Base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange were down across the board this morning, Friday December 11, this after copper, zinc, nickel and tin set fresh highs for the year either on Thursday or earlier this morning.

Swiss miner-trader Glencore and Chinese battery materials producer GEM have extended their agreement for cobalt hydroxide supply by another five years.

It has been almost one year since the start of the Covid-19 outbreak and global economies are still recovering from the fallout. Fastmarkets analyzes the effects of the pandemic on global cobalt supply and trade flows.

Fastmarkets publishes trade logs for its key price assessments and indices to bring more transparency into the markets it covers and the pricing process it applies.

Base metals prices were mainly stronger this morning, Monday November 30, helped by strong Chinese manufacturing purchasing managers’ index (PMI) data and a weaker dollar, but some of the metals are starting to look tired.

With just 35 days remaining until the United Kingdom withdraws from the European Union, the country’s potential departure from the EU single market could see its domestic aluminium scrap market face business-critical trade barriers that, according to market participants, would send the UK’s scrap industry hurtling backwards.

Markets were generally buoyant this morning, Thursday November 26, with more certainty on the horizon than of late, helped by US president-elect Joe Biden’s transition to the White House and with a rollout of the vaccines now insight, if things go according to plan.

Talga Resources has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with global technology leader ABB to support the development and construction of Talga’s Vittangi anode project in northern Sweden.

European steelmakers need to consolidate to gain better control over pricing and the supply-demand balance as well as to better tackle rising production costs, but it will not solve the major problems of the European flat steel market, sources told Fastmarkets.

The base metals on the London Metal Exchange were firmer across the board this morning, Tuesday November 24, although those on the Shanghai Futures Exchange were mixed following the weakness seen on the LME on Monday.