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 Tuesday’s trading session at
$7.12/lb

($15,700/tonne). Indicators at 6:15 am CST today show nickel trading around $.10/lb higher. Stockpiles of nickel stored in LME licensed warehouses rose slightly on Tuesday and started today just over the 150,500 tonne level. Busy news day today, but noting to really explain the jump in prices this morning. Yesterday started with a similar bounce, as bulls try to pull the price closer to the $16,000/tonne level. Yesterdays attempt was less than successful, as closing prices have stayed in a narrow band since last Wednesday. Three trading days left in August, and nickel remains one of the success stories in otherwise shaky trading markets. Downstream users are paying the price for this success, but miners are reaping the benefits. Are we in the beginning stages to a bull market that could last for years? Or is this just another price spike in an otherwise bearish market? We would love to tell you, but we have no idea where the market will close today, so stay tuned and we will find out together.
Average price of LME traded cash nickel so far this month – $7.03/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 – Copper prices ease amid global economic uncertainties – more
Reuters Daily Inside Metals – pdf here
SMM Evening Comments – not posted
Reuters The Day Ahead – pdf here
National Economic Indicators – pdf here
July 2019 crude steel production – 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
Amazon warehouse data shows tariffs hit US vendors harder – more
China could become world’s largest importer within five years: Report – more
Expect The Resiliency Of Base Metals’ Fundamentals Despite Macro Negativity To Push DBB Higher In H2 2019 – more
Stocks Mixed Under Cloud of Trade Feud; Oil Gains: Markets Wrap – more
Positive Indian Ocean Dipole pattern continues – more

Tuesday’s market review – Copper steadies but demand doubts keep prices near two-year lows – Copper prices steadied on Tuesday but remained near two-year lows on worries about damage to industrial activity and demand from the prolonged U.S.-China trade war. – more

New projects for battery material nickel need a price spur – Rapidly rising use of nickel in the batteries that power electric vehicles over coming years means higher prices are needed to incentivize the development of new projects to boost supplies of the metal. – more

(translated) Indonesian official Luhut explains why Indonesia wants to ban mines in advance – According to CNBC, the Indonesian government plans to speed up the ban on nickel ore exports, which will take effect in 2022. – more

Indonesia’s Export of Stainless Steel Semi-products in June 2019 – = Ingot is 17,000 tons and flat roll is 143,000 tons = Indonesia’s foreign trade statistics shows the export volume of stainless steel semi-products in June 2019 was 17,312 tons of ingot (slab/HS: 7218), drastically down by 41.8% from the prior month. – more

Gov’t wants mining firms to pay higher fees for mine wastes – The Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) is planning to require all mining companies in the country to pay higher mine waste and tailing fees as part of the amendments in the Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of the Philippine Mining Act or the Republic Act (RA) 7942 the agency is now pushing for. – more

Taiwanese stainless steel mills disapprove government to levy AD & CVD duty on Chinese HR stainless steel – On June 14th, the Taiwanese government made an initial ruling that the imports of hot-rolled stainless steel from China might bring substantial damage to Taiwanese market, and the Taiwanese Ministry of Finance made a quick response on July 5th that those imported stainless steel from China needed to be levied an anti-dumping duty and countervailing tariff by 26.38% to 32.58%, and 43.86 respectively. – more

Rickford Brings Update on Ferrochrome Plant to The Sault – Ontario’s Minister of Energy, Northern Development and Mines Greg Rickford was in Sault Ste. Marie on Tuesday to discuss updates on the Ring of Fire project, set to start production in 2025, with the completion of the ferrochrome plant set for 2028. – more

DMCI Mining nickel ore shipments up 41% in H1 – DMCI Mining Corp., a unit of publicly listed DMCI Holdings Inc., on Tuesday said its shipment of nickel ore grew 41 percent during the first half of the year, even though the company has not been able to mine all of its sites. – more

Ontario eyes pragmatic approach to Ring of Fire – The Ontario government is prepared to take “a more pragmatic approach” to unlocking the mineral wealth that is waiting to be mined at the Ring of Fire region of northern Ontario. – more

Ontario rips up Ring of Fire deal with First Nations to pursue bilateral talks – more

Vale Keen to Meet Jokowi to Push for Divestment Decision – Jakarta. Vale Indonesia, the country’s largest nickel producer, said they were looking forward to a meeting between President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo and the top executive from its Brazilian parent company Vale to discuss the divestment of the company’s shares to a local entity. – more

Courtesy AISI – In the week ending on August 24, 2019, domestic raw steel production was 1,877,000 net tons while the capability utilization rate was 80.6 percent. Production was 1,861,000 net tons in the week ending August 24, 2018 while the capability utilization then was 79.4 percent. The current week production represents a 0.9 percent increase from the same period in the previous year. Production for the week ending August 24, 2019 is up 1.1 percent from the previous week ending August 17, 2019 when production was 1,857,000 net tons and the rate of capability utilization was 79.8 percent. – 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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