua New Guinea after eating a fish caught near the site of a massive nickel refinery spill, however the mine’s Chinese operator denies the accident caused his death. – more

      Natixis claim succeeds against Marex in metals fraud case – A high court judge ruled on Wednesday in favor of French bank Natixis in a claim against commodities broker Marex Spectron concerning fraudulent receipts in connection with nickel stored at warehouses in Asia. – more

      Inquest examines 2014 deaths at Lockerby Mine – The inquest into the 2014 deaths of miners Norm Bisaillon and Marc Methé began Sept. 30 with two witnesses taking the stand in front of a five-person jury. – more

      Federal judge rejects challenges to PolyMet land swap – A federal judge has rejected challenges by several environmental groups to a land swap needed for the planned PolyMet copper-nickel mine in northeastern Minnesota. – 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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