EUROPEAN MORNING BRIEF 26/02: Rising stocks sink SHFE copper prices; possible Hawesville smelter restart; tightening supply supports antimony prices

Good morning from Metal Bulletin’s office in Singapore as we bring you the latest news and pricing stories on Monday February 26.

Copper prices on the Shanghai Futures Exchange were weaker during Asian morning trading on Monday, with the red metal coming under pressure following a 10% jump in copper volumes at SHFE-approved warehouses last week.

Check Metal Bulletin’s live futures report here.

LME snapshot at 02.08 am London time
Latest three-month LME Prices
  Price ($ per tonne)  Change since Friday’s close ($)
Copper 7,127.50 32.5
Aluminium 2,155 15
Lead 2,550 19
Zinc 3,516.50 13.5
Tin 21,545 -105
Nickel 13,740 -25

SHFE snapshot at 10.08 am Shanghai time
Most-traded SHFE contracts
  Price (yuan per tonne)  Change since Friday’s close (yuan)
Copper  53,350 -240
Aluminium 14,290 -75
Zinc 26,600 40
Lead 19,320 -55
Tin  146,950 -360
Nickel  104,440 -510

Century Aluminum’s top executive went into previously undisclosed detail on the company’s plans to restart production at its smelter in Hawesville, in the US state of Kentucky – with the linchpin being President Donald Trump choosing to enact certain Section 232 trade remedies.

The European antimony market continued to push higher last week amid tightening Rotterdam supplies despite China’s absence from the market for the Lunar New Year holiday.

The Lunar New Year holiday tightened tungsten supply further, pushing prices for ammonium paratungstate (APT) slightly higher in Europe while ferro-tungsten was unchanged with little spot business concluded.

Novolipetsk Steel, Russia’s largest steelmaker, sees opportunity for further development outside Russia, where the market is “too small,” according to the company’s top executive.

And finally, Metal Bulletin presents a roundup of Chinese trade data for base metals, minor metals and ferro-alloys for the month of January.

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