EUROPEAN MORNING BRIEF 01/03: Resurgent dollar pressures SHFE base metals prices; China responds to aluminium foil duties; freight issues squeeze US copper traders

Base metals traded on the Shanghai Futures Exchange were broadly lower during Asian morning trading on Thursday, with a resurgent dollar curbing investors’ appetite for the metals.

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A top official from within the Peoples’ Republic of China has made public the government’s dissatisfaction with the US Department of Commerce’s findings regarding Chinese foil exports – calling the duties “unreasonable.”

Despite the US copper cathode premium hovering at its highest level since October 2016, the trading community has endured shrinking margins due to soaring freight rates, increased financing costs and a lack of consumer interest.

The alumina market has become increasingly diversified in terms of the origin of material transacting in the spot market, according to a senior pricing reporter at Metal Bulletin.

Lead scrap and spent lead-acid battery prices in the United States rose amid persistent competition from overseas markets, which continued to put pressure on domestic consumers.

Codelco’s commercial vice president, Rodrigo Toro, and the general manager of its Salvador division, Juan Carlos Avendaño, are leaving the company, the Chilean copper miner said late on Wednesday.

Refineries in India are working to find ways to deal with the hazardous residue created from bauxite during the alumina production process, according to the president of the International Bauxite, Alumina and Aluminium Society.