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Base metals traded on the Shanghai Futures Exchange were split into two camps during Asian morning trading on Tuesday, with zinc, lead and tin prices weakening, while the rest pushed higher.
Zinc prices led the decline on the back of the weakness seen on the London Metal Exchange on Monday, following a surge of the material entering LME warehouses in the US port of New Orleans.
Check Metal Bulletin’s live futures report here.
The first deal for aluminium supply to main Japanese ports (MJP) in the second quarter of 2018 was concluded at a premium of $129 per tonne on Monday, up 25% from the previous quarter’s settlement.
Union workers at Nexa Resources’ Cajamarquilla zinc smelter began an indefinite strike on Monday to demand a wage increase and better benefits, the company and the Strazinc union both confirmed.
The aluminium billet premium in the United States remain unchanged this week, with the market static until President Donald Trump makes tariffs on aluminium imports into the country official.
President Donald Trump signaled to Canada and Mexico that he would use his planned imposition of import tariffs of 25% on steel and 10% on aluminium as a bargaining chip to wring concessions in the ongoing North American Free Trade Agreement renegotiation.
European aluminium premiums have dipped below $100 per tonne in recent days due to a prolonged tightness in LME spreads, but could rebound now that the market is back in contango.
The largest zinc delivery in nearly five years has swung zinc’s LME cash/three-month spread into contango for the first time in 2018.