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

  Daily Nickel/Stainless Steel Briefing 

  • Nickel closed Thursday’s trading session at

    $7.06/lb

    ($15,570/tonne). Indicators at 6:40 am CST today show nickel trading around $.01/lb  lower. Stockpiles of nickel stored in LME licensed warehouses rose on Thursday and started today’s session just over the 238,800 tonne level. The Euro has recently turned positive against the U.S. Dollar, so we wouldn’t be surprised to see nickel turn positive as well. Nickel has trended higher this week, but we suspect it has more to do with the Euro climbing against the U.S. Dollar, due to the tightness and yet undetermined outcome of the U.S. Presidential elections. It appears the world covid count will hit 50 million sometime on Saturday, while the U.S. will likely see its 10 millionth diagnosed case today. The seven day trend average rose over the 96,000 new cases yesterday, and the daily death average rose over the 900 level. In our what the heck segment, the United States finally thought one of the hurricanes that formed in the Atlantic this year, might actually miss us, when it slammed into Central America a few days ago. But no. Like a drunk driver, it is now backing up into the Caribbean, and weather forecasters, think it might strengthen and hit …. well just about everybody. Cuba, Florida, maybe Louisiana …. again. Have you got your “I survived 2020” bumper sticker yet? It is a little early, we suppose. Thank you to those who have contacted us about supporting the site with banners and we will be contacting you over the next week. We still have space available so please let us know if you would be interested in sponsoring the site during 2021. It’s the weekend so stay safe – seriously – we were wishing our readers a safe weekend well before covid-19 was even a word – due to the risk of traffic crashes. A whole lot more people are dieing from covid than in traffic crashes these days, but the risk of both is still there. So we wish you a safe and relaxing weekend and invite you to stop by again on Monday.

  • Average price of LME traded cash nickel so far this month – $6.95/lb
  • LME nickel chart – here   /   Euro/US Dollar chart – here

  Reports

  • Reuters metals morning – London copper rises in thin trade as investors eye U.S. election results – more
  • Refinitiv Inside Commodities – pdf here
  • ING The Commodities Feed – daily here
  • SMM Evening Comments – here
  • Barchart 304 Stainless Steel Scrap Index – $.2924/lb
  • SHFE Stainless Steel  Futures –  13,775

  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 climbs as dollar sinks, share markets rally –  Copper prices edged higher on Thursday as the dollar slid and investors looked forward to more central bank stimulus, with a wave of fresh lockdowns threatening economic growth. – more

      China stainless steel output to top 30 mln tonnes in 2020 – industry body – China’s stainless steel production is expected to rise by 2.1% this year to more than 30 million tonnes amid robust demand for the corrosion-resistant metal, an official from an industry body said on Thursday. – more

      Up to 30% of chrome ore exports to China can be displaced if export tax proceeds, says consultancy – Further to a statement released earlier this week, chrome producer organisation ChromeSA has explained the evidential rationale behind its dismay at Cabinet’s proposed export tax on chrome ore. – more

      Outokumpu’s Q3 stainless steel sales slump, will limit capex, cut jobs – Major Nordic-based stainless steel and ferrochrome producer Outokumpu said Nov. 5 it expects the COVID-19 pandemic to have a “significant impact” on the stainless market throughout 2020.  – more  (pdf report here)

       U.S. imports of Stainless steel wire decreased 28.23 percent from $154.59 million to $110.94 million through the first nine months of 2020 ….. – more

  • U.S. exports of Stainless steel wire decreased 12.67 percent from $103.53 million to $90.4 million through the first nine months of 2020 ….. – more
  • U.S. imports of Misc. stainless steel bars, rods decreased 30.12 percent from $420.49 million to $293.86 million through the first nine months of 2020 …… – more
  • U.S. exports of Misc. stainless steel bars, rods decreased 20.14 percent from $277.61 million to $221.7 million through the first nine months of 2020 …. – more
  • U.S. imports of Stainless steel, not less than 600mm wide decreased 20.37 percent from $460.88 million to $367.01 million through the first nine months of 2020 …. – more
  •  U.S. exports of Stainless steel, not less than 600mm wide decreased 34.98 percent from $629.02 million to $408.96 million through the first nine months of 2020 … – more
  • U.S. imports of Nickel totaled $104.94 million in September, a change of -15.84 percent from the same month one year ago. – more
  • U.S. exports of Nickel totaled $16.13 million in September, a change of -17.23 percent from the same month one year ago. – more

      Q3 recovery in steel demand better than expected – Many nations witnessed an unprecedented drop in steel demand, in the second quarter of 2020, at the height of the first wave of coronavirus infections. – more

      Access to New Caledonia’s Vale nickel plant blocked – Kanak groups opposed to the latest sale plan of New Caledonia’s Vale nickel plant have blocked road access to the site at Goro in the south of the main island. – more

      Minnesota Supreme Court hears argument PolyMet misrepresented its intent for mine – The Minnesota Supreme Court must decide whether the company trying to build the state’s first copper mine was engaged in “sham permitting” as it applied for its air pollution permit from regulators. – more

      Sumitomo expects Ambatovy mine to produce 3,000 T of nickel in Jan-March – Japanese trading house Sumitomo Corp plans to resume operation at its Ambatovy nickel mine in Madagascar early next year as planned, with an aim to produce 3,000 tonnes of nickel during the January-March quarter, its executive said on Friday. – more

      Distributor Pandemic Index Falls to Slightly Negative – It followed a recent new high for the index, even though seven of the 13 distributors surveyed reported a sales increase. – more

   Other News

  • Reuters The Day Ahead – pdf here
  • Global Stock Rally Stalls While Dollar Fluctuates: 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