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Metallica
Ferrous
broadly stable, non-ferrous softening
After continuous fall, global steel prices remained
stable during the last fortnight (ended November 20). Domestic steel prices
meanwhile continue to show weakness despite talks of price hikes by the
mills. Some weakness in INR however has been giving some hope. Iron ore
prices on the other side continue to remain firm on good demand from China…
n CIS
Black Sea export FoB prices remained intact at US$ 525/tonne during the
fortnight, HR Sheet prices in China fell 1.1% to
US$556/tonne. In the domestic market, while flat product prices remained
stable, long products softened further.
n During
the fortnight, 62% Iron ore prices gained 0.4% rising to US$136.3/tonne
while the 58% grade prices rose back 1.3% to close at US$122.6/tonne.
Meanwhile, the China
domestic coking coal prices remained up 2.1% at US$239.4/tonne.
Expect steel prices to remain broadly stable as there are
signs of bottoming out. Though we don’t expect domestic prices to go
up substantially also, as higher supply and poor demand would restrict
that.
Base metals prices meanwhile softened broadly even as USD
index remained stable, mainly due to renewed concerns on QE3 tapering off
by US FED…
n During
the fortnight, base metal prices corrected to lower levels. While zinc and
lead fell 2% and 4% to close at US$1860 and US$2063/tonne respectively,
copper and aluminium fell 3% each to close at US$6947/tonne and
US$1738/tonne respectively.
n LME
inventories trend remained mixed. While copper and zinc inventories fell 6%
and 3% to 0.45 mt and 0.99 mt respectively, aluminium inventories remained
intact at 5.36 mt and lead inventories remained 1% above the last fortnight
to at 0.24 mt.
Believe, developments with respect to QE3 tapering off
would be most important for base metals price movement. Announcement
regarding LME warehouse rules would be also be another important factor.
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