ASIAN MORNING BRIEF 25/09: LME base metals mostly decline; Tuticorin smelter closure supported by committee; ICBC hires for base metals team

The latest news and price moves to start the Asian day on Tuesday September 25.

Base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange were predominantly lower at the close of trading on Monday September 24, broadly capped by weakening investor sentiment after another round tariffs were imposed by the United States against some $200 billion worth of Chinese goods. Read more in our live futures report.

Here are how prices looked at the close of trading:

An investigation committee deciding the fate of the 400,000-tonne-per-year Tuticorin copper smelter said the majority of representatives supported the Indian smelter’s closure, according to local media reports on Sunday September 23.

ICBC Standard Bank has appointed Adam Brake and Evan Richards to develop the bank’s base metals trading arm, it said on September 24.

Cobalt prices made steady gains in the spot market last week, supported by a continuous stream of post-summer consumer purchases.

Kyen Resources founder and managing director Victor Kuo has left the Singapore-based trading house, sources with knowledge of the matter told Metal Bulletin.

Traders are expecting prices for hot-rolled and cold-rolled steel sheet in Russia’s Central Federal District around Moscow to decline in October due to a weak export market, rouble revaluation and lower demand.

The steel rebar market in Russia’s Central Federal District, the country’s major steel-consuming region, has started to show signs of softening due to lower demand from end-users.

What to read next
The most recent financial results published by base metals mining companies highlight just how inflation is affecting profit margins, with increasing wages, financing costs and input prices all hitting profits, sources told Fastmarkets in the week to Thursday March 28
Century Aluminum is among those selected to start award negotiations for up to $500 million in Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act funding to build a new aluminium smelter, the company said on Monday March 25
Participants in the copper concentrates market are struggling to comprehend an “unstoppable” decline in treatment and refinement charges (TC/RCs), with every week bringing spot deals at fresh lows and rumors each “crazier” than the last, sources have told Fastmarkets
The US Department of Energy selected five base metals projects to receive more than $900 million in federal investment from its Industrial Demonstration Program (IDP), leading to a reduction of four million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions annually, according to a statement by the Department on Monday March 25
Aluminium producer and recycler Constellium announced on Tuesday March 12 that the company is moving to test hydrogen utilization at an industrial scale as a power source in its casthouses
Fastmarkets has corrected its MB-ALU-0002 alumina index, fob Australia and its MB-ALU-0010 alumina inferred index, fob Brazil, which were published incorrectly on Monday March 18.