US moves closer to rare earth supply chain for defence
US president Donald Trump has signed five memoranda establishing a requirement to fund the development of a US rare earth supply chain from ore to metal to magnet.
The memoranda were signed under the Defence Production Act, which includes a provision for the purchase of resources or critical technology to restore the domestic industrial base essential for national defence (Section 303). The five requirements are for US capacity to separate and process heavy rare earths, light rare earths, the production of neodymium-iron-born NdFeB magnets, samarium-cobalt magnets and rare earth metals and alloys.
Rising tensions between the US and China have focused attention on the US' dependence on imports of rare earth products and permanent magnets that are critical to defence applications and aerospace.
China produces about 80pc of the total global supply of rare earth permanent magnets and rare earth materials. The US has no capacity to separate rare earths, produce metal, alloys or magnets, and it has just one producing mine, Mountain Pass in California, that exports its offtake.
There is no heavy rare earth separation capacity outside of China or production of samarium. There is commercial light rare earth separation capacity in France, Estonia, Kazakhstan, Vietnam and Malaysia, where Australian rare earth producer Lynas has the largest light rare earth separation plant in the world. Rare earth alloys are made in the UK, Vietnam and Japan, and rare earth permanent magnets are made in Germany and Japan.
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Mexico June trade gap driven by falling crude exports
Mexico June trade gap driven by falling crude exports
Mexico City, 13 August (Argus) — Mexico's trade balance swung to a deficit of $1.04bn in June, impacted by reduced oil exports at lower prices and a weaker peso. The trade gap in June flipped from a $1.99bn surplus in May, acccording to statistics agency Inegi's final estimate, as exports fell at nearly twice the rate of declines in imports. Exports fell by 12pc to $48.9bn in June from the prior month, while imports declined by 7pc to $49.9bn from the prior month. The trade balance was in deficit for four of the six months in the first half of 2024. The deficit in the first half of the year was $5.5bn compared with a $6.5bn deficit a year earlier. In explaining the June deficit, Banorte cited "a slight moderation in oil prices relative to May, with the Mexican oil mix averaging $73.49/b in the month; a depreciation of the Mexican peso; and the temporary suspension of exports of some agricultural products to the US." Likewise, exports were down 5.7pc from June 2023, while imports were 3.6pc lower than a year earlier. The deficit was below Mexican bank Banorte's forecast for a $450mn surplus in June. Inegi breaks Mexico's trade data into two broad categories of "oil" and "non-oil", where the oil category includes crude, natural gas, oil derivatives and petrochemicals. Non-oil includes everything else from light vehicles and farm goods to copper and other mined minerals, Exports in the broad oil category declined by 33pc to $2.1bn in June from $3.2bn in May, with imports down by 13pc at $2.82bn in June from $3.23bn in May. Exports were down by 27pc from a year prior, with imports down by 26pc. Within this, crude exports were valued at $1.73bn in June, a sharp drop from $2.15bn in May and lower than the $2.44bn in the same month of 2023. Natural gas imports, meanwhile, were valued at $395mn in June from $316mn in May and $469mn in June 2023. Non-oil exports reached $46.8bn in June, with $15.6bn from automotive exports. This was down by 5pc and 5.2pc, respectively from May. Still, as reported last week by Mexico's auto associations , auto exports have climbed by 8.4pc in the first seven months of the year from a year earlier. By James Young Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2024. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
India's Facor cleared for Odisha ferro-chrome expansion
India's Facor cleared for Odisha ferro-chrome expansion
Mumbai, 13 August (Argus) — Indian producer Vedanta-Ferro Alloy Corporation (Facor) has received permission from India's environment ministry for a ferro-chrome capacity expansion at its plant in east India's Odisha state. The company plans to more than double its ferro-chrome production capacity from 145,000 t/yr to 300,000 t/yr by adding two new furnaces at its Bhadrak district plant. The firm has receives all required permissions, including environment clearances, and expects to complete the project by 2026. Chrome ore production during April-June at Vedanta subsidiary Ferro Alloys rose by 5pc from a year earlier to 80,000t. Ferro-chrome production nearly trebled to 28,000t from 10,000t the previous year, driven by enhanced productivity at the charge chrome plant but also reflecting operations being disrupted during April-June 2023. By Deepika Singh Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2024. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
UK TRA proposes 2.9mn t HRC import quota
UK TRA proposes 2.9mn t HRC import quota
