Base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange ended mostly higher at the close of trading on Thursday May 17, with the three-month aluminium contract down 1% after a huge rewarranting of 138,650 tonnes at Port Klang in Malaysia. Read more in our live futures report.
Here are how prices looked at the close of trading:
The CME Group’s growing share of global trade in recent weeks has been driven by its expanding global reach since its commercial push into base metals began in 2012, CME global head of metals Young-Jin Chang told Metal Bulletin this week.
The new energy vehicle story is not a “red herring” and physical nickel market participants need to lock in prices now, according to Robert Hawkes, executive director of Goldman Sachs International.
The London Metal Exchange does not have projections of how much revenue it might make every year from the introduction of over-the-counter booking fees, the exchange’s chief executive officer Matthew Chamberlain has said.
Chamberlain also said that the LME believes its warehousing system is robust and remains committed to working with members to make warehousing easier.
The LME has shelved its idea of developing a dealer-to-client platform following the results of last year’s discussion paper, Chamberlain added.
Ta Chen International will invest $1 billion in the aluminium market in the United States in response to a growing supply deficit, company president Johnny Hsieh said.
A large rewarranting of aluminium in Malaysia on May 17 stirred up slightly bullish sentiment in Europe’s physical aluminium market.
New smelters and expansions at a suite of Chinese copper smelting companies will create fresh demand for concentrates starting in the third quarter of this year.
The global refined zinc market logged a modest surplus in the first quarter due to rising inventories that have kept a lid on premiums for the metal, although market participants are expecting higher freight rates to spur a pickup.
In ferrous news, production of most pig iron and all steel products at ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih’s facility in Ukraine has been halted due to worker protests that began on May 16.
Vallourec will increase its prices for oil country tubular goods in the second half of 2018 as a result of improving market conditions in the US and Brazil, the French tube and pipe producer said on May 17.
