Steel, Aluminum, Copper, Stainless, Rare Earth, Metal Prices, Forecasting | MetalMiner

Traders love volatility.

They say that today’s electronic trading platforms play to that desire of investors to make a buck, regardless of the fundamentals, allowing investors to play each twitch up and each slip down at the touch of a button.

Oil Prices: Perception vs. Reality

Indeed, if you can shape the perception of those fundamentals so much the better, and that seems to be what has been happening in the oil market this year. In reality, the world is as awash with oil today just as it was six months ago. As it dawns on the market that nothing much has changed, prices fall and producers make statements like a cutback deal is near, or an output freeze is being discussed — bingo! up goes the market by several dollars a barrel and you can bet producers and investors alike are rubbing their hands in glee.

Then, news comes out reminding us of the reality of the situation: the Environmental Protection Agency reports that gasoline stocks are up 600,000 barrels and distillates like diesel up 4.6 million barrels. The news that refiners are drawing on crude reserves only to process it into unwanted downstream products depresses the markets and prices fall again. (more…)

In a previous post about procurement-led inventory finance, we explained how in a zero-sum game, large buying organizations — when engaging directly with suppliers — often deploy forceful if not arbitrary rules around payment terms, delivery terms and even the reduction of inventory levels. These tactics, used to reduce working capital, each bring additional, mostly unnecessary risks and buyers working with sellers as a team could be more effective in assuaging such concerns.

MetalMiner Price Benchmarking: Current and Historical Prices for the Metals You Buy

New techniques and business practices based on inventory financing tied to broader procurement and supply-chain strategies have started to become more mainstream and they can help your business reduce its exposure to commodity price swings, long production times and other risks in the metals supply chain.

If you’re a large manufacturer, a metals service center or a metal producer, you can take advantage of these techniques and essentially link the buyer, seller and financing institution to lower financing costs to improve business efficiency.

Supply chain financing connects financial transactions to value as it moves through a supply chain. Instead of all parties working to maximize their profits and efficiency individually, supply chain financing links the chain financially, allowing it to work together as a team, maximizing value at each link and speeding products and transactions along. It’s the difference between individual companies working in silos and all of them truly functioning as one unit. (more…)