EUROPEAN MORNING BRIEF 05/12: SHFE base metals prices broadly weaker; Q1 MJP aluminium premiums; Bushveld Minerals’ Vametco acquisition

Good morning from Metal Bulletin’s office in Shanghai, bringing the latest news and pricing stories on Tuesday December 5.

Base metal prices on the Shanghai Futures Exchange were mostly lower during Asian morning trading on Tuesday amid bouts of year-end profit-taking, with copper prices falling as longs liquidate.

Check Metal Bulletin’s live futures report here.

LME snapshot at 02.55am London time
Latest three-month LME Prices
  Price
($ per tonne)
Change since yesterday’s close ($)
Copper 6,818 -8
Aluminium 2,072 3
Lead 2,512 5
Zinc 3,232.50 9
Tin 19,485 -40
Nickel 11,290 -95

SHFE snapshot at 10.59am Shanghai time
Most-traded SHFE contracts
  Price
(yuan per tonne)
Change since yesterday’s close (yuan)
Copper (January) 53,220 -330
Aluminium (February) 14,710 65
Zinc (January) 25,350 -205
Lead (January) 18,990 40
Tin  (January) 141,450 -250
Nickel  (May) 91,130 -1,240

A major end-user has concluded a deal for aluminium supply to main Japanese ports (MJP) in the first quarter of 2018 at a premium of $103 per tonne with a producer, Metal Bulletin has learned.

Bushveld Minerals will increase its indirect stake in vanadium producer Vametco Holdings to 59.1%, from 26.6% previously, as it acquires a 55% stake in Bushveld Vametco from Yellow Dragon Holdings.

China’s plan to adopt strict waste thresholds on a number of imported scrap products from March 2018 will, if confirmed, have a massive impact on the copper scrap market for both prices and shipment flows, Michael Lion, president of Lion Consulting Asia Ltd, warned.

The global copper concentrates market is unlikely to experience the same tightened conditions in 2018 that have afflicted the zinc and lead markets this year, senior executives told delegates at Metal Bulletin’s 13th Asia Copper Conference in Shanghai, China, last week.

Turkish steelmakers have delivered a surprise as domestic deals in the United States are due to settle this week, booking three cargoes from the East Coast at prices exceeding $340 per tonne.

The establishment of a warehouse network in China has not yet come to fruition many years after the idea was first mooted, but the continued opening up of the country suggests it is a case of “when” rather than “if.”

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