ASIAN MORNING BRIEF 19/09: Copper prices rise on LME, Comex; Russia’s Industrial Metallurgical Holding starts rebar production at Tula Steel; Brazil flat steel producers announce October price hike

The latest news and price moves to start the Asian day on Wednesday September 19.

Copper prices on the London Metal Exchange closed 2% higher on Tuesday September 18, with the base metals complex shrugging off the escalating trade dispute between the United States and China. Read more in our live futures report.

Here are how prices looked at the close of trading:

Comex copper prices rebounded in morning trading in the US even after President Donald Trump applied more tariffs on Chinese goods, further raising tensions between the two nations.

Russia’s Industrial Metallurgical Holding began producing steel rebar at its new Tula-Steel subsidiary facility last week.

Brazilian flat steel producers have announced another price increase to be imposed on distributors and industrial clients in October and are also negotiating price increases for annual contracts with automakers, according to national flat steel association Inda.

European domestic stainless steel prices are likely to stabilize as the European Union safeguard quota for stainless steel imports is taken up, according to Roeland Baan, chief executive officer of Finnish stainless steelmaker Outokumpu.

Brazilian flat steel sales volumes declined by 0.8% year on year in August due to the weak performance of the country’s economy, according to national flat steel association Inda.

Most flat steel import prices in the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia have been stable over the past week, although demand increased slightly in the United Arab Emirates, sources told Metal Bulletin.

Physical iron ore was trading at higher prices, following on from a much stronger performance in the paper market.

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