EUROPEAN MORNING BRIEF 26/04: SHFE zinc prices under pressure; HKEX appoints Cha as chairman; Vale’s base metals earnings grow 45.7% in Q1

Good morning from Metal Bulletin’s offices in Asia as we bring you the latest news and pricing stories on Thursday April 26.

Base metals prices on the Shanghai Futures Exchange were broadly down during Asian morning trading on Thursday, with zinc prices leading the decline following a large delivery of the metal into London Metal Exchange sheds in Antwerp on Wednesday.

Check Metal Bulletin’s live futures report here.

LME snapshot at 04.10 am London time
Latest three-month LME Prices
  Price ($ per tonne)  Change since yesterday’s close ($)
Copper 6,975 -33
Aluminium 2,225 -20
Lead 2,317.50 11.5
Zinc 3,124.50 -10.5
Tin 21,215 -35
Nickel 14,065 -80

SHFE snapshot at 10.14 am Shanghai time
Most-traded SHFE contracts
  Price (yuan per tonne)  Change since yesterday’s close (yuan)
Copper  51,660 110
Aluminium 14,370 -35
Zinc 23,710 -455
Lead 18,185 -30
Tin  146,940 840
Nickel  103,110 -190

Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing has appointed local businesswoman and politician Laura Cha as its new chairman of the board, the exchange announced on Thursday.

Vale’s base metals business posted a 45.7% increase in its core earnings in the first quarter of 2018 from a year earlier, helped primarily by the higher realized nickel prices during the period, the Brazilian diversified miner said on Wednesday.

Most lead scrap prices in the United States have climbed higher due to growing competition for material in the domestic market following a slight renewal in export activity, but zinc scrap prices held steady across the board.

The manganese supply squeeze continued to push manganese flakes higher this week, with prices climbing more than 8%.

Sanction panic in the aluminium market has calmed following the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets and Control’s slight loosening of sanctions involving Rusal material.

Lucas Giannini, an aluminium trader with Gerald Group in London, will leave the company at the end of April, sources close to the situation told Metal Bulletin on Wednesday.

What to read next
Read Fastmarkets' monthly base metals market for May 2025 focusing on raw materials including copper, nickel aluminium, lead, zinc and tin.
The Mexico Metals Outlook 2025 conference explored challenges and opportunities in the steel, aluminum and scrap markets, focusing on tariffs, nearshoring, capacity growth and global trends.
China has launched a coordinated crackdown on the illegal export of strategic minerals under export control, such as antimony, gallium, germanium, tungsten and rare earths, the country’s Ministry of Commerce announced on Friday May 9.
Fastmarkets proposes to amend the frequency of Taiwan base metals prices from biweekly to monthly, and the delivery timing for the tin 99.99% ingot premium from two weeks to four weeks.
The US-China trade truce announced on May 12 has brought cautious optimism to China’s non-ferrous metals markets, signaling a possible shift in global trade. Starting May 14, the removal of additional tariffs has impacted sectors like battery raw materials, minor metals and base metals such as zinc and nickel, with mixed reactions. While the improved sentiment has lifted futures prices and trade activity, the long-term effects remain unclear due to challenges like supply-demand pressures and export controls.
The publication of Fastmarkets’ assessments of Shanghai bonded aluminium, zinc and nickel stocks for April 30 were delayed because of a reporter error. Fastmarkets’ pricing database has been updated. The data effective for April 30 was published on May 7 as a result. The following assessments were affected:Shanghai aluminium bonded stocksShanghai zinc bonded stocksShanghai nickel […]