ASIAN MORNING BRIEF 12/12: LME copper price jumps on LME; Saudi Arabia’s rebar imports hit by weak domestic demand; Middle East steel market outlook picks up on higher oil pricing

The latest news and price moves to start the Asian day on Wednesday December 12.

Base metal prices rose on the London Metal Exchange by the close on Tuesday December 11, with copper surging after market sentiment was boosted by positive news of easing tensions between China and the United States. Read more in our live futures report.

Here are how prices looked at the close of trading:

Saudi Arabia has not imported rebar in 2018 and cannot utilize its full production capacity due to weak domestic demand, Ahmed Al-Hussain, rebar director of Saudi National Committee for Steel Industry, said at Fastmarkets MB’s Middle East Iron and Steel Conference in Dubai on December 11.

The outlook for the Middle East steel market is improving because of higher oil prices, Abu Bucker Husain, chief executive officer of United Arab Emirates-based Al Ghurair Iron & Steel, said in his presentation at the Dubai conference on Tuesday.

Flat steel import prices in Saudi Arabia and the UAE have been stable over the past week due to limited demand near year end, sources said on Tuesday.

US ferrous scrap exports were pushed higher in October, with lower ferrous scrap export prices sparking healthy demand from Mexico and Asia and offsetting significantly reduced shipments to Turkey.

Brazil’s Companhia Brasileira de Alumínio will invest 30 million Reais ($7.7 million) to increase its aluminium billet production capacity, the company’s primary operations director, Luis Jorge Nunes, told Fastmarkets MB on Monday.

TradeCloud is set to allow its users to report business concluded on the platform to Fastmarkets automatically, TradeCloud CEO Simon Collins said.

What to read next
The proposal would align the index more closely with physically traded volumes in the region, and enable it to adjust to evolving market conditions. This proposal follows an observed widening of the spread between trader and smelter purchase components of the index and is aligned with a majority of market feedback. Additionally, Fastmarkets seeks feedback […]
Until now, aluminium has been hard to move, not hard to find. Global aluminium supply had remained technically intact, even as output was curtailed in parts of the Gulf, inventory buffers were drawn down or repositioned, and shipping through the Strait of Hormuz was severely disrupted.
Global aluminium producers face heightened uncertainty over power supplies, with oil and gas prices elevated by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, through which around 20% of global oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG) flows, sources told Fastmarkets.
Fastmarkets is extending the consultation period for the methodology of several of its black mass payables indicators and prices, and is also proposing changes to the names of CIF South Korea and EWX Europe black mass prices.
Rio Tinto Aluminium is expanding its footprint beyond its historic hydro-powered Canadian base, targeting Europe, Asia and Latin America as part of a deliberate diversification strategy, according to the unit’s chief executive officer.
Fastmarkets has corrected its copper concentrates treatment and refinement charge indices, which were published incorrectly on March 20 2026 due to a technical error.