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

  Daily Nickel/Stainless Steel Briefing 

  • Nickel closed Thursday’s trading session at

    $5.56/lb

    ($12,250/tonne). Indicators at 7:30 am CST today show nickel trading around $.02/lb lower. Stockpiles of nickel stored in LME licensed warehouses fell on Thursday and started today just under the 233,300 tonne level. The commodity board is rather quiet this morning, as traders await to see what steps President Trump will take against China’s decision on Hong Kong. The President has announced a press conference for today where he will announce his actions. As we close the month of May, we want to take a final opportunity to thank our May sponsor, RHS Stainless Steel. RHS is a Pennsylvania distributor of stainless steel round, hex and square bars, and thanks to their sponsorship of this site, we were able to bring you daily news about the stainless steel and nickel industries. Enjoy your weekend, stay safe, and we hope to see you next month.

  • Average price of LME traded cash nickel so far this month – $5.50/lb
  • LME nickel chart – here   /   Euro/US Dollar chart – here

  Reports

  • Reuters metals morning – London aluminium set for strongest monthly gain in 16 months on China demand – more
  • Reuters Daily Inside Metals – pdf here 
  • SMM Evening Comments – more
  • U.S. Imports of Stainless Steel Mill Products – more
  • US Economic Indicators: Durable Goods Orders & Shipments – pdf here
  • GDPNow estimate for real GDP growth 2nd quarter of 2020 is -40.4% – more
Coronavirus By The Numbers – here
Coronavirus by John Hopkins – here
CDC Cases in the US – here
Covid-19 County Tracker – here
Covid-19 Projections by country/state – more
Coronavirus Recovery Tracker – more

COVID-19 speeds up global manufacturing, steel production shift – 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

     Thursday’s market review – Aluminium hits two-month high on China demand hopes – Aluminium prices touched two-month highs on Thursday as hopes for stronger demand in top consumer China buoyed sentiment, but an oversupplied global market and large surpluses are expected to cap gains. – more

      Sustainability may have large role in steel, metals recovery –  Improving the environment and cutting emissions may continue to be a focus for metals and mining industries as economies recover from COVID-19, with greater scrap metal use, new technologies and lower coal usage likely to be the key trends. – more

      Bid to overturn New Caledonia ore export permit fails – A legal challenge to overturn the New Caledonian government’s decision to allow more nickel ore exports has failed. – more

      Indonesia high-speed rail, nickel among $97 bln priority projects – Indonesia plans to extend a high-speed rail project being built with China and bring in Japanese investors, as part of 89 priority projects slated for Southeast Asia’s biggest economy over four years, a minister said on Friday.  – more

      Centaurus quickly advancing Brazil nickel project – The company acquired the Jaguar project, in Brazil’s Carajas region, from Vale late last year, though the transaction only closed last month. – more

      Fed Report: Businesses Less Optimistic on Economy – The Fed’s report also pointed to sharp declines in US manufacturing, with output notably weak in autos, aerospace and energy – more

      Steel Imports Down 20% Year-to-Date Through April 2020 – Based on preliminary Census Bureau data, the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) reported today that the U.S. imported a total of 2,773,000 net tons (NT) of steel in April 2020, including 1,309,000 net tons (NT) of finished steel (up 58.2% and down 13.5%, respectively, vs. March final data). – more

    Global EV Top 20 April 2020 –  Registrations were down 30% YoY, to some 110.000 units, while the YTD numbers are now down 12% regarding the same period last year, with 571.000 registrations. – more

   Other News

  • Reuters The Day Ahead – pdf here
  • U.S. Futures Mixed as Trump Stokes China Tensions: Markets Wrap – more
  • The Investment Cost of the U.S.-China Trade War – 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