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Latest Market News

Australian iron ore port Hedland reopens after cyclone

  • Spanish Market: Metals
  • 14/04/23

Australia's Pilbara Ports Authority (PPA) has reopened major iron ore harbour Port Hedland at 11am local time (3am GMT) on 14 April, with the port undamaged by tropical cyclone Ilsa.

The red alert has been lifted for the Port Hedland region, as the cyclone tracks inland after crossing the Western Australia (WA) coastline at midnight. PPA is liaising with terminal and vessel operators, as well as stakeholders to plan the restart of shipping. No vessels have been loaded at the port since 12 April, when the port was cleared ahead of the cyclone.

The storm made landfall 130km east of Port Hedland at category 5 intensity, with Australia's Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) reporting extreme wind gusts of up to 274 km/h. The latest update rated Ilsa as a category 3 system, with sustained winds near the centre of 120 km/h with wind gusts up to 165 km/h as it moves southwest towards the Northern Territory border. BoM advises heavy rain totals of between 150-200mm are possible on 14 April along the cyclone's path, with Australian miner Newcrest Mining's gold-copper mine at Telfer expected to be impacted by the storm later in the day. Newcrest is maintaining only a skeleton crew on site at Telfer as the cyclone approaches, with a company spokeswoman saying it was too early to assess the impact on operations.

BHP, Fortescue, Roy Hill, Hancock Prospecting and Mineral Resources all export iron ore via Port Hedland. A Fortescue spokesperson said the company is in the process of assessing the safety of its assets, but initial reports show no major damage has been reported across its Pilbara operations. Monitoring will continue over the coming days to assess potential flooding risk.

Iron ore prices have slumped because of the closure of Port Hedland and softer demand from China. This is in addition to planned maintenance at Port Hedland and Port Walcott that is likely to slow exports during April.

The Argus ICX 62pc index fell by $2.05/dry metric tonne (dmt) to $118/dmt cfr Qingdao as of 13 April. The 65pc index fell by $2/dmt to $133.35/dmt.

By Tom Major

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06/02/26

Australia’s Pilbara shuts LNG, iron ore ports on storm

Australia’s Pilbara shuts LNG, iron ore ports on storm

Sydney, 6 February (Argus) — Australian port authority Pilbara Ports will clear all berths at the Ports of Ashburton, Cape Preston West, Dampier, and Varanus Island by 4pm local time (8am GMT) on 6 February, while Port Hedland will be closed by 9.30pm local time, it said today. Pilbara Ports will move ships out of the ports, which handle LNG and iron ore exports, because of the fast-developing Tropical Low 21U storm, it added. The port authority moved the export hubs into Cyclone Alert 2 earlier this week, market participants told Argus on 5 February. Tropical Low 21U is currently hovering off the coast of Western Australia's (WA) Kimberley region, according to the Australian Bureau of Meteorology (BoM). It is likely to develop into a cyclone by 8am local time on 7 February, as it moves south towards WA's iron ore-rich Pilbara region, BoM forecasts show. The weather system may pass close to Dampier early on 8 February. Producers shipped 1.4mn t of LNG out of Dampier port in December, down by 12pc on the year, and 15mn t of iron ore , up by 9pc on the year. Pilbara Ports' other export hubs handled 52mn t of iron ore in December. WA ports have faced weather disruptions before. Four cyclones lashed Pilbara in January-February 2025, pushing down producer BHP and Rio Tinto's WA iron ore sales in the first quarter of 2025. Cyclone Sean flooded a railcar dumper at Rio Tinto's East Intercourse Island (EEI) facility at Dampier on 20 January 2025, halting loadings at the site until early March. But Rio Tinto continued to move ore out of other WA facilities over that period. By Avinash Govind Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2026. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.

Alphabet to hike data center spending in 2026

05/02/26
05/02/26

Alphabet to hike data center spending in 2026

Pittsburgh, 5 February (Argus) — California-based Alphabet, the parent company of Google, will spend more in 2026 for data center construction. The company plans to invest $175bn-$185bn through 2026, about double from 2025, with the vast majority of that going towards technical infrastructure such as artificial intelligence (AI) development and power-hungry data center construction. Alphabet expects roughly 40pc of its spending to go to data center construction and networking equipment, with the other 60pc going to data servers. The ratio mirrors its spending proportions in 2025. The company spent $91.4bn on data centers and servers through 2025, with $27.9bn coming in the fourth quarter alone. Such an investment will support the US steel industry, which has increasingly relied on data center construction and related infrastructure as key drivers of steel demand. Steel mills and major converters have cited data center construction as an outlet for growth heading into 2026 while more consumer-facing industries, like housing and automotive, were struggling to grow with elevated interest rates straining consumers' borrowing and financing power. Total private construction spending in the US reached $42.5bn in October 2025 on a seasonally adjusted annual basis, the highest rate posted on record, according to preliminary numbers from the US Census Bureau. October's spending rate was 18pc higher than in 2024 and 78pc higher than 2023 levels. Alphabet was encouraged by AI development and adoption in the wider economy, saying its service backlog grew by 55pc quarter-over-quarter to $240bn, driven by demand for AI products. "We've been supply-constrained, even as we've been ramping up our capacity" chief executive Sundar Pichai said when referring to AI capabilities. By Aaron May Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2026. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.

