EUROPEAN MORNING BRIEF 01/12: Q1 MJP aluminium offers; US copper scrap prices; Rio Tinto Kennecott maintains force majeure

Good morning from Metal Bulletin’s office in Singapore, as we bring you the latest news and pricing stories on Friday December 1.

Copper prices on the Shanghai Futures Exchange extended their weekly losses during Asian morning trading on Friday, with disappointing Chinese macroeconomic data fueling concerns about slowing growth in the world’s second-largest economy.

Check Metal Bulletin’s live futures report here.

LME snapshot at 04.04am London time
Latest three-month LME Prices
  Price
($ per tonne)
Change since yesterday’s close ($)
Copper 6,763 1
Aluminium 2,050 2
Lead 2,461 -9
Zinc 3,135 -21
Tin 19,465 -155
Nickel 11,145 35

SHFE snapshot at 12.00pm Shanghai time
Most-traded SHFE contracts
  Price
(yuan per tonne)
Change since yesterday’s close (yuan)
Copper (January) 52,770 -70
Aluminium (January) 14,540 -25
Zinc (January) 24,905 -55
Lead (January) 18,550 175
Tin  (January) 140,840 -750
Nickel  (May) 89,970 -1,100

Negotiations for the supply of aluminium to main Japanese ports (MJP) in the first quarter of next year have kicked off with three producers offering premiums at higher than the fourth-quarter settlement of $94-95 per tonne, according to three market sources.

Most copper and brass scrap discounts in the United States have inched inward on Comex declines, although mixed demand and supply issues remain a key concern heading into the year-end.

Rio Tinto Kennecott is maintaining its force majeure moving into December, the company said in an update to American Metal Market.

Peruvian copper production decreased by 2% year on year in October, mostly affected by lower volumes from some of the country’s largest mines.

An indefinite strike over pay and benefits at Southern Peru Copper Corp entered its tenth day on Thursday with no resolution in sight.

Japan’s iron and steel export volumes fell 10.3% year on year in October to 3.02 million tonnes.

East China’s Shagang has hiked its long steel prices for early December to reflect the recent surge in the domestic spot market.

China’s domestic stainless steel market again narrowed down over the past week as nickel prices declined.

What to read next
Asian spot copper premiums rose in the week ended Tuesday July 23, with premiums imported into China increasing on improved arbitrage terms. In the US market, supply failed to keep up with strong demand while in Europe participants were mostly off for the summer holidays
In the fourth episode of Fastmarkets critical minerals podcast Fast Forward, Freeport-McMoRan CEO and president Kathleen Quirk tells host Andrea Hotter why there's a preference to build and not build new supplies of copper right now
Demand for primary aluminium from the green transition remains a “brighter spot” for consumption amid an otherwise challenging downstream demand outlook, Eivind Kallevik, Norsk Hydro’s chief executive officer and president, told Fastmarkets in an exclusive interview on Tuesday July 23
Acquisition Company Limited (ACG) has agreed to buy the Gediktepe mine in Turkey — the company’s first deal as it works to build a sizeable mid-tier copper producer, its chairman and chief executive officer told Fastmarkets.
Copper market price speculation is driving the base metals narrative, head of research at UK-based services provider Sucden Financial Daria Efanova said during the company’s third-quarter metals webinar on Wednesday July 17.
Chinese mining giant CMOC reported a 178% year-on-year increase in cobalt metal production for the first six months of 2024, according to an announcement by the company on Friday July 12