President Trump’s announcement that he could impose 25% tariffs on $60 billion of Chinese imports is ostensibly about the massive and growing trade imbalance between the U.S. and China — but one senses that underneath is a deeper and even more significant power play going on. Need buying strategies for steel? Try two free months […]
Stuart Burns
Shipping Rate Rises Pose a Risk to Trade
Back in 2016, after nearly 30 years of asking, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) — the U.N. body that polices the marine industry — finally succumbed to collective outrage and announced a change to take effect from 2020 leading to an effort to clean up ship pollution. Need buying strategies for steel? Try two free […]
BMW Caught Cheating Emissions Tests
If you thought allegations of emissions rigging were a thing of the past, think again. Need buying strategies for steel? Try two free months of MetalMiner’s Outlook It appears what’s good for Volkswagen is probably good for BMW, too. According to an article in The Telegraph, BMW’s Munich office has been raided by German authorities […]
Tariffs Could Just be First Salvo in Readjustment of U.S. Trade Relationships
There were grand words from German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Chinese President Xi Jinping, the leaders of two of the world’s biggest trading economies, on a call Saturday ahead of a Group of 20 (G20) meeting of finance ministers and central bank governors in Buenos Aires, reported the Financial Times. Need buying strategies for steel? Try two […]
Tin Prospects Looking Positive
Tin plays to a different tune from most LME metals. Need buying strategies for steel? Try two free months of MetalMiner’s Outlook It generally doesn’t attract the same speculative crowd from which copper, aluminum and zinc suffer. Its lack of any applications in jewelry keeps it firmly away from the precious metals camp. It’s termed […]
High China Iron Ore Port Stocks Not the Whole Story
Not surprisingly, any discussion of iron ore prices in top consumer China inevitably involves some reference to import stock inventory. Need buying strategies for steel? Try two free months of MetalMiner’s Outlook So when Reuters reports that the Dalian commodity exchange May iron ore contract price touched a low of 475.50 yuan per ton this […]
Has the Aluminum Bull Market Come to a Skidding Halt?
Aluminum buyers are understandably nervous about the future price direction following the near 9% fall in prices from a high in early January. Buying Aluminum in 2018? Download MetalMiner’s free annual price outlook Aluminum on the Shanghai Futures Exchange closed at the lowest level this week in 14 months, particularly unsettling as the industry had […]
Buyer Beware When it Comes to Cobalt
Cobalt may be a minor constituent of lithium ion batteries, but it is a crucial one. Need buying strategies for steel? Try two free months of MetalMiner’s Outlook Lithium has been the metal in the news this year. Bolstered by rising demand for hybrid and electric cars, however, the supply market has been struggling to […]
China’s Drop in Steel Exports Could be Temporary
Li Lizhang, the chairman of state-owned mill Fujian Sangang Group Co Ltd, is quoted in Reuters as saying exports of steel products may continue to fall this year, having plunged by over 30% last year to 75.43 million tons. Need buying strategies for steel? Try two free months of MetalMiner’s Outlook China produced 831.73 million […]
Linking Section 232 Action to NAFTA May Backfire
Is it just me or is there a contradiction developing at the heart of President Trump’s linkage of movement on the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) negotiations to the application of steel and aluminum tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico? I have been pondering this since earlier this week when the topic was […]