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

  Daily Nickel/Stainless Steel Briefing (8:00 AM CST is 1PM in London)

  • Dow Jones is reporting three month nickel closed Monday’s trading session at $7.56/lb . Indicators at 6:50 am CST today show 3 month nickel trading with little change , with other London traded base metals trading mostly lower and very quiet. Stockpiles of nickel stored in LME licensed warehouses rose to another record high yesterday, adding another 2700 tonnes with a grand total reaching 356,040 tonnes. Bloomberg and the Wall Street Journal reported nickel entering a bear market yesterday afternoon. We show weak support at $7.45/lb, but technicals show nickel very oversold. In the face of stockpiles growing at what might best be described as an ‘out of control’ pace, well respected industrial expert and Scotiabank economist Patricia Mohr is sticking to her guns and forecasting the supply of nickel will fall next year and the price of nickel will rise to average $10/lb in 2015. We will let those with the proper training in trading to define whether nickel is in a bear market or not, but it could be said nickel has had a problem finding its footing since September 9th, falling from near $20,000/tonne to below $16,700/tonne yesterday in three weeks. The bulls had been in a sideways trend since June, and decided to make a run for the border on the news of the proposed Philippine ban. It was a risky move in light of the current fundamentals and the gamble failed miserably, throwing the market into a tailspin and well below the sideways trend it had been stuck in. And while traders lick their wounds, or count their winning, stainless steel producers and end users try to figure out where the market is heading and try to decide the right time to buy.  
  • Average price of cash nickel so far this month – $8.24/lb
  • Average price of LME traded nickel in 2013 – $6.80/lb / avg 2012 – $7.95/lb / avg 2011 – $10.36/lb / avg 2010 – $9.89/lb
  • (USGS) Metal Prices in the United States Through 2010 – pdf here
  • Baltic Dry Index – (current) (chart)
  • Dollar trading graph – (chart of dollar index) (live java chart)
  • Bloomberg metals morning – Zinc Set for Second Quarterly Advance Amid Shortages – more
  • Reuters metals morning – Copper slips after dollar rally, weak Chinese data – more

  Reports

  Commodity/Economic Comments

  • China E-Stainless Daily Price Index – 83.83
  • China Stainless Steel Scrap Market News / Price – more
  • Yieh Daily Asian Stainless Steel News – more
  • Gerdau Steel Market Update – more
  • European Debt Crisis Live – more
  • 100 Years of Stainless Steel – more
  • (SMM) According to Carey Smith, Research Analyst, Alto Capital, LME nickel prices are most likely to average around $20,000 per mt in 2015.
  • (LGMI) Based on the latest statistics from Customs, in August, China exported 255268 tonnes stainless steel flats, down 15.5% when compared with 301969 tonnes in July, while up 43.6% YoY.
  • Iron Ore Heads for Record Run of Losses on Global Surplus – more
  • Iron ore price hits five-year low in poor month for commodities – more
  • LME to increase transaction fees as it eyes Asia expansion – more
  • Unlocking the value of the LME – more

    Nickel Heads for Bear Market as Inventories Reach Record – Nickel entered a bear market as stockpiles reached a record, signaling ample global supplies even as Indonesia bans its exports of the mined metal. – more

    China’s Baosteel cuts domestic price of 300-series stainless coil – China’s Baosteel has cut its domestic prices of 300-series stainless steel coil by Yuan 300/mt ($49/mt) for October on lower nickel and spot stainless steel prices, a company official said on Monday, September 29 – more

    Price of S. African FeCr Meant for Europe for Oct-Dec Reduced by Cents 4 – On September 23, Merafe Resources Limited, South Africa, a joint venture partner for Glencore -Merafe Chrome Venture announced on its home page that the benchmark price of South African charge chrome meant for Europe for shipments from October to December in 2014 was settled at US Cents 115.0 per lb. – more

    China’s nickel supply & demand balance to tighten – Mohr – Although LME nickel prices retreated to US$7.80 per pound in late September, Scotiabank economist Patricia Mohr forecasts “the supply & demand balance for nickel in China is still expected to tighten noticeably by early 2015 and we have maintained our price forecast for 2015 & 2016 at a strong US$10 and US$12 respectively.” – more

    New Caledonian, Chinese companies plan Vanuatu nickel partnership – The South Pacific islands of New Caledonia and Vanuatu are studying a plan to jointly mine and process nickel ores into refined metal to help produce stainless steel in China. – more

    Sherritt releases new resource and reserve estimates for Ambatovy nickel project – Sherritt International Corp. has released new reserve and resource estimates for the Ambatovy mining project in Madagascar, showing increased economically viable tonnage but lower nickel and cobalt ore grades. – more

    Courtesy AISI – In the week ending September 27, 2014, domestic raw steel production was 1,846,000 net tons while the capability utilization rate was 76.7 percent. Production was 1,875,000 net tons in the week ending September 27, 2013, while the capability utilization then was 78.3 percent. The current week production represents a 1.5 percent decrease from the same period in the previous year. Production for the week ending September 27, 2014 is down 2.4 percent from the previous week ending September 20, 2014 when production was 1,891,000 net tons and the rate of capability utilization was 78.6 percent.

    Bees the key to mine site rehab – International mining giant Vale has improved on mine site revegetation in Canada by starting a beekeeping program. – 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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