ASIAN MORNING BRIEF 04/12: Base metal prices rise on LME; Glencore copper marketing head retiring; Codelco reaches labor deal at Ministro Hales mine

The latest news and price moves to start the Asian day on Tuesday December 4.

Base metal prices on the London Metal Exchange were higher at the close of trading on Monday December 3, with broadly positive market sentiment emerging from the weekend’s G20 Summit in Argentina, while the United States and China agreed to limit further use of trade tariffs. Read more in our live futures report.

Here are how prices looked at the close of trading:

Glencore head of copper marketing Aristotelis Mistakidis will retire at year end, the commodity trading house said on December 3.

Brazil’s primary aluminium production slowed further in October, local aluminium association Abal said.

Diverted tonnages have been flowing into the spot copper concentrate market following unplanned outages at major smelters, boosting treatment charges (TCs) in the final two weeks of November.

Chilean state-owned copper producer Codelco reached a labor agreement with workers at its Ministro Hales mine for wage increases, the company said on December 1.

Treatment charges (TCs) for zinc concentrates continued to rise sharply in November, hitting highs not seen since November 2015.

The Singapore Exchange (SGX) launched the world’s first high-grade iron ore derivatives on Monday, ushering in what has been described as the next stage of evolution for the steelmaking raw materials market.

The new 65% Fe iron ore derivatives launched by the SGX registered 150,000 tonnes of cleared trades on their first day of trading, the exchange said on December 3.

What to read next
The low-carbon aluminium differential in the US made its first move on Friday April 5 since Fastmarkets launched it five months ago.
Brazil's aluminium industry is further enhancing its sustainability by boosting renewable energy use and recycling, while mitigating risk from high-carbon imports
German copper producer Aurubis is among the least likely to consider reducing capacity despite record low treatment charges (TCs), according to its chief executive officer
European copper demand, particularly for wire rod, remains strong and seems to be outpacing broader macro-economic growth in the region, the chief executive officer of German producer Aurubis has said.
The process to place the smaller and less efficient of the two processing plants at Los Bronces on care and maintenance is expected to be completed by mid-2024 and comes as the company pushes value over volume, the chief executive officer of Anglo American Chile said
The near-term prospects for Chinese copper smelting capacity amid near-zero treatment charges (TCs) will, to a certain extent, depend on plants’ exposure to spot TCs, the chief executive officer of Rio Tinto’s copper division said on Tuesday, April 16