President Donald Trump's administration still prioritizes the battle against Chinese theft of intellectual property and is wielding US trade measures to break down other nations' barriers to American exports, Commerce Department Secretary Wilbur Ross said on November 28.

Turkish long steel producer Koç Metalurji intends to halt steel production to allow maintenance work during the first month of 2019, a mill source told Fastmarkets on Wednesday November 28.

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is expected to see its imports of hot-dipped galvanized (HDG) coil decline in 2019 as new production comes on stream.

A plunge in silico-manganese futures prices on the Zhengzhou Commodity Exchange (ZCE) at the start of this week was driven by weakness in China’s steel market, market participants told Fastmarkets.

PT Smelting has declared force majeure and canceled copper concentrate supply shipments to its Gresik smelter in Indonesia, co-owner Mitsubishi Materials Corp told Fastmarkets on Wednesday November 28.

Despite a firmer dollar, the three-month base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange are up across the board by an average of 0.8% this morning, Wednesday November 28. Nickel and tin are the outperformers with gains of 1.4% and 1.1% respectively.

Good morning from Fastmarkets MB’s offices in Asia as we bring you the latest news and pricing stories on Wednesday November 28.

Base metals on the Shanghai Futures Exchange continued to be pressured by a strong dollar during Asian morning trading on Wednesday November 28, with limited price movements recorded across most of the complex as a result.

The latest news and price moves to start the Asian day on Wednesday November 28.

Iron ore prices fell sharply in the second half of November after climbing through October, with prices for higher-grade material pioneering the decline.