Flacks Group opens door to British Steel acquisition

05/02/26
05/02/26

Flacks Group opens door to British Steel acquisition

London, 5 February (Argus) — US-based Flacks Group is assessing a potential takeover of British Steel for a nominal sum of money with the aim of making the steelmaker a profitable company again, the private-equity firm told Argus on Thursday. The firm argued that the UK government needs a solution after initially stepping in to save the company because the government does not want to own the plant long term. "They are losing too much money there," a source said. The UK government took control of British Steel on 12 April under emergency powers, citing an urgent need to secure raw materials and keep the blast furnaces running at the company's Scunthorpe site. "British Steel has challenges, but it is also of critical importance — Britain can't turn the lights out on all its steel plants," Flacks said. The firm said that if a deal was going to go through, government authorities would have to help with electrification of the plant. As part of its medium to long-term plan for the plant, Flacks has said it would leverage the expertise of the Acciaierie d'Italia (ADI) management team to help stabilise and modernise British Steel. Flacks is in negotiations with the Italian government over the potential takeover of ADI. The firm was selected as the winner of the tender for the troubled Italian steelmaker in late December. Commenting on the specifics of any potential deal to take over British Steel is not possible yet because contact with government officials over such a deal is still not advanced, Flacks said. The idea of merging Liberty Speciality Stocksbridge with British Steel has been floated in the past, with some government support behind this idea, according to market participants. Carlo Da Cas and Aaron May Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2026. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.

US, Australia back Ardea’s Goongarie Hub Ni, Co project

05/02/26
05/02/26

US, Australia back Ardea’s Goongarie Hub Ni, Co project

Sydney, 5 February (Argus) — Government lenders in Australia and the US may give Australian developer Ardea Resources up to $700mn in co-funding to support its Goongarrie Hub nickel and cobalt project in Western Australia (WA), the company announced today. Australian lender Export Finance Australia (EFA) and the US government's Export-Import Bank (EXIM) have each issued non-binding letters for up to $350mn of financial support for Goongarrie, Ardea Resources said. EFA's letter was denominated in Australian dollars. "Ardea looks forward to working closely with EFA, EXIM, and other ally-nation export credit agencies to develop Goongarrie," the company's managing director Andrew Penkethman said. Ardea plans to produce 29,000 t/yr of nickel metal and 2,100 t/yr of cobalt metal in mixed hydroxide precipitate at Goongarrie, according to a critical minerals prospectus released by Australia's government on 4 February. But only 25pc of the project's output is available for offtake, according to the prospectus. Ardea aims to complete a definitive feasibility study for Goongarrie in the first half of 2026, it said in January. The company will run the project as a joint venture with Japanese trading firms Sumitomo Metal Mining and Mitsubishi. Australian forecaster the Office of the Chief Economist (OCE) expects domestic nickel mine production to fall over the coming years, from 62,000t in the July 2024–June 2025 fiscal year to 47,000t in 2026-27, according to December 2025 forecasts. But multiple governments are looking to promote Australian critical mineral production. The US and Australia agreed in October 2025 to co-invest at least $3bn into critical mineral projects . EXIM issued letters of support for up to $2.2bn of co-funding at the time. Australia also plans to work with Japan's government to build secure critical mineral supply chains, the country's foreign minister Penny Wong said in September 2025. By Avinash Govind Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2026. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.

US vehicle sales hit 3-year low in January

04/02/26
04/02/26

US vehicle sales hit 3-year low in January

Houston, 4 February (Argus) — A sharp drop-off in truck purchases sent US light vehicle sales in January to their lowest level in nearly three years, as low consumer confidence weighed on spending and ongoing supply challenges limited domestic automotive production. Sales of light vehicles — pickup trucks and cars — fell to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 14.9mn units in January, down from 16mn in December, the Bureau of Economic Analysis reported this week. Last month's total was down from January 2025's annualized rate of 15.5mn and the lowest since 14.9mn in February 2023. Light truck sales declined by 7.5pc to a 12.3mn unit annual rate in January, while car sales ticked lower 2.6pc to a 2.6mn unit rate in the same timeframe. Buyers slowed purchases following the holiday season, as macroeconomic challenges that began last year persisted into 2026. Uncertainty around geopolitical developments, along with concerns around a short-lived US government shutdown and high borrowing costs have pressured consumer confidence. Reduced supply of new vehicles also limited selling opportunities, as a prolonged outage at aluminum-roller Novelis' facility in Oswego, New York, has impacted automakers' build rates — most notable Ford's — and forced car dealerships to move older inventory. US vehicle production in December was relatively flat at a seasonally adjusted rate of 9.5mn sequentially, only down by 170,000 units from November, the latest Federal Reserve data shows. Last month's total marked the third straight month of output falling below a 10mn unit rate. Auto assemblies are reported with a one-month lag to sales. By Alex Nicoll Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2026. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.

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