Get started

EUROPEAN MORNING BRIEF 23/11: SHFE nickel strengthens; Zhuzhou Smelter’s new zinc project; midweek noble alloys prices

Good morning from Metal Bulletin’s office in Shanghai, as we bring you the latest news and pricing stories on Thursday November 23.

November 23, 2017
By Generic people page
Base metals Copper

Nickel prices on the Shanghai Futures Exchange pushed higher during Asian morning trading on Thursday, broadly supported by the metal’s strong underlying fundamentals.

Check Metal Bulletin’s live futures report here.

LME snapshot at 02:32am London time
Latest three-month  LME Prices
  Price
($ per tonne)		  Change since yesterday’s close
($)
Copper 6,936 -18
Aluminium 2,100 -7
Lead 2,439 -24
Zinc 3,235 7.5
Tin 19,415 –
Nickel 11,910 70

SHFE snapshot at 10:33am Shanghai time
Most-traded SHFE contracts
  Price
(yuan per tonne)		  Change since yesterday’s close
(yuan)
Copper  53,950 -160
Aluminium 15,030 35
Zinc 25,675 -5
Lead 18,575 -380
Tin  142,530 -220
Nickel  95,910 900

Zhuzhou Smelter, China’s largest zinc smelter, plans to build a new zinc smelting project with 300,000 tonnes per year of capacity, the company announced on November 20.

The US copper market noted some optimism for the first time in several months, with market participants at the American Copper Council’s autumn meeting noting some upward pressure on premiums due to rising freight and borrowing costs.

Ferro-titanium and titanium scrap prices have risen amid firm and consistent demand, see the key data from the November 22 pricing session in Lisbon, Portugal.

Spot ferro-tungsten prices outperformed the rest of the noble alloys in the first half of the week, drawing strength from thinning supplies and firm Chinese prices.

What to read next
Glencore Q1: African copper cathode surges 68%, cobalt production falls 39% y-o-y
Own-sourced copper output from Glencore’s African copper assets — KCC and Mutanda in the Democratic Republic of Congo — surged by 68% year on year to 67,900 tonnes over the same period, while Glencore’s cobalt production fell by 39% year on year amid the DRC’s export quota system.
May 6, 2026
 · 
By Sofia Okun
copper mine
Copper supply lags demand as permitting delays, lower grades, policy risks bite: FT Commodities Summit
Copper’s long-term outlook is constrained by the industry’s limited ability to bring new supply online fast enough to meet rising demand, with permitting delays, higher capital costs and policy risks slowing project development, industry executives said at the FT Commodities Global Summit on Wednesday April 22.
May 5, 2026
 · 
By Eva Qi
Hotter Commodities Junior Miners
Critical minerals boom boosts growth-stage juniors | Hotter Commodities
Capital is flowing back into junior mining, but selectively. Investment is increasingly favouring development‑stage assets with clearer paths to production, supported by government funding and strategic partnerships. While demand for critical minerals underpins the cycle, early‑stage explorers continue to struggle for capital as investors prioritise discipline, ESG alignment and near‑term cash flow.
April 30, 2026
 · 
By Andrea Hotter
Copper smelter close up
Kamoa-Kakula Q1 copper concentrate output falls 54% year on year, Ivanhoe weighs third-party purchases
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.
April 20, 2026
 · 
By Julienne Raboca
CESCO Week 2026
10 topics in focus at CESCO Week 2026 as sulfuric acid upends the copper market
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.
April 17, 2026
 · 
By Julienne Raboca
Fastmarkets proposes changes to Asia copper concentrates index weighting, seeks feedback on normalization of gold and silver
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 […]
April 8, 2026
 · 
By Fastmarkets pricing team