French shipping giant CMA CGM Group’s plan to invest $20 billion in maritime transportation, logistics and supply chains in the US over the next four years signals the start of a turnaround for US shipbuilding and will increase demand for steel plate by as much as an estimated $2 billion over the term of the investment, according to market participants.

Markets thrive when they are informed and have a measure of certainty that includes benchmarks on which they can rely. Biodiesel producers in the US have been lacking this certainty, and a majority of their production capacity remains idled as a result. A Fastmarkets biodiesel production survey under way in the week ending Friday, March […]

Timber prices continue to remain subdued by our estimates. Log demand and prices have declined in most major North American producing regions as the US housing market throttled back and mills were temporarily shut or reduced shifts. Timber prices are influenced by many factors, one of which is lumber prices. In the US, roughly 70% […]

Market participants are reporting significant disruption in shipping containers of metal scrap

Starting 2025, concerns about potential tariffs left North American pulp market participants on edge. As they closed January prices and negotiated new orders for February, the landscape could starkly change. In the European pulp market, pulp producers have announced price increases for both bleached eucalyptus kraft (BEK) pulp and northern bleached softwood kraft (NBSK) pulp. […]

Read Fastmarkets’ monthly battery raw materials market update for March 2025, focusing on raw materials including lithium, cobalt, nickel, graphite and more