Global Steel & Metals Market News, Prices & Analysis

DAILY SCRAP REPORT: US scrap export prices fall; ex-Europe prices likely to firm
February 3, 2012 - 13:50 GMT
Metal Bulletin’s Daily Ferrous Scrap Index fell to $433.64 per tonne cfr Iskenderun for HMS 1&2 (80:20) on Friday February 3, from $434.21 a day earlier.
SHFE copper up 0.1% week-on-week
February 3, 2012 - 10:59 GMT
Shanghai Futures Exchange copper prices inched up just 0.1% on Thursday, with Chinese demand yet to pick up from the holiday lull.
OPEN LETTER FROM MFGUK CLIENTS: 'We have formed a group to protect our interests'
February 3, 2012 - 09:09 GMT
Dear Sir, We have formed a non-statutory group of former clients of MF Global UK to essentially protect our interests, which are being undermined by the very system that is supposed to be protecting them in the UK, and outline solutions for this debacle.
KPMG: some MF Global customers claim to be clients, but are only creditors [UPDATE]
February 3, 2012 - 09:00 GMT
The administrator for former London Metal Exchange broker MF Global UK Ltd, which went bankrupt in October, says that claimants against the company are arguing that they have the rights of clients when in fact MF Global’s records suggest they are unsecured creditors.
Spot 63.5% Fe iron ore price extends gains after Chinese New Year
February 3, 2012 - 08:58 GMT
China's imported iron ore market moved up by $2 in the first week after the Chinese New Year holiday, supported by bullish sentiment on mills’ restocking.

Base metals

COMMENT: Glenstrata still has to break the mould

The news that Glencore and Xstrata are in merger talks would only come as a surprise to someone living under a rock, and only then if said rock did not contain any valuable minerals. But now that talks of a tie-up of the world’s largest metals trader and its fourth largest miner have finally moved into the boardroom, hypothetical questions have become real, and the answers are far from certain.
APEX FULL YEAR 2011: Base metal forecasts: astounding accuracy

Astounding upon astounding: that is how the 2011 leaderboard for Apex, the Metal Bulletin service that tracks the performance of over twenty top base metal price forecasters, appears when you consider it coldly.
Raising fees could imperil LME date structure: a broker writes

The London Metal Exchange plans to introduce a fee for client trades from March. The proposal has aroused some opposition, and prompted one broker to write to Metal Bulletin, requesting anonymity. Here he outlines his concerns. How justified are they? Email aharrison@metalbulletin.com, or tweet @aharrison_mb