Taiwan’s Feng Hsin Steel has decided to revamp its operations and cut production costs instead of resorting to importing low-priced billet from China like some of its peers have been doing.

Three-month base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange were mixed this morning, Friday March 15, with copper, aluminium and nickel up by an average of 0.6%, while zinc, lead and tin were down by an average of 0.6%.

A drop in China’s manufacturing purchasing managers’ index (PMI) to 49.2 in February, from 49.5 in January, has set a weaker tone across markets with base metals traded on the London Metal Exchange mostly lower and down by an average of 0.3% in the morning of Thursday February 28.

Expectations have increased for China’s coke prices to bounce up, although some export deals were reported at lower levels in the past week.

Concern started to spread in the global steel markets this week that trade with Iran is at risk since US President Donald Trump announced on May 8 that his country will withdraw from the nuclear-power deal with the Middle Eastern state.

Three-month base metals prices are up an average of 0.5% on the London Metal Exchange this morning, Tuesday May 2, with aluminium and lead prices slightly weaker while the rest are up between 0.3% for tin prices and 1.4% for zinc prices, with copper prices up 0.7% at $5,777 per tonne.

Three-month base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange were up across the board on Friday December 7, with average gains of 0.6%. But trading remained choppy while market participants await greater direction.

Disappointing Chinese economic data has weighed on the three-month base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange this morning, Friday December 14, with all the metals in negative territory and showing average losses of 0.4%.

During the past couple of years, US steelmakers, especially on the carbon flat-rolled side, have been consistently reporting better margins, albeit after a horrendous 2015 when falling demand was exacerbated by high import volumes.

Last Thursday’s brief correction in metals prices was just a pause in what is turning into a strong rally, with the three-month base metals prices traded on the London Metal Exchange up by an average of 0.6% on the morning of Monday February 25.