Today’s snapshot — 2026-10-09
Top mover: Fastmarkets’ heavy recycled steel materials index, cfr east China, jumped $25.02 (+6.99%) to $383.02 even as the rest of China’s post-holiday tape (iron ore, HRC, steel futures) fell.
Notable prices:
- Heavy recycled steel (China) = $383.02 (25.02)
- Zinc = $3711.2 (-52.35)
- Iron ore 62% Fe CFR China = $92.70 (-2.4)
- Nickel = $15550.0 (-180.0)
Headline driver: China’s return from its National Day holiday set today’s tone — iron ore and HRC export offers slipped and Shanghai steel futures posted their sharpest single-day drop in weeks; per the sanitized brief, oil eased separately on US-Iran diplomatic signals even as Hormuz vessel crossings stayed near a two-month low, a freight-risk thread with no fresh Pakistan price to confirm it.
Action signal: No fresh Pakistan CFR commitments without an executable buyer and carrier-confirmed freight; Turkish mills are leaning on scrap sellers to protect their own margins (a fresh Dutch HMS cargo cleared below offer) — a supplier-side signal, not a Pakistan one.