The gap between lithium spot and contract prices has narrowed significantly in 2021 as a result of tight availability along the lithium supply chain and price evolution, market sources said.

Fastmarkets is inviting feedback from the industry on its pricing methodology for its Northern Europe and United States hot-rolled coil indices as part of its annual methodology review process in compliance with the International Organization of Securities Commissions (Iosco) principles for price reporting agencies.

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.

Metals continue to languish in high ground during morning trading on Monday June 14, with tin being the exception as it continues to push higher on strong fundamentals due to supply disruptions.

Many aluminium and steel market participants are increasingly optimistic that automotive production will bounce back in the second half of the year and hopeful that the semiconductor chip shortage will be resolved by 2022.

Buyers of bulk cargoes of scrap imports in the key Southeast Asian market of Vietnam were largely on the sidelines during the week to Friday June 11, due to falling domestic scrap and steel prices in the country, sources told Fastmarkets.

Base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange were mainly lower this morning, Monday June 7, after the rally sparked by Friday’s worse-than-expected US employment report ran out of steam.

An accident at Kaohsiung port, Taiwan, in which a tower crane collapsed on Thursday June 3 will likely have minimal impact on discharge rates for containerized ferrous scrap in the coming days, market sources told Fastmarkets.

Base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange have attracted dip-buying this morning, Friday June 4, after weakness on Thursday when prices fell across the board by an average of 2.2%.

Mammoth steel-scrap margins and high-grade premiums prevalent in recent months are likely to persist in the short term but should fall away by the end of the year, panelists at the ferrous session of this week’s Bureau of International Recycling (BIR) Convention said.