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

  Daily Nickel/Stainless Steel Briefing 

  • Nickel closed Friday’s trading session at

    $6.47/lb

    ($14,275/tonne). Indicators at 6:15 am CST today show nickel trading around $.08/lb higher. Stockpiles of nickel stored in LME licensed warehouses fell on Friday and start the week just over the 235,900 tonne level. The Euro is bouncing back against the US Dollar, and this is adding momentum back into base metals. Nickel tested and bounced off of $the 14,250/tonne level twice on Friday and has been on the increase since. With the help of the slump in the U.S. Dollar today, we don’t see any hindrance in that movement today. Couple of things worth noting today. China will be closed the first week of October (1st – 8th) for a holiday, so they are only open thru Wednesday. And there is an article below that makes the stunning claim that Norilsk Nickel puts more sulfur dioxide into the air, than all of the United States combined. It also states Norilsk is responsible for 1/4 of what Russia, as a whole, puts into the air. The timing of this article may be to send a message to Elon Musk about Norilsk, but apparently these figures came from Greenpeace last year. Pretty staggering to think about. SMM reported Friday that nickel ore inventories stored at Chinese ports rose 81,000 wmt to 9.03 million wmt last week. So far this month, LME stockpiles are down nearly 3,000 tonnes (1.3%), just about the same as they rose in August. The third quarter of the first year of the third decade of the 21st century ends on Wednesday. History will look back on 2020 as the year of the pandemic. How will you remember it? If covid has been the highlight of the year for you, you have three months to change that. There are some wonderful memories yet to be had in the next three months, but only for those who want to take them. In the same token, when it comes to business, there are numerous success stories out there and many more to be had. But only for those who are willing to work for them. Yes, success in business is sometimes based more on luck than anything else, but if you walk past a slot machine, don’t complain when the next passing person drops in a coin and hits big. Mr. Luck rarely visits those who aren’t looking for him. Hey, it’s Monday and fall time in America. Stay safe out there, and have a wonderful week.

  • Average price of LME traded cash nickel so far this month – $6.77/lb
  • LME nickel chart – here   /   Euro/US Dollar chart – here

  Reports

  • Reuters metals morning – Copper gains capped by long term prospects, higher stocks – more
  • Refinitiv Inside Commodities – pdf here
  • ING The Commodities Feed – daily here
  • SMM Evening Comments – here
  • Barchart 304 Stainless Steel Scrap Index – $.3035/lb
  • SHFE Stainless Steel  Futures –  14,360
  • Mine Magazine Oct 2020 – online here
  • NAB US Economic Update – September 2020 – pdf here
  • ITA August Monthly Steel Factsheet – pdf here
  • Durable Goods Orders & Shipments – pdf here
  • Advance Report on Durable Goods Manufacturers’ Shipments, Inventories, and Orders – pdf 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

     Friday’s market review – Copper steadies as market waits for cues from data – Copper prices steadied on Friday after hitting one-month lows in the previous session as the market waited for economic data to shed light on growth and demand prospects and stimulus plans to shore up economic activity. – more

      Rosstat: Russian stainless steel production grows in Aug y-o-y – According to statistics from the Russian Federal State Statistics Service (Rosstat), Russian stainless steel production was 18,200 tons in August, increasing by 19.3% from the same month a year ago and up by 9.8% compared to the previous month.  – more

      China steel market active in pre-holiday restocking – Chinese steel mills, traders and end-users have been active in replenishment ahead of China’s upcoming National Day holiday, fearing that trading or transportation might slow down or be halted completely during the long holiday over October 1-8, Mysteel Global has learned from domestic industry sources. – more

      Mincor to cut output at Western Australian nickel mines – Mincor Resources has announced plans to boost operating margins by implementing a revised mining plan at its nickel mines in Kambalda, Western Australia. – more

      Nine employees in Indonesia’s largest nickel industrial park tested positive for COVID-19 – Recently, nine employees in Indonesia Morowali Industrial Park (IMIP) tested positive for COVID-19, which is the largest nickel industrial park in Indonesia. – more

      Steel Imports Down 21% Year-to-Date Through August – Based on preliminary Census Bureau data, the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) reported today that the U.S. imported a total of 1,300,000 net tons (NT) of steel in August 2020, including 1,188,000 net tons (NT) of finished steel (down 51.9% and 13.9%, respectively, vs. July final data). – more

      Electric Vehicles: The Dirty Nickel Problem – Electric vehicles are only a small part of the world vehicle market, but this is expected to change. – more

     How Nornickel Became the Arctic’s Biggest Polluter – One Russian company releases more sulfur dioxide into the air than the whole of the U.S. – more

      How fabricators can continue to survive the pandemic – An industry survey was conducted in the early summer to get a snapshot of where metal manufacturing companies are today. – more

   Other News

  • Reuters The Day Ahead – pdf here
  • European Stocks Rally Most in 2 Weeks; Pound Gains: Markets Wrap – 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
Coronavirus By The Numbers – here
Coronavirus by John Hopkins – here
CDC Cases in the US – here
Coronavirus Recovery Tracker – more
US Fed MN Covid Economic Dashboard – more
US Fed NY Weekly Economic Index – more
Resurgence – how is your state faring? – more