Stainless Steel News and Nickel Prices, Molybdenum, Metal Pricing, Ferrochrome
Daily Nickel/Stainless Steel Briefing
- Nickel closed Monday’s trading session at
$7.93/lb
($17,485/tonne). Indicators at 6:00 am CST today show nickel trading around $.11/lb higher. Stockpiles of nickel stored in LME licensed warehouses fell on Monday and ended that session just over the 237,400 tonne level. Nickel is continuing a rebound from its most recent sell off, with nickel climbing back over the $8/lb level this morning. The Euro is trading higher against the US Dollar, which is adding additional positive momentum. Electric vehicle registrations have spiked in the US this year, with EV’s accounting for 2% of new car sales. This percentile is far lower than other countries, primarily in Europe and Asia. But it does reflect the ever increasing demand on nickel, with the EV industry quickly becoming a competitor to the stainless steel industry for processed nickel. Stay safe out there and enjoy your Tuesday! - Page sponsorship for July available – email info at estainlesssteel.com
- Average price of LME traded cash nickel so far this month – $8.08/lb
- LME nickel chart – here / Euro/US Dollar chart – here
Reports
- Reuters metals morning – Copper rises on weaker dollar ahead of Fed chair’s testimony – more
- Refinitiv Inside Commodities – pdf here
- ING The Commodities Feed – daily here
- SMM Evening Comment – more
- Barchart 304 Stainless Steel Scrap Index (lb) – $.3724
- SHFE Stainless Steel Futures (yuan) – 16,435
- US Economic Indicators: Industrial Production – pdf here
- US Economic Indicators: Manufacturing Production & Capacity by Major Industries – pdf here
- : World’s top ten biggest nickel mines – more
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
Monday’s market review – Copper steadies after hitting 10-week low – Copper steadied on Monday, having hit its lowest level since mid-April after moves by China to rein in commodities price rallies and signals from the U.S. Federal Reserve it will tighten monetary policy sooner than expected. – more
Dalian iron ore slumps over 5% as China steel demand darkens – Benchmark iron ore futures in Asia tumbled on Monday, as a seasonal slowdown in construction activity in top steel producer and consumer China dampened sentiment, pulling down prices of the raw material to the lowest in nearly two weeks. – more
Vale strike continues – More than 2,500 striking mine, mill and smelter workers in Sudbury rejected Vale’s latest offer last week and a local MPP has been out talking to those workers. – more
Courtesy AISI – In the week ending on June 19, 2021, domestic raw steel production was 1,839,000 net tons while the capability utilization rate was 82.9 percent. Production was 1,272,000 net tons in the week ending June 19, 2020 while the capability utilization then was 56.8 percent. The current week production represents a 44.6 percent increase from the same period in the previous year. – more
US: BEV Market Nearly Doubled Through April 2021 – BEV market share increased to 2.3%. – The all-electric car segment is booming in the U.S., according to the latest report on car registration from Experian (via Automotive News). – more
Due to COVID-19 and Increasing Customer Expectations, Industrial B2B Sales Have Changed Forever – COVID-19 impacted almost everything we routinely interact with. Although deemed essential, the fastener industry was not immune to those changes. – more
- Managing Supply Chain Risks in an Increasingly Interconnected World – more
The Monthly Metric: Safety-Stock Level – Amid global trade turbulence, climate disruptions of increasing frequency and severity and a once-in-a-century pandemic — few elements of supply chain management have been impacted in recent years more than inventories. – more
Fed – What Happened to the U.S. Deficit with China during the U.S.-China Trade Conflict? – The United States’ trade deficit with China narrowed significantly following the imposition of additional tariffs on imports from China in multiple waves beginning in 2018 – or at least it did based on U.S. trade data. – more
Other News
- Reuters The Day Ahead – pdf here
- Stocks, U.S. Futures Steady Before Fed Testimony: Markets Wrap – more
Morning Stats and Prices
- What time is it in….? – more
- U.S. Steel Import Monitor – online here
- SIMA Melt & Pour Dashboard – online here
- US Economy At a Glance – more
- US Fed NY Weekly Economic Index – more
- Yesterday’s LME official prices here
- Shanghai Jinchuan nickel price – here
- India MCX Nickel Price – more
- Baltic Dry Index – chart
- COVID By The Numbers – here