EUROPEAN MORNING BRIEF 10/05: EV charging to boost copper demand; Horizonte looks to enter nickel, cobalt sulfate market; DLA nets $3 mln in April tungsten sale

Good morning from Metal Bulletin’s offices in Asia as we bring you the latest news and pricing stories on Thursday May 10.

Base metals prices on the Shanghai Futures Exchange were mostly up during Asian morning trading on Thursday, with copper leading the rest of the complex, except aluminium and lead, higher.

Check Metal Bulletin’s live futures report here.

LME snapshot at 03.55 am London time
Latest three-month LME Prices
  Price ($ per tonne) Change since previous session’s close ($)
Copper 6,838 28
Aluminium 2,337 -29.5
Lead 2,290 -2
Zinc 3,091 14.5
Tin 21,135 25
Nickel 13,875 -50

SHFE snapshot at 10.55 am Shanghai time
Most-traded SHFE contracts
  Price (yuan per tonne) Change since previous session’s close (yuan)
Copper (June) 51,220 350
Aluminium (June) 14,615 -15
Zinc (June) 23,780 80
Lead (June) 18,885 -65
Tin  (Sept) 145,720 320
Nickel  (July) 104,160 260

Private corporations are driving a renewed push to install the infrastructure required to charge plug-in electric vehicles (EVs), which will in turn lead to copper demand of more than 500,000 tonnes over the next decade, according to John Gartner, senior research director at Navigant Research.

Horizonte plc, which acquired the Vermelho project from Vale, is exploring whether the project can produce nickel and cobalt sulfate suitable for EV batteries, it said on Wednesday.

DLA Strategic Materials sold approximately 197,000 lbs contained of tungsten ores and concentrates and 1,291 short tons of ferro-chrome during its April offerings for the materials.

First-quarter revenue from the commodities business of the Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (HKEX) fell 7% year on year to HK$267 million ($34 million), hurt by lower trading fees at the London Metal Exchange.

The United States’ Section 232 tariff on steel imports will help ease global steel overcapacity and boost domestic production, but it is only one step toward achieving those goals, according to industry executives.

What to read next
Copper in concentrate production from Ivanhoe Mines' Kamoa-Kakula complex in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) fell to 61,906 tonnes in the first quarter, down by 54% from 133,120 tonnes a year earlier, with the company now evaluating local third-party concentrate purchases to advance the ramp-up of its on-site smelter, according to an April 13 production release as the market focused its attention on the impact of global sulfuric acid shortages during CESCO Week in Chile from April 13-17.
China's planned sulfuric acid export ban from May 1, historic lows for copper concentrates treatment and refining charges (TC/RCs) and a fragmenting 2026 benchmark system dominated CESCO Week 2026 in Santiago from April 13-17.
The proposal would align the index more closely with physically traded volumes in the region, and enable it to adjust to evolving market conditions. This proposal follows an observed widening of the spread between trader and smelter purchase components of the index and is aligned with a majority of market feedback. Additionally, Fastmarkets seeks feedback […]
Until now, aluminium has been hard to move, not hard to find. Global aluminium supply had remained technically intact, even as output was curtailed in parts of the Gulf, inventory buffers were drawn down or repositioned, and shipping through the Strait of Hormuz was severely disrupted.
Global aluminium producers face heightened uncertainty over power supplies, with oil and gas prices elevated by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, through which around 20% of global oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG) flows, sources told Fastmarkets.
Fastmarkets is extending the consultation period for the methodology of several of its black mass payables indicators and prices, and is also proposing changes to the names of CIF South Korea and EWX Europe black mass prices.