ASIAN MORNING BRIEF: Key stories on December 30

Good morning from Metal Bulletin's London offices, bringing you the key moves and price moves at the start of the Asian day.

Good morning from Metal Bulletin’s London offices, bringing you the key moves and price moves at the start of the Asian day.

London Metal Exchange copper prices fell below their opening levels of $6,290 per tonne as official trading progressed in Europe on Tuesday December 30, as weak macro cues weighed on the near-term outlook for the red metal.

Three-month copper settled at $6,271/72 per tonne in the official session, up from official five-year lows of $6,253/54 seen yesterday, but down 0.3% on an intraday basis.

Other metals posted a mixed performance, with three-month zinc settling at $2,150/51, up about $8 from the previous official price and its opening level.

Three-month aluminium settled at $1,853/54, down $6 from its previous official price and $7 below its opening level.

Chinese copper smelter Yantai Penghui has stopped production and told at least some workers to stay at home, amid concerns about financial problems, market sources in China said.

The situation faced by Penghui, a 120,000-tpy smelter in Shandong province, highlights continued credit issues in the Chinese market, particularly in Shandong province. More here.

Indonesia’s ban on ore exports was one of the most talked about issues in the base metals market this year. Click here for Metal Bulletin’s review of the year.

Inner Mongolia’s local government will not approve any new aluminium or steel projects, according to a statement by the regional government.

The local government disclosed the ban as part of its plans to improve air quality in the region, and it also vowed not to approve any new capacity for cement and plate glass.

It also plans to stop approving new capacity for coking, calcium carbide and ferro-alloys in its counties close to the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei area.

China’s molybdenum market weakened ahead of the year-end after steel mills reduced both purchase volumes and prices for ferro-molybdenum earlier this month. More here.

Today will see the release of HSBC’s final purchasing managers’ index from China, while in the USA the Chicago PMI numbers come out in the afternoon.

James Heywood
editorial@metalbulletin.com

What to read next
Fastmarkets has corrected the rationale for its MB-AL-0346 Aluminium P1020A premium, in-whs dup Rotterdam, $/tonne that was published incorrectly on Tuesday August 19.
The US is confronting a copper supply shortfall, but one company believes that it already holds the key to unlocking hundreds of thousands of tonnes of refined copper – right here, right now.
When the US opted not to impose Section 232 tariffs on copper cathode imports last month, the market breathed a sigh of relief.
The publication of the affected price was delayed for 29 minutes. The following assessment was published late: MB-ZN-0110 Zinc spot concentrate TC, cif China, $/per tonne This price is a part of the Fastmarkets Base Metals Physical Prices package. For more information or to provide feedback on the delayed publication of this price or if you […]
The publication of Fastmarkets’ price assessments of the base metals arbitrage for copper, aluminium, zinc and nickel for Friday August 1 were delayed due to reporter error. Fastmarkets’ pricing database has been updated.
The publication of Fastmarkets’ MB-ALU-0003 alumina index adjustment to fob Australia index, Brazil for Thursday July 31 was delayed because of a reporter error. Fastmarkets’ pricing database has been updated.