Most carmakers had a pretty torrid first half of 2020, with factories disrupted, show rooms closed and consumers bunkered down in their homes. Sales plummeted across Europe and North America. However, the second half of last year and, particularly, the first quarter of this year have seen carmakers’ prospects come roaring back. The move to […]
Stuart Burns
Iron ore price reaches 10-year high but retraces after Five-Year Plan details
Seaborne iron ore prices hit a 10-year high this month at $178 per ton before profit taking. Investors bet on strong steel demand and robust consumption in top consumer China. Iron ore price and pollution in China But following the release of details in China’s new Five-Year Plan calling for wide-ranging and ambitious targets to […]
US confirms anti-dumping aluminum tariffs on key suppliers
Despite howls of protest from consumers, the Biden administration has doubled down on the Trump administration’s trade barriers with its latest move on aluminum tariffs. The administration recently slapped semi-finished flat rolled aluminium anti-dumping duties on 18 countries supplying the US market. Aluminum tariffs Previous administrations’ focus on China — first on extrusions in 2011 […]
OPEC producers walk a fine line amid oil price run-up
This time last year, Saudi Arabia all but announced war on America’s fracking industry and major OPEC+ partner Russia by releasing a flood of oil onto the world market just as the pandemic was getting underway. The pandemic, among other impacts, led to a plunge in oil demand. The unprecedented collapse in prices took oil […]
China’s steel industry facing increasing environmental constraints
Many areas, industries (including the China steel sector) and, indeed, societies are under threat from pollution. In many emerging markets, economic growth has come at the stark price of appalling levels of pollution. But the Financial Times suggested that in China, home of the largest steel and aluminum industries in the world by far, steel […]
GFG Alliance, Liberty Steel financial position under scrutiny
The media loves stories of the rise of underdogs, of entrepreneurial spirit and corporate derring-do — so has been the story of Sanjeev Gupta and the meteoric expansion of his GFG Alliance in recent years. That rise has almost defied the gravity of conventional business in a string of acquisitions, often of defaulting or bankrupt entities, […]
What goes up must (eventually) come down — does the old saying apply to nickel prices?
Up to this week, the nickel bull story had been roaring along. Talk of metal shortages and runaway electric vehicle (EV) and hybrid battery demand have supported that story. But one announcement has seen that bull run hit a brick wall. Nickel bull story slows News that China’s Tsingshan Holding Group has signed a one-year […]
Global supply chains under pressure amid rising costs, delays
When we first started reporting on global freight costs in Q4 last year, we expected that the pandemic bounce-back would probably be a relatively short-term effect, easing around the Chinese Lunar New Year. Around then, Chinese manufacturers closed down and the shipping industry had a chance to catch up on backlogs. Unfortunately, in the meantime, […]
Following a strong recovery, how much further does oil have to go?
The Brent crude oil price has continued a dramatic recovery this year. Brent crude last week briefly crossed $66 a barrel (where it started 2020). A recovery in demand has stoked oil prices. That demand surge is largely coming from the prospects of an acceleration in transport activity as vaccine programs roll out. Find more […]
European aluminum market under duress
There is not a lot of chatter in the press about this yet, but speak to producers and consumers and you will hear plenty of complaints about the European aluminum market. Both flat rolled and extruded products are facing serious supply issues. However, whether they will be short-lived or prove more persistent is not yet […]
