EUROPEAN MORNING BRIEF 28/11: Codelco 2018 Asian copper cathode premium; China FeCr Dec tender prices; Rio Tinto chairman search

Good morning from Metal Bulletin’s office in Singapore, as we bring you the latest news and pricing stories on Tuesday November 28.

Copper prices on the Shanghai Futures Exchange weakened during Asian morning trading on Tuesday, with investors taking profits amid concerns about economic growth in China.

Check Metal Bulletin’s live futures report here.

LME snapshot at 05:04am London time
Latest three-month LME Prices
  Price
($ per tonne)
Change since yesterday’s close ($)
Copper 6,866 -76
Aluminium 2,118 -17
Lead 2,446 -19
Zinc 3,162 -25
Tin 19,490 -35
Nickel 11,380 -190

SHFE snapshot at 13:00pm Shanghai time
Most-traded SHFE contracts
  Price
(yuan per tonne)
Change since yesterday’s close (yuan)
Copper (January) 53,350 -420
Aluminium (January) 14,740 -190
Zinc (January) 24,970 -50
Lead (January) 18,295 -5
Tin  (January) 143,000 -120
Nickel  (May) 91,810 -2,240

Codelco has increased its 2018 copper cathode premium for its customers in Taiwan, Japan and South Korea by 3% to $70 per tonne, industry sources told Metal Bulletin on Tuesday.

Major Chinese stainless steel mills Tsingshan Group, Baosteel and Taiyuan Iron&Steel have lowered their high-carbon ferro-chrome tender prices for December due to sufficient domestic and foreign supply as well as weak demand for Chinese stainless steel products.

Mining giant Rio Tinto has retracted its offer to a new chairman after pressure from a group of shareholders. Andrea Hotter has the details.

Union workers at the Aluminerie de Bécancour Inc aluminium smelter in the Canadian province of Quebec remained on the job on Monday despite no deal being reached in an ongoing labor dispute with the company.

Union workers at the Noranda Income Fund zinc processing facility in Salaberry-de-Valleyfield, Quebec, voted in favor of a new collective agreement, marking the end of a nine-month strike.

USS-Posco Industries has joined an effort by US steel mills east and west of the Rocky Mountains to raise sheet prices by at least $30 per ton ($1.50 per hundredweight).

US import prices for some steel wire rod shipments have started to slip after sellers felt compelled to accommodate buyers who scoffed at offers deemed unattractive to material in the domestic market in the United States.

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