London, 9 August (Argus) — The UK Trade Remedies Authority (TRA) has recommended splitting the country's safeguard import quota for hot-rolled coil (HRC) into two, and has increased it to almost 3mn t. The quota for HRC, product category one, is currently around 1mn t and divided on a country-by-country basis. The TRA has recommended splitting the product into 1a and 1b, with 1a remaining distributed as 1 currently is and have an around 1mn t allocation, and with 1b having a 1.9 mn t volume that can be sourced from anywhere. 1b is for "downstream processing", which does not include coil being turned into hot-rolled sheet. It will predominantly be used by UK-based producer Tata, although some others, such as tube manufacturers, may also be able to use it. And 1b will have a cap of around 37-42pc, to ensure no one exporter dominates the quota. The TRA started a review of the quota in February, in response to Tata's increased import requirements as it takes down its blast furnaces ahead of the installation of a 3mn t electric arc furnace in 2027. "We propose maintaining the current quota volumes for steel used for commercial applications and creating a new quota accessible for downstream processing". Sources suggest Tata will initially be looking to import around 2mn t of HRC and 1mn t of slab before the expansion of its Kalinganagar site in India is complete, after which it intends to ramp up slab purchases to around 1.5mn t. By Colin Richardson Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2024. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
PCI price relativity to PLV climbs to a high
PCI price relativity to PLV climbs to a high
Shanghai, 9 August (Argus) — Opposing fundamentals in the Australian pulverised coal injection (PCI) market and premium low-volatile (PLV) coking coal market narrowed the price spread between the indexes. But it remains to be seen whether market conditions will continue to support strength in PCI prices. Market fundamentals of the two products have been vastly different in the past two months, with a mismatch of firm demand and tight supply supporting PCI prices, while PLV continues to decline in an oversupplied market amid a persistently weak steel sector. The Argus daily fob Australia assessment for low-volatile PCI increased by $25/t from 14 June to $205.50/t on 5 July, the highest level since 6 November 2023, before gradually declining to $185/t on 8 August. But PCI prices remain high, with July's average relativity to the fob Australia PLV index at 83pc compared with an average relativity of 61pc in the first half of this year. Meanwhile, the Argus -assessed Australian PLV index has fallen by $47.10/t from 2 July to $212.50/t on 31 July, the lowest level since August 2022, before making a small recovery to $215/t on 1 August. Prices held steady for four days before inching down again to $213.75/t on 8 August in a subdued market. Bottlenecks on Russian railways tightening Russians PCI supply and demand centered in south America, Europe and southeast Asia have contributed to stronger Australian PCI prices. "Russian supply definitely seems tighter than many expected, with a lot of term customers scrambling to bring forward or increase term allocations," an Australian supplier said. "The fob Australia PCI market is currently a seller's market. Buyers are trying to find out what cargoes are available but there are hardly any volumes that can be sold on the spot market as term buyers are still trying to increase term volumes." Some buyers, particularly in northeast Asia, have also looked to reduce their reliance on Russian coal. "Because of growing US sanctions on Russian suppliers, some buyers are trying to increase their intake of Australian PCI, which is in short supply, so they may not have many options other than to pay up," an international trading source said. But the switch remains unattractive for buyers with access to Russian supplies as they continued to express reticence towards the recent increase in Australian PCI prices. A northeast Asian buyer that was in the market for August-loading PCI eventually bought Russia-origin PCI at $165/t on a cfr basis on 23 July, noting its price competitiveness when compared with indicative offers of Australian low-volatile PCI at about $200/t fob at that time. Expectations that PLV prices would fall further have prompted questions about whether current PCI prices can continue to remain firm. "The PCI market remains relatively tight, but if there are end-users in Europe or southeast Asia reselling premium hard coking coal cargoes, it means production is down and they will not need as much PCI as before," an Australian producer said. "Effectively, PCI is a coke replacement, in that it reduces the amount of coke needed to make a tonne of steel," an international trading firm said. "So if PCI prices get too close to, or above, the other coking coal tiers, you would just make more coke and use less PCI." Fob Australia PCI vs fob Australia coking coal $/t Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2024. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
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