SHANGHAI, Mar 1 (SMM) – More active zinc trading was seen in Guangdong province and Shanghai on Thursday March 1 as sellers offered bigger discounts, SMM learned. Trading in Tianjin was stable.The 0# common brand zinc was trading at 26,220-26,280 yuan/mt in Guangdong, which translated to a discount of 180-160 yuan/mt against the SHFE 1804 zinc contract. The discounts went deeper compared wit...Read More
SHANGHAI, Mar 1 (SMM) -Copper: LME copper lost support at the $7,000/mt level and SHFE copper fell to a low of 52,380 yuan/mt overnight as the US dollar remained strong. With pressure on base metals, we see copper staying rangebound in the short term with possible upward room in the medium term. We expect LME copper to trade at $6,900-6,970/mt and the SHFE 1804 contract to trad...Read More
SHANGHAI, Mar 1 (SMM) – Norilsk nickel in the Shanghai market was offered at a discount of 300 yuan/mt against the Wuxi Stainless Steel Exchange 1803 contract on the morning of Thursday March 1, while Jinchuan was flat at 103,300 yuan/mt, SMM learned.Following a rebound in nickel prices overnight, traders were active selling while downstream customers were more reserved. ...Read More
SHANGHAI, Mar 1 (SMM) – This is a roundup of global macro-economic news last night and what is expected today.Last nightAs the US dollar continued to go up, with the dollar index hitting a post-Chinese New Year high at 90.62, and China’s manufacturing purchasing managers’ index (PMI) failed to meet expectations, we saw a big slump in base metals futures except for SHFE alumi...Read More
Base metals traded on the London Metal Exchange are for the most part consolidating after recent weakness, the exceptions are aluminium prices that are up by 0.7% at $2,147 per tonne and lead prices that are down by 0.5% at $2,490 per tonne. The rest are little changed, with copper prices recently quoted at $6,943 per tonne.Volume has been average with 8,708 lots traded as of 07.12 am London time....Read More
SHANGHAI, Mar 1 (SMM) – This is a roundup of global macro-economic news last night and what is expected today.Last nightAs the US dollar continued to go up, with the dollar index hitting a post-Chinese New Year high at 90.62, and China’s manufacturing purchasing managers’ index (PMI) failed to meet expectations, we saw a big slump in base metals futures except for SHFE alumi...Read More
SHANGHAI, Mar 1 (SMM) -Copper: LME copper lost support at the $7,000/mt level and SHFE copper fell to a low of 52,380 yuan/mt overnight as the US dollar remained strong. With pressure on base metals, we see copper staying rangebound in the short term with possible upward room in the medium term. We expect LME copper to trade at $6,900-6,970/mt and the SHFE 1804 contract to trad...Read More
SHANGHAI, Mar 1 (SMM) -Copper: LME copper lost support at the $7,000/mt level and SHFE copper fell to a low of 52,380 yuan/mt overnight as the US dollar remained strong. With pressure on base metals, we see copper staying rangebound in the short term with possible upward room in the medium term. We expect LME copper to trade at $6,900-6,970/mt and the SHFE 1804 contract to trad...Read More
Codelco's commercial vice president, Rodrigo Toro, and the general manager of its Salvador division, Juan Carlos Avenda??o, are leaving the company, the Chilean copper miner said late on Wednesday February 28.Toro will leave Codelco on April 1 and will be replaced by Roberto Ecclefield, who is currently in charge of sales for the company's...Read More
Nickel stocks in the Shanghai-bonded zone surged in February due to the enlarged negative arbitrage between London Metal Exchange prices and the Chinese domestic market, while higher zinc stocks were attributed to sufficient domestic supply and soft demand in the China market. In February 2018, Shanghai-bonded nickel stocks increased by 69.8% month on month, after the sustained negative arbitrage...Read More
The London Metal Exchange will introduce a financial over-the-counter (OTC) booking fee, which will be payable from June 1, the exchange said on Thursday March 1. Following a consultation period with the market, the exchange announced on Thursday that it will set a OTC booking fee of $1 per equivalent LME lot which will be paid by financial institutions for each OTC trade executed in place of an L...Read More
Iron ore prices recovered some losses on Thursday March 1 and returned above $79 per tonne though demand remained sluggish.Metal Bulletin's 62% Fe Iron Ore Index Today: $79.39 per tonne cfr Qingdao Daily change: up by $0.78 per tonne Month-to-date average: $79.39 per tonne Metal Bulletin's 58% Fe Premium Index Today: $62.05 per tonne cfr QingdaoDaily change: up by $0.43...Read More
Trading activity in the seaborne coking coal market remains thin, though some buyers are expecting prices to rise amid a paucity of Australian supply. A cargo of tier-two product was heard offered around $195-200 per tonne fob Australia while top-tier materials were said to be available at $240-250 per tonne cfr China. "It is definitely a sellers' market at this stage with very few seaborne cargoe...Read More
The London Metal Exchange will introduce a financial over-the-counter (OTC) booking fee, which will be payable from June 1, the exchange said on Thursday March 1. Following a consultation period with the market, the exchange announced on Thursday that it will set a OTC booking fee of $1 per equivalent LME lot which will be paid by financial institutions for each OTC trade executed in place of an L...Read More
Nickel stocks in the Shanghai-bonded zone surged in February due to the enlarged negative arbitrage between London Metal Exchange prices and the Chinese domestic market, while higher zinc stocks were attributed to sufficient domestic supply and soft demand in the China market. In February 2018, Shanghai-bonded nickel stocks increased by 69.8% month on month, after the sustained negative arbitrage...Read More
The global alumina supply picture would likely look very different were it not for the introduction and adoption of alumina indices published by price reporting agencies, according to Mark Roggensinger, senior market analyst at Hydro.Had alumina prices been locked into long-term contracts as a percentage of the aluminium price on the London Metal Exchange, prevailing alumina prices would have been...Read More
Brazil will look for ways to avoid being included in any measures related to the US Section 232 investigation into steel and aluminum imports."The Brazilian government is deeply concerned about the information released today that the United States intends to impose an additional tariff of 25% on steel imports and 10% on aluminium imports as a result of the investigation based on Section 232," the...Read More
Northeast Asia is becoming the "price-maker" for caustic soda going forward, with the market in a price upswing cycle, according to an analyst at IHS Global Chlor-Alkali. "The Northeast Asia region has become today's caustic consumption powerhouse," Hazel Kreuz said, referring to China, Japan, Mongolia and South Korea. "It is shifting to the high cost global chlor-alkali region, becoming the price...Read More
Aluminium and tin were the only base metals on the London Metal Exchange to close the day in positive territory on Thursday March 1, with the rest of the complex diving.Lead prices hit a two-and-a-half-month low of $2,443.50 earlier today and closed down 2.1% after recent stock inflows eased the nearby spreads significantly. The cash/three-month spread is now at a $6.15-per-tonne contango from a $...Read More
Spain, Europe's third largest zinc consumer, used almost a third less zinc last year compared with 2016, according to the World Bureau of Metal Statistics (WBMS). In 2017, the country's annual consumption dropped 28% to 203,900 tonnes, versus 283,400 tonnes a year earlier, the data released on Wednesday February 28 showed. By comparison, there was a 4.3% decline...Read More