Specialty and minor metals
Overview
As demand for semi-conductors, touch-screens and other highly engineered products continues to grow, manufactures rely on the Argus metals price data and reliable market intelligence to track volatility and specialty materials and manage their impact on production costs.
Argus covers electronic, light and high-temperature metals, as well as specialist alloys and rare earths, through Argus Non-Ferrous Markets, Argus Battery Materials and the Argus Rare Earths Analytics service.
Electronic metals
Argus delivers transparent price data, market news and analysis across base metals, minor metals and battery materials to allow downstream participants to achieve a sustainable supply of electronic metals and reduce their exposure to price risk, all while researching and tracking individual materials in their components.
- Arsenic prices
- Bismuth prices
- Gallium prices
- Germanium prices
- Indium prices
- Selenium prices
- Tantalum prices
- Tellurium prices
- Zirconium prices
Light metals
Argus is the leader in light metals price data and serves the most active consuming regions globally in aerospace, automotive and other highly engineered industries. Manufacturers of alloyed materials and light metals benefit from both primary and scrap material coverage in the Argus suite of products.
High-temperature metals
Some materials necessitate higher temperature and corrosion resistance beyond that offered by carbon steel, these often rely on a proprietary blend of alloyed materials. Argus worked closely with manufacturers to develop the Alloy Calculator tool, a one-stop solution for estimating the current value of raw materials in their specific composition to price even the most specific blends of alloys to be priced in primary and scrap form.
- Chromium prices
- Cobalt prices
- Hafnium prices
- Molybdenum prices
- Niobium prices
- Rhenium prices
- Tantalum prices
- Tungsten prices
- Tungsten outlooks
- Vanadium prices
Highlights of specialty metals coverage
- Independent reference prices for highly illiquid markets and niche materials
- Brings transparency to markets with few global suppliers but increasing global demand
- Exchange data with 30-minute delay standard and the option to add real-time
- Twice weekly global bulk alloys, noble alloys and steel feedstock prices
- Comprehensive global electronic metals price assessments
- High-temperature metals price assessments, including full scope of tungsten coverage with optional short and long-term forecasting
- Light metals including a suite of titanium and aerospace-grade price assessments
- Rare earths prices assessments with short and long-term forecasts
- Electronic vehicle and aerospace raw materials coverage, including highly engineered components and structural materials
- Coverage of supply chain issues, including demand, capacity, risks to responsible sourcing and supply
- Alloy Calculator tool allows easy identification of cost implications for material substitutions in any alloyed metals
- Synthetic prices can be created in the Alloy Calculator to provide material value in the absence of spot market assessments
Latest specialty and minor metals news
Browse the latest market moving news on the specialty and minor metals industry.
Liberty units to be repaid in Speciality restructuring
Liberty units to be repaid in Speciality restructuring
London, 29 November (Argus) — GFG Alliance entities Marble Power and Liberty Fe Trade DMCC will be excluded from Liberty Speciality Steel's restructuring plan, meaning they will be repaid, according to documents seen by Argus . GFG Alliance is the overall parent of Liberty Steel and all its subsidiaries. Speciality Steel owes and will pay Marble Power, its power supplier, around £11.5mn. Liberty Fe Trade is owed £1.4mn for the procurement of software licences, and will not have sufficient reserves to cover those licences without being paid. Liberty declined to comment. In total, GFG Alliance entities are owed over £288mn by Speciality Steel, but aside from Marble Power and Liberty Fe Trade, those claims will be released, reflecting a "significant contribution" from the wider parent, according to the restructuring documentation. In the event that Speciality Steel creditors accept its restructuring, enabling the company to keep operating, it will reduce its higher-margin aerospace work "as it is unable to retain quantities produced during the last two years for its largest two customers beyond the first half of 2025", Liberty's business plan states. Two main aerospace customers are supporting the business through upfront payments and premiums for accelerate deliveries, but this arrangement will end by May 2025, after which aerospace work will be significantly reduced. Key customers will provide £27.5mn in cash support to January 2025. As the aerospace work winds down, the company will "hire out the excess capacity to another steel producer", and discussions about this are continuing. Market sources have said Speciality could produce billet for British Steel's rolling operations. Going forward, Speciality will focus on vacuum-induction melting at Stocksbridge for other industries, such as oil and gas, and industrial engineering. Speciality will also source steel — including semi-finished products — externally to "increase deliverability of customer products". The business plan envisages the ebitda margin increasing from minus 188pc in February-March 2025 to 2pc in 2026. The plan assumes steady production through the year, other than seasonally reduced capacity in December and August. This would be a big change from this year, with just 50,000t of steel emerging from the electric arc furnace, which has a capacity closer to 1mn t/yr. By Colin Richardson Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2024. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
