New smelters and expansions at a suite of Chinese copper smelting companies will create fresh demand for concentrates from the third quarter of this year.

Good morning from Metal Bulletin’s offices in Asia as we bring you the latest news and pricing stories on Thursday May 17.

Base metals prices on the Shanghai Futures Exchange were up across the board during Asian morning trading on Thursday May 17 after the dollar weakened, with copper seeing additional support from short-covering.

The latest news and price moves to start the Asian day on Thursday May 17.

Spot market copper concentrate treatment and refining charges (TC/RCs) rose to 3.5-month highs in mid-May, with the market becoming progressively bearish due to the continued outage at Sterlite Copper’s Tuticorin smelter in India.

Most of the base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange were little changed on the morning of Wednesday May 16, the exceptions were zinc (+0.6%) and tin (-0.5%). Copper was up by 0.1% at $6,818 per tonne.

Good morning from Metal Bulletin’s offices in Asia as we bring you the latest news and pricing stories on Wednesday May 15.

Base metals prices on the Shanghai Futures Exchange diverged during Asian morning trading on Wednesday May 16, with rising stocks and a surge in the dollar sinking copper.

Base metals prices on the Shanghai Futures Exchange were on divergent paths during Asian morning trading on Tuesday May 15, with copper down amid disappointing Chinese data and rising stock levels.

Base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange were broadly positive on the morning of Monday May 14, with all of the metals, except for zinc (-0.1%), up by an average of 0.6%. Nickel and lead were the frontrunners with gains of 1.3% and 1.2% respectively.