Hot-rolled coil pricing in the United States rose further on the first business day of the year, with market participants awaiting this month’s ferrous scrap settlement for direction amid limited spot availability of HRC.

Delivery and sales from leading US-based electric vehicles (EVs) manufacturer Tesla showed strong growth over the course of 2020 despite the economic setbacks and logistic disruptions triggered by the global spread of Covid-19 and its economic consequences, according to data released by the company on Saturday January 2.

The new year has started with optimism in the air and base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange and Shanghai Futures Exchange were up by an average of 1.8% and 1.4% respectively this morning, Monday January 14.

Fastmarkets has updated its formula for calculating the daily physical nickel arbitrage in Shanghai, after China announced it would lower the import tax on certain non-alloyed nickel from 2% to 1%, from January 1, 2021.

Bangladeshi steelmakers are likely to re-enter the market soon for purchases of deep-sea scrap cargoes due to low inventory levels, sources told Fastmarkets on Thursday December 31.

An increase in the number of physical scrap cargoes offered in key import market Vietnam in the the week to Thursday December 31 has dampened sentiment, market sources told Fastmarkets.

The price increases for imported containerized ferrous scrap into Taiwan eased in the week to Thursday December 31 amid a year-end holiday lull.

The rapid and significant falls in manganese ore prices in 2019 and 2020 have created "frozen stocks," which are believed to have acted as a buffer for the ore market while also demonstrating some different characteristics over both years, sources told Fastmarkets.

Fastmarkets proposes to make two amendments to the specifications of its daily price for steel billet, import, cfr Southeast Asia.

The United States Commerce Department is making changes to the way it administers the Section 232 tariff exclusion process.