LME base metals have looked tired, having lost their upward momentum in the past few days, but underlying support looks plentiful, with all the base metals on the SHFE being in positive territory this morning, Wednesday June 9.

With the exception of tin that was perched just below recent multi-year highs and aluminium that was little changed, base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange were weaker this morning, Tuesday June 8.

With China’s pulp import market remaining at a standstill and the bleached softwood kraft (BSK) pulp futures market continuing to slump, prices for the two newly-launched China pulp futures contracts on Oslo-based Norexeco dipped slightly at the front end.

Base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange were mainly lower this morning, Monday June 7, after the rally sparked by Friday’s worse-than-expected US employment report ran out of steam.

An accident at Kaohsiung port, Taiwan, in which a tower crane collapsed on Thursday June 3 will likely have minimal impact on discharge rates for containerized ferrous scrap in the coming days, market sources told Fastmarkets.

Base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange have attracted dip-buying this morning, Friday June 4, after weakness on Thursday when prices fell across the board by an average of 2.2%.

Mammoth steel-scrap margins and high-grade premiums prevalent in recent months are likely to persist in the short term but should fall away by the end of the year, panelists at the ferrous session of this week’s Bureau of International Recycling (BIR) Convention said.

Turkish steel producers extended their silence in the deep-sea scrap import markets amid weakening demand for finished long steel products, sources told Fastmarkets on Thursday June 3.

Base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange and Shanghai Futures Exchange were generally weaker on Thursday June 3 morning, although nickel bucked the trend on both exchanges.

Fastmarkets has decided to revise the outlier detection method used in the calculation of its copper concentrate treatment and refining charge (TC/RC) index.