Seaborne coking coal prices retreated on Monday March 23, with fears of a global economic downturn taking hold due to the spread of the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV), even though sentiment among Chinese participants was starting to become more optimistic.

The 2019-nCoV pandemic is definitely a black swan event, one that nobody saw coming.

The rebounds in the metals toward the end of last week do seem to have been countertrend moves as expected; this morning, Monday March 23, the base metals are down across the board on the London Metal Exchange and Shanghai Futures Exchange.

TORONTO, ON, 23 March 2020 (Fastmarkets RISI) – Paper Excellence (PE) confirmed today that CEO Brian Baarda has stepped down. “Brian Baarda has made a personal decision to leave the organization,” PE’s EHS and corporate communications VP Graham Kissack told Fastmarkets RISI. Kissack said that PE has created a management committee to replace Baarda and […]

Base metals prices on the Shanghai Futures Exchange were down across the board at the close of morning trading on Monday March 23, with tin leading the complex lower with a fall of 5.5%

Fastmarkets published its chrome ore South Africa UG2 concentrates index basis 42%, cif China and ferro-chrome lumpy Cr benchmark indicator late on Friday March 20 due to a technical error.

The Chinese domestic spot battery-grade lithium carbonate price fell by 2.1% on Thursday March 19 hitting a new low, with more European carmakers closing production due to the spread of the coronavirus (2019-nCoV) and market participants feeling increasing pressure on the whole market.

The China Iron & Steel Association (Cisa) has said that iron ore indices should be based on “real market transactions rather than being influenced by futures and swaps curves.”

Asian Pacific equity indices are firmer this morning, Friday March 20, as are many of the base metals and all of the precious metals, but given the worst no doubt lies ahead in terms of weaker demand for non-household consumables in Europe and the United States, the current upturn may be a countertrend move or a two-thirds-of-the-way-down pause.

Base metals prices on the Shanghai Futures Exchange were up across the board at the close of the morning trading session on Friday March 20, with the complex benefiting from the emergence of some modest optimism in broader markets.