Base metals, iron ore, rebar and precious metal prices on the Shanghai Futures Exchange were up across the board this morning, Monday July 5, with all the base metals, apart from lead, also higher on the London Metal Exchange.

Seven creditors have sued a Chinese warehousing and logistics firm to claim a loss of copper concentrate worth 1.073 billion yuan ($166 million), according to several court documents, the latest of which was released on June 23.

The Russian government has approved temporary export duties on 340 steel and non-ferrous metals sold outside the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), which are set to take effect from August 1 through December 31, according to an official government decree.

Customer requirements and financing will shape the decarbonization of the steel industry, panelists said at Fastmarkets’ 2021 Steel Success Strategies Industry Briefing earlier this week.

Rebounds were under way in the base metals complex in London this morning, Friday June 18, while in Shanghai the base metals mostly reflected the weakness seen on the London Metal Exchange on Thursday.

Growing steel demand presents an opportunity for a scrap pricing supercycle in the next decade, writes Bill Beck, reporting on the Fastmarkets virtual Scrap, DRI, and Mini-Mills conference in mid-April.

Green shoots are forming in the approach to clean steelmaking in the United States, with a new administration putting an increased emphasis on sustainability. The topic will be a key part of Fastmarkets' Steel Success Strategies conference, to be hosted June 21-24 in conjunction with World Steel Dynamics.

Market chatter about China possibly imposing new export taxes for steel as part of commodity price cooling measures has been rampant in the past week, causing traders and market participants to re-think their trading strategies, and overseas buyers to consider a potential supply shortfall.

A handful of recent cargoes of shredded steel scrap have successfully cleared through Chinese ports, raising hopes across the market that China may start to import more of this key material grade in the near future.

Cooling sentiment in the entire ferrous supply chain in Asia has cooled import prices for containerized ferrous scrap in the key Taiwanese market, sources said on May 21.