Chinese steel prices have been rangebound in June despite plunging inventory levels, with trade war fears and economic jitters keeping market participants on the sidelines for most of the month.Lower steel stocks held by mills and traders typically cause jumps in futures and physical spot trading prices, but this has not happened recently because Chinese market participants are still assessing the...Read More
Base metals on the London Metal Exchange were mostly higher at the close of trading on Friday June 29, ending the week on a slightly brighter note despite broad pressure from trade tensions and dollar strength. Continuing to struggle, zinc prices made a brief recovery during the day, moving back above $2,900 per tonne before drifting back toward $2,850 per tonne.The metal's three-month price made...Read More
The persistent widening backwardation on the July/August spread has pushed aluminium premiums in Rotterdam to their lowest this year, with bearish sentiment sweeping the market.The benchmark Rotterdam duty-unpaid P1020 aluminium in-warehouse premium has fallen to $85-95 per tonne on Friday June 29 from $90-100 per tonne assessed on June 19, which held for 10 assessments. This is over 40% lower tha...Read More
The seaborne coking coal market remained quiet on Friday June 29 on subdued demand and sustained bearish sentiment. "Despite the lack of trades, premium materials should still be assessed at around $195-200 per tonne fob Australia. It would be challenging to get a premium cargo below this range," an Indian trader said. "There are too many uncertainties at the moment. The looming China-US trade war...Read More
Gold has been weak for the past several weeks. So what gives?Gold prices have been trading in a tightening wedge pattern (between its rising trendline and horizontal resistance - see point 1) for several months. Bouncing back and forth in a narrowing range.The latest test of horizontal resistance failed yet again, leading to a reversal that is trying to breakdown below the rising trend line (A).T...Read More
SHANGHAI, Jun 29 (SMM) – Copper inventory in Shanghai bonded area stood at 492,500 mt as of Friday June 29, compared with 494,000 mt last Friday. Customs clearance losses were still seen this week amid thin trading of imported copper, SMM learned. Read More
SHANGHAI, Jun 29 (SMM) – Treatment charges (TCs) of imported clean copper concentrate for the week ended Friday June 29 rose $3/mt from a week ago to stand at $83-90/mt, according to SMM assessment.This led to higher refining charges by 0.3 cent/lb, to 8.3-9.0 cent/lb on the week. These marked the sixth consecutive week of increase. Read More
SHANGHAI, Jun 29 (SMM) – Nonferrous metals futures saw mixed trading on Friday June 29. SHFE nickel gained nearly 1.1%, while zinc and lead inched up. Copper lost 0.21%, aluminium fell 0.32%, and tin closed 0.39% lower. The ferrous complex rose across the board with coke leading the gains with a rise of nearly 3.1%. Rebar jumped 1.9%, iron ore grew 1.6%, hot-rolled coil at 1.4% higher,...Read More
SHANGHAI, Jun 25 (SMM) – Spot copper was mostly offered at a discount of 190-140 yuan/mt to the SHFE 1807 contract in the Shanghai market on Friday June 29. This narrowed from a discount of 200-150 yuan/mt a day earlier.The SHFE 1807 contract faced pressure at 51,600 yuan/mt after rising to a high of 51,590 yuan/mt in the afternoon.On the last trading day of June, transactions were mostly co...Read More
SHANGHAI, Jun 29 (SMM) –Copper: LME copper fell to a low of $6,589.5/mt during the European trading hours as longs saw limited support both from the macro and fundamental fronts. The SHFE 1808 contract rose above the daily moving average after touching a low of 51,080 yuan/mt. Copper prices remained under pressure in the short term given the strong US dollar and bearish sentiment in emerging...Read More
Prices for alloy steel scrap in the United Kingdom and Europe were unchanged this week despite falls in the price of both ferro-chrome and nickel.The third-quarter ferro-chrome benchmark settled at $1.38 per lb this week, a drop from the second-quarter price of $1.42 per lb.Meanwhile, the London Metal Exchange three-month official nickel bid/offer spread was at $14,795/15,000 per tonne on Friday,...Read More
Indian flat steel producers are likely to roll over domestic prices of commercial-grade hot-rolled coil (HRC) for July sales.Officials from at least two major flat steel mills confirmed a rollover of HRC prices for July while pointing out that a reduction in HRC prices is unlikely because production costs for mills will rise to reflect the significant weakening of the rupee against the dollar. The...Read More
Zorba suppliers in the United States are pounding the pavement in search of new outlets, with evaporating demand from China creating a supply overhang that is beginning to erode some domestic secondary aluminium scrap prices."There's a huge overhang of zorba in the market. The China impact has caught up. There are people getting shipments rejected, so they're cautious. Containers are on hold, reje...Read More
Correspondent Dalton Barker recaps the week in the non-ferrous markets.Read More
Metal Bulletin rounds up some of the key news and price moves from the past week in the world's metal markets. Base metals The persistent widening backwardation on the July/August spread has pushed aluminium premiums in Rotterdam to their lowest this year, with bearish sentiment sweeping the market. Premiums for the supply of aluminium to main Japanese ports (MJP) for the third quarter of 2018 hav...Read More
JSE-listed Rockwell Diamonds will not be able to file audited versions of its annual financial statements for the year ended February 28, by the required deadline of June 30, the company said in a statement on Friday.The embattled company's shares were delisted from the TSX at the end of August 2017 and concurrently listed on the NEX, a separate board of the TSX Venture Exchange.AdvertisementT...Read More
PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Diamond miner Lucapa Diamond Company has recovered an 89 ct yellow diamond from the current bulk sampling programme at its Mothae project, in Lesotho.The bulk sampling programme is designed to expand and improve the current Mothae resource by processing areas of the kimberlite pipe which are either not included in the resource, or where Lucapa believes there has be...Read More
The Midwest aluminium premium in the United States logged a second consecutive drop, with market participants pointing to the growing backwardation of aluminium prices on the London Metal Exchange as the primary driver. American Metal Market assessed the spot P1020 premium at 20.5-21 cents per lb on Friday June 29, down from 21.25-21.5 cents per lb on June 26 and the lowest lev...Read More
Nickel prices on the London Metal Exchange have been volatile throughout June, with macroeconomic-driven price dips clouding investor sentiment. The three-month nickel price has fluctuated by $1,340 between a monthly low of $14,505 per tonne and the June high of $15,845 per tonne so far this month. Trade tensions and a strong dollar are weighing on nickel prices, while market participants are expe...Read More