Japan’s Al imports rebound in October
Japan’s Al imports rebound in October
Shanghai, 29 November (Argus) — Japanese aluminium imports hit a peak for the year in October as buyers began restocking after a few months of inactivity. Imports of primary aluminium in October increased by 41.8pc from September and 20pc from the previous year, totalling 103,989t. This brought the total imports from January to October to 870,942t, marking a 0.6pc decrease compared with the same period last year, data from the Japanese finance ministry shows. India surpassed other major suppliers in October to become the largest supplier for the first time. Japanese buyers maintained low price expectations, pushing many suppliers to redirect their allocation to other markets owing to tight supply. Production of domestic aluminium goods in October decreased by 1.1pc year on year to 149,884t, according to the Japan Aluminium Association. Domestic shipments of aluminium products increased slightly by 1.1pc year on year to 151,077t, marking the first rise in three months. The car production and construction sectors remained quiet. Japan's domestic automobile production in October was largely stable year on year, but the number of new housing projects decreased by 0.6pc to 68,548 units in September, according to the latest industrial data. Japan's imports of secondary aluminium alloy ingots (ADC12) also hit a one-year high in October, increasing by 37.2pc year on year and reaching 110,680t, data from the finance ministry show. Japan's aluminium imports t Oct-24 Sep-24 ± % Jan-Oct 2024 Jan-Oct 2023 ± % India 22,897 1,466 1,461.6 93,753 68,942 36.0 Australia 22,830 21,997 3.8 235,745 245,798 -4.1 Brazil 14,895 11,302 31.8 142,514 137,261 3.8 UAE 10,481 5,973 75.5 93,544 76,189 22.8 New Zealand 7,983 8,497 -6.0 88,547 93,991 -5.8 South Africa 5,756 7,984 -27.9 63,314 56,827 11.4 Saudi Arabia 3,543 3,257 8.8 30,726 31,612 -2.8 Malaysia 3,199 5,807 -44.9 34,438 38,443 -10.4 Bahrain 2,207 878 151.3 15,645 30,463 -48.6 Russia 503 139 260.9 22,343 70,591 -68.3 Others 9,695 6,027 60.8 50,374 25,852 94.9 Total 103,989 73,327 41.8 870,942 875,969 -0.6 Source: Ministry of Finance Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2024. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
Tharisa’s profits up on higher chrome production
Tharisa’s profits up on higher chrome production
London, 28 November (Argus) — South African platinum group metals (PGM) and chrome producer Tharisa's full-year 2024 profits rose as revenue from higher chrome production offset low PGM prices, the company announced in its annual results today. The company reported an operating profit of $119.6mn for the financial year. The increase of 26.3pc compared with 2023 was attributed to higher chrome prices that offset lower PGM prices and sales volumes. Chrome ore production contributed 68pc of Tharisa's revenue for the year. Specialty chemicals group Johnson Matthey priced platinum at $945/troy ounce (toz) today, down by 7pc since the start of the year. Palladium prices also fell, down by 14pc since the beginning of 2024 at $998/toz today. In Tharisa's October production report , the company said that chrome concentrate production over the 2024 financial year ending on 30 September was the highest in company history at 1.7mn t, up by 8pc from 2023. Tharisa produced 145,100oz PGM (6E), a 0.3pc increase from the previous financial year. The company is proceeding with plans to expand the Tharisa mine underground, with design, technical and feasibility studies expected to be finalised in the second quarter of 2025. The development is expected to extend the lifespan of the mine by 40 years. Tharisa also said it is continuing development of the Karo Platinum Project mine, although the challenging PGM price landscape led the company to slow the project timeline. By Ellanee Kruck Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2024. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
Ambatovy to complete debt restructuring by Dec
Ambatovy to complete debt restructuring by Dec
London, 28 November (Argus) — Madagascan nickel project Ambatovy — one of the world's main sources of nickel briquette — has had a debt restructuring plan accepted by a British court, according to an announcement made today by Japanese nickel mining and trading group Sumitomo Corporation. The group expects to complete the restructuring in early December, it said, adding that it was considering all options for Ambatovy in lieu of the low nickel price environment as well as its social obligations. Production at Ambatovy was suspended in early October following damage to a slurry pipeline used to transport ore from its mine to its refinery. Operations resumed under close monitoring at the end of October, but future production plans are under review owing to the plant's high costs of production that are set against a sharp drop in nickel prices this year. In the six months to 30 September, Ambatovy experienced a nickel price drop of 19pc on a year-on-year basis to $7.87/lb, driving a decline in nickel output of 16pc to 16,000t. Benchmark nickel prices on the London Metal Exchange are currently hovering around $16,000/t, at least $10,000/t below Ambatovy's costs of production, traders surveyed by Argus said. By Raghav Jain Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2024. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
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