After weathering a bumpy ride throughout 2022, one of the world’s most traded commodities still isn’t out of the woods just yet. Though steel prices rose across the board over the past few weeks, mills around the world remain shuttered, and demand continues to fluctuate. Zero-COVID and limited energy across places like Europe are just […]
Category: Global Trade
India Aims to Increase Domestic Coking Coal Production Twofold by 2030
For now, trade relations between Australia and China are sketchy at best. Therefore, Australia has started looking for other markets to ship commodities like ore and coking coke, one such market being India. However, over the past few months, the world has learned that many Indian steel mills have replaced “costlier” Australian coking coal with […]
Is the LME’s Role as the Go-to-Price Point for Nickel Over?
Doomsters have predicted the end of the LME before. Still, after 146 years and counting, the LME is still with us and the go-to nickel price point. However, volumes have tanked since the LME nickel debacle in March of 2022. In fact, the problems no longer relate just to nickel, but the entire non-ferrous metals […]
Copper MMI: Prices Spike, Confirming Copper Market Uptrend
In recent days, copper prices managed to break prior highs after experiencing several weeks of pullback. Prices managed to hit short-term demand zones, which typically induce bullish strength. This confirmed the recently-formed uptrend in the copper market, ending the macro downtrend that started earlier in 2022. New data indicates the start of a bullish market, […]
Raw Steels MMI: U.S. Steel Prices Find Bottom, Begin Rising
U.S. steel prices hit a bottom at the beginning of December, then began to climb. Hot rolled coil prices rose over 8% from their December low. Meanwhile, plate prices traded down for the first time since September. Overall, the Raw Steels Monthly Metals Index (MMI) rose by 7.98% from December to January. MetalMiner’s free weekly […]
Aluminum MMI: Aluminum Prices Slide From Early-December Peak
Despite the recent short-term bounce, aluminum prices have not quite reversed to the upside following their long decline from March 2022. Ultimately, the rally between November and December was not strong enough to indicate a reversal. Moreover, bearish pressure continues to dominate the market environment at this time. Instead, prices remain largely indecisive. However, the […]
Construction MMI: Chinese Sourced Steel Prices Spike, Supply Pinches Possible
The Construction MMI (Monthly MetalMiner Index) rose considerably by 7.68%, with Chinese steel prices getting a significant boost. In fact, all facets of the index related to China (except for iron ore) increased. The movement came in the wake of zero-COVID restrictions lifting, which resulted in a sharp rise in coronavirus cases. While this was […]
Rare Earths MMI: Surge in China’s COVID Cases Impact Prices
The Rare Earths MMI (Monthly MetalMiner Index) jumped slightly more than in the past six months, rising 4.45%. All month, geopolitical factors, mostly involving China, significantly impacted the index. For instance, production still proved low in the wake of zero-COVID. Then, once zero-COVID restrictions were lifted, the spike in cases across China kept the drag […]
China’s Economy: Don’t Get Your Hopes Up Just Yet
Could China’s economy resume its normal growth trajectory in 2023 after recording one of its lowest growth rates ever in 2022? Recently, the country introduced some more financial stimuli and eased its rather draconian COVID-19 countermeasures. This has left the world waiting for the resurgence of Chinese manufacturing and the economy at large. But will […]
2022 Stainless Steel and Nickel Price Trends
Stainless and nickel price trends fluctuated much more than carbon steel throughout 2022. The LME nickel squeeze greatly strained both the nickel and stainless steel markets. Indeed, LME nickel prices skyrocketed by almost $25,000 per metric ton back in March. Soon after, the rally cooled down again, eventually bottoming out in July. Come November, prices […]
