ASIAN MORNING BRIEF 15/03: Copper bucks trend with shift upward on LME; Teck slashes lead TCs in annual contract deals, sources say; strike at First Quantum’s Cobre Panama mine could hit output

The latest news and price moves to start the Asian day on Thursday March 15.

Base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange were on divergent paths at the close on Wednesday March 14, with copper driving higher while the rest of the complex retreated. Read more here in our live futures report.

Here are how LME prices looked at Wednesday’s close:

Metal Bulletin has learned that Teck Resources has slashed lead concentrate treatment charges by 28% in annual deals with Asian smelters.

A strike by workers at First Quantum’s Cobre Panama copper mine could reduce planned output from the mine – the only major copper mine scheduled to come on stream this year.

Beijing Jiya Semiconductor Material Co Ltd plans to remove its temporary suspension on spot gallium sales, market participants have told Metal Bulletin.

The tariffs imposed by United States President Donald Trump on the nations imports of steel and aluminium are drawing mixed reactions in the US ferrous scrap export market.

The 25% tariff on US imports of steel are expected to have a minimal effect on exports by Brazilian steelmaker CSN but could disturb that country’s domestic market, the flat-rolled steel producer said. Meanwhile, the company is negotiating a sale of its CSN LLC subsidiary in the US but it has yet to decide whether it will divest the asset.

Pakistan’s Naveena Group has announced plans to invest in a new steel billet and rebar mill in Karachi, the capital of the country’s Sindh province, with production scheduled to begin in 2019.

Slow demand for steel beams in Europe could cause the material to come under downward pressure due to waning demand, market sources told Metal Bulletin.

What to read next
Asian spot copper premiums rose in the week ended Tuesday July 23, with premiums imported into China increasing on improved arbitrage terms. In the US market, supply failed to keep up with strong demand while in Europe participants were mostly off for the summer holidays
In the fourth episode of Fastmarkets critical minerals podcast Fast Forward, Freeport-McMoRan CEO and president Kathleen Quirk tells host Andrea Hotter why there's a preference to build and not build new supplies of copper right now
Demand for primary aluminium from the green transition remains a “brighter spot” for consumption amid an otherwise challenging downstream demand outlook, Eivind Kallevik, Norsk Hydro’s chief executive officer and president, told Fastmarkets in an exclusive interview on Tuesday July 23
Acquisition Company Limited (ACG) has agreed to buy the Gediktepe mine in Turkey — the company’s first deal as it works to build a sizeable mid-tier copper producer, its chairman and chief executive officer told Fastmarkets.
Copper market price speculation is driving the base metals narrative, head of research at UK-based services provider Sucden Financial Daria Efanova said during the company’s third-quarter metals webinar on Wednesday July 17.
Chinese mining giant CMOC reported a 178% year-on-year increase in cobalt metal production for the first six months of 2024, according to an announcement by the company on Friday July 12