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

  Daily Nickel/Stainless Steel Briefing 

  • Nickel closed Thursday’s trading session at

    $5.84/lb

      ($12,880/tonne). Indicators at 7:00 am CST today show nickel trading around $.05/lb  higher Stockpiles of nickel stored in LME licensed warehouses fell slightly on Thursday and started today’s session just over the 233,200 tonne level. After ending last week lower, nickel prices appears to have recovered this week, but have done little more than that. The $13,000 tonne level was again tested, but successfully kept any bull penned. The U.S. continues to reopen and return to business, albeit normalcy is now being redefined on a daily basis. A month after reopening’s began, covid-19 hospitalizations are on the rise again, and thanks to the politification of the pandemic, it too has become part of the new normalcy for many. Kind of like speeding in traffic. To many, it’s not really a major concern – until its you in the crash. It’s the weekend. Wear your seatbelt – wear your mask. Stay safe, enjoy your weekend, and we invite you back next week.

  • Average price of LME traded cash nickel so far this month – $5.78/lb
  • LME nickel chart – here   /   Euro/US Dollar chart – here

  Reports

  • Reuters metals morning – Copper heads for fifth weekly gain on economic recovery hopes – more
  • Reuters Daily Inside Metals – pdf here 
  • SMM Evening Comments – more
  • Barchart 304 Stainless Steel Scrap Index – $.2048/lb
  • SHFE Stainless Steel  Futures –  13,400 

    (

    news about daily jump

    )

  • FED U.S. Economic Activity – pdf here
  • ATA Truck Tonnage Index – pdf here
  • The Australian Mining Review – June 2020 – online here
Coronavirus By The Numbers – here
Coronavirus by John Hopkins – here
CDC Cases in the US – here
Coronavirus Recovery Tracker – more Well before face masks became a pawn in the great chess game of American politics, on this site, we were complaining the ‘guidelines’ were being manipulated to protect the limited availability of N95 masks for the health workers. While we understood the motive for telling average ‘Joe Six Pack’ that masks did little to protect the user, the science, and years of experience, tell us otherwise. One of the ways to keep people from buying up the limited supply of masks, was to tell them masks really did little to protect the user, and really only gave a false sense of security. Now, the chickens have come to roost.

If the CDC and WHO can’t understand why few Americans are taking their advice to wear a mask, and states wonder why ‘mandatory’ mask requirements raise the publics ire – we suggest they look in the mirror first. For those actually interested in the science, here is a study done after the SARS outbreak – 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

     Thursday’s market review – Copper strengthens on China stimulus plans – Copper rose on Thursday as top consumer China signaled plans to maintain liquidity in the financial system for the rest of the year, raising hopes of improved demand for metals. – more

      Nickel, chromium: Chinese conference season returns post-COVID-19 as Roskill attends Nickel & Chrome Products Summit – The 18th International Nickel & Chrome Products Summit, held by CNFEOL in Wuxi, Jiangsu in early-June, marked Roskill’s return to the post-COVID-19 conference scene. – more

      Vale to Restart Nickel Mine in Canada After Covid-19 Pause – Vale SA, the top commercial nickel producer, will resume operations next month at its Voisey’s Bay mine in Canada after halting work to monitor the coronavirus outbreak. – more

      BHP Group buys nickel tenements as Norilsk Nickel completes Australian exit – BHP Group said on Friday it was expanding its exposure to nickel by purchasing nickel tenements in Western Australia in a deal marking the exit from the country of Russian mining group Norilsk Nickel. – more

      Russian stainless steel product imports increase in May y-o-y – According to reports, Russia imported around 33,000 tons of stainless steel products in May, increasing by 9.4% from the same period a year ago while sliding by 10.9% from 37,000 in the previous month. – more

      Zhenshi Group’s ferronickel project in Indonesia’s Weda Bay to see 1st batch of output in end-June or early July –  Yashi nickel smelting project at Indonesia Weda Bay Industrial Park is expected to see its first batch of ferronickel output at the end of June or the beginning of July, after two production lines were ignited in early June. – more

      RockTalk – RockTalk is a Stockhead video series featuring a roundtable of resources experts discussing a new macro topic each week. In this edition, host Peter Strachan takes a closer look at the nickel market. – more

      Will touch full capacity utilisation level by September – Abhyuday JindalHe said that the stainless steel sector has a direct correlation with the GDP growth of the country – pdf here

      ID Catches Up With Fastener, MROP Distributor Bolts & Nuts – ID re-connects with Chattanooga, TN-based Bolts & Nuts Corp. to learn what they’ve been up to since visiting the distributor in December 2015. – more

   Other News

  • Reuters The Day Ahead – pdf here
  • Futures Rise With Stocks on Trade, Stimulus Hopes: 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