by Taras Berezowsky on February 7, 2012
Style: Industry News
Category: Commodities, Macroeconomics, Non-ferrous Metals, Sourcing Strategies
Keywords: aluminum prices, China, Commodities, commodity volatility, copper prices, EU, Stainless Steel, US manufacturing
Here’s Episode 4 of MetalMiner’s Sourcing Outlook, brought to you by Zycus. In the first episode of 2012, MetalMiner takes a look at the center of the commodity market storm — the EU debt crisis and impending (or already begun?) recession. In MetalWatch, we check in on stainless steel, as the ThyssenKrupp-Outokumpu merger looms in [...]
In a recent interview by Reuters, I said I did not see other non-ferrous metals facing significant closures by Western producers as we have in aluminum. (Reuters was exploring the idea that smelters closures by Alcoa in particular, but also Rio Tinto and Norsk Hydro, were likely to be just the start of a much [...]
by Stuart Burns on February 6, 2012
Style: Market Analysis
Category: Commodities, Global Trade, Non-ferrous Metals
Keywords: China, Commodities, EU, Gold, metals, Silver, Steel, Zinc
A report in the FT notes the Chinese manufacturing sector has made a surprisingly strong start to the year, as the purchasing managers index (PMI), an important gauge of factory growth, rose to 50.5 in January from 50.3 a month earlier. The result helped underpin recent strength in metals prices, Standard Bank wrote in a [...]
Source: NY Times As an update to our previous post about the WTO ruling on China’s export restrictions, we thought we’d point to a follow-up from Reuters on the ruling’s implications for rare earth metal quotas. In short, there’s a loophole. Reuters notes that “Monday’s ruling left open a loophole for export quotas if they [...]
by Taras Berezowsky on February 1, 2012
Style:
Category: Commodities, Ferrous Metals, Global Trade, Minor Metals
Keywords: China, Commodities, exports, Nucor, Rare Earth Metals, Steel, US manufacturing, WTO
We all know a thing or two about news that’s not really news (or, to put it more accurately, news that’s overblown) — and this phenomenon seems to happen in the realm of rare earth metals more than anywhere else. Reporting on rare earth metals is such a hot commodity in and of itself that [...]
A lot of headlines are underscoring the strong year-to-date performance of precious metals. Gold is set to have the best January since 2008, while silver is poised for a record January compared to the last thirty years. Even platinum and palladium are up 15.8 percent and 5.7 percent year to date, respectively. Yet in large [...]
In the largest metals market in the world, a new year has dawned and many are asking what it holds for consumption and prices. The year of the water dragon is auspicious for a number of reasons. As the only mythical beast among the 12 animals in the Chinese zodiac, it is supposed to bring [...]
There has been a lot in the press recently about the West applying sanctions on Iran’s oil exports, in an attempt to persuade that country to halt its atomic bomb-making activities. No one believes Iran’s assertions that its uranium enrichment program is purely for commercial power generation purposes, and yet opinions are divided on how [...]
