EUROPEAN MORNING BRIEF 13/12: SHFE base metals prices mixed; Thailand’s Padaeng quits zinc trading; US Ali scrap exports hit 4-yr high in Oct

Good morning from Fastmarkets MB’s offices in Asia as we bring you the latest news and pricing stories on Thursday December 13.

Base metals prices on the Shanghai Futures Exchange were mixed during Asian morning trading on Thursday, with easier trade tensions between China and the United States failing to provide significant upward momentum to the complex.

Moves were fairly limited across the SHFE base metals complex this morning with the metals showing only a slight upward bias; copper, aluminium, zinc and tin were all marginally higher, while the rest edged down.

Check Fastmarkets MB’s live futures report here.

London Metal Exchange, base metals prices

Shanghai Futures Exchange, base metals prices

A historic backwardation in zinc forward prices has its first major casualty, with Thailand’s foremost zinc distributor set to close that part of its business as a result.

Aluminium scrap exports from the United States surged to a four-year high in October after global buyers took advantage of soaring supply volumes and rock-bottom prices in the domestic market.

KME, a major European copper alloy producer, has received approval from the European Commission to acquire its counterpart Mansfelder Kupfer und Messing after five months of investigation over competition concerns, the EC said on Tuesday.

The government of Greece has held emergency meetings to keep the country’s state-owned ferro-nickel company Larco in production.