The Raw Steels Monthly Metals Index (MMI) moved sideways, with a 2.34% decline from August to September. U.S. steel prices trended either sideways or down over recent weeks. HRC and CRC prices appeared to find a bottom in August but did not show enough momentum to the upside to form an uptrend. Meanwhile, HDG prices […]
Category: Supply & Demand
Antimony and Tungsten: Is China’s Export Crackdown a Response to Global Trade Pressures?
For many years, most of the world has looked at China with some degree of trepidation where critical minerals are concerned. The reason? China currently produces about 60% of the world’s all-important rare earth metals and is responsible for roughly 90% of the refined rare earths available on the market. Now, there’s something more to […]
Rare Earths MMI: U.S. Businesses Most Impacted by China’s Rare Earths Crackdown
The Rare Earths MMI (Monthly Metals Index) managed to reverse and pull up by 8.66% after experiencing steady declines since May. Numerous parts of the rare earths index reversed price action, including neodymium and terbium oxide. China’s recent crackdown on rare earth supplies has caused a shift in the global market, creating significant bullish sentiment […]
Copper MMI: Mining Resumption, China Pose Risk to Copper Prices
Overall, the Copper Monthly Metals Index (MMI) fell 4.56% from July to August. Aside from a short-lived rise at the start of July, copper prices today remain in a downtrend, with prices falling 5.76% from the previous month. Prices did manage to rebound in August, although not enough to signal a trend reversal. (Follow copper […]
Lithium Market: Continued Growth, or Red Herring?
Lithium has rapidly become a critical element in the race to dominate the tech and energy sectors, resulting in a powerful and profitable global lithium market. This is mainly because the element plays an indispensable role in lithium-ion batteries, which don’t just “charge” our smartphones and laptops but also power electric vehicles. As the global […]
Iron Ore Prices Sink Below $100 as China’s Steel Mills Face Crisis
Iron ore prices hit the headlines again after dipping below the psychological barrier of US $100 per ton this Monday. It was the fourth time it crossed the threshold in a fortnight. This recent drop was nearly 30% below iron ore’s peak of $144 a ton, which it achieved in January this year. As a […]
Europe’s Answer to China’s Rare Earth Monopoly
Rare earth elements and semiconductors have taken on that critical national development role once occupied by oil and petroleum products. Despite the ongoing U.S.-China competition, the latter country controls a full 90% of the global rare earths supply, transforming these elements into potential political weapons. With regard to semiconductors, China’s Civilian-Military Integration Strategy aims to […]
Rare Earths MMI: China’s Metal Demand Weakens: What It Means for U.S. Rare Earth Buyers
The bears continued to make their way into the Rare Earths MMI (Monthly Metals Index), with yet another drop in price action, this time by 6.93%. Many factors pulled at rare earths prices overall, including oversupply, weak demand for metals within China and shifting dynamics in global rare earths supplies. It seems China’s over-production of […]
Global Steel Prices Plunge as China Floods Market with Excess Supply
Would it be an exaggeration to say that the world’s steel narrative is unfolding in China? Everywhere one looks, there are steel industry experts complaining about Chinese steelmakers unloading their excess steel products. Take this report published at nikkei.com, which predicts that China could end the calendar year with a record-high export total, somewhere over […]
Will China’s Latest Rare Earths Finds Set the Stage for Tech Domination?
Chinese geologists recently discovered two new minerals – oboniobite and scandio-fluoro-eckermannite – at Inner Mongolia’s Bayan Obo, the world’s largest rare earths mine. According to media reports, the discovery was a joint effort by the CAS Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Inner Mongolia Baotou Steel Union Co., Ltd., Baotou Research Institute of Rare Earths, and […]
