ASIAN MORNING BRIEF 22/03: LME base metals rise in unison; international mining companies said unfair to criticize DRC over changes to code; Noble founder Elman resigns as non-executive director

The latest news and price moves to start the Asian day on Thursday March 22.

Base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange closed higher across the board on Wednesday March 21 after the dollar weakened slightly. Read more in our live futures report.

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

Major international mining companies active in the Democratic Republic of the Congo previously supported work on the country’s new mining code and are unfair in criticizing the Chamber of Commerce, according to the Federation of Enterprises.

Richard Elman has resigned as non-executive director of Noble Group, according to a filing with the Singapore Exchange. Elman founded the commodity trading firm in 1986. He stepped down as chairman of Noble in May of last year.

While the programming behind algorithmic trading is still in relative infancy, these computerized systems are more likely to increase volatility in metals trading than to reduce it, Lord Copper muses.

The two latest aluminium tenders by South Korea’s Public Procurement Service (PPS) were awarded at premiums higher than the state agency’s previous tenders, but industry participants still consider the latest premiums to be low compared with current market levels.

South Korea’s PPS has also awarded a zinc tender at a premium of $151 per tonne, according to a notice from the state agency on March 20.

Some secondary aluminium alloy prices in the United States have increased as suppliers aggressively push for higher pricing amid sustained pressure from elevated raw material costs.

What to read next
Some cathode makers have been switching back to lower-nickel cobalt manganese (NCM) from high-nickel NCM cathodes to reduce costs and encourage consumers amid slowing demand for electric vehicles (EVs), Fastmarkets understands
Find out how days before the 2023 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28) in Dubai, the World Economic Forum (WEF) outlined three key areas of investment for the global aluminium industry to reach net zero by 2050 – clean energy, emerging technologies and decarbonization infrastructure – but it will require hundreds of billions of dollars
“The [Department] has a set of tools through the Inflation Reduction Act [IRA] and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law,” Annie Sartor, aluminum campaign director at clean industry advocate group Industrious Labs, said. “They are open to talking about what the industry needs. When we said the current investments were not enough, they were open to conversation,” […]
There is a sense of cautious optimism in the mining sector following the election of Javier Milei as the new president of Argentina on Sunday November 19, Fastmarkets understands
Copper scrap discounts in the United States continued to be steady in the week to Wednesday November 22, with sources noting little changes week on week ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday.
Fastmarkets invited feedback from the industry on its non-ferrous and industrial minerals methodologies, via an open consultation process between October 5 and November 3. This consultation was done as part of our published annual methodology review process.