Hot-rolled coil prices in the United States climbed again, surpassing the record high established the previous day, after market participants noted an acute shortage of spot-market material.

Base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange were mixed this morning, Tuesday March 2, while on the Shanghai Futures Exchange they were mainly weaker.

The hot-rolled coil price has hit a new high in the United States, moving above $62 per hundredweight.

Spot prices in the key Vietnamese scrap import market rebounded strongly during the week to Friday February 26, even though buyers with inventories were not actively purchasing due to high prices and the narrow scrap-billet spread, according to market sources.

Hot-rolled coil prices in the United States continue to hit record highs, with further upside expected, Fastmarkets understands.

The United States' copper scrap market has been thrown out of balance since the price for the red metal surged above the $4 per lb on Comex this week.

Hot-rolled coil prices in the United States have risen yet again to an all-time high after buyers perceived that the tight availability of spot material likely will not loosen up before domestic mills begin a series of maintenance outages.

For a fourth trading day in a row, copper’s three-month price on the London metal Exchange rose to a new year-to-date high on Tuesday February 23, while the rest of the base metals traded slightly lower than where they were on Monday, when they all reached fresh 2021 highs.

Chile’s Corfo on Friday February 19 filed an arbitration process with the International Chamber of Commerce against United States-based lithium miner Albemarle for allegedly underpaying royalties on its lithium sales, Corfo confirmed to Fastmarkets on Monday February 22.

Base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange and Shanghai Futures Exchange were up significantly across the board this morning, Monday February 22, with all base metals on the LME setting fresh multi- month or year highs.