EUROPEAN MORNING BRIEF 24/04: SHFE base metals broadly down; Ali market bearish on Rusal deadline extension; China copper scrap import quota down 84% in Q1

Good morning from Metal Bulletin’s offices in Asia as we bring you the latest news and pricing stories on Tuesday April 24.

Base metals prices on the Shanghai Futures Exchange were broadly down during Asian morning trading on Tuesday, with aluminium prices falling the most after the United States announced it would not impose secondary sanctions against UC Rusal.

Check Metal Bulletin’s live futures report here.

LME snapshot at 03.23am London time
Latest three-month LME Prices
  Price ($ per tonne) Change since Monday’s close ($)
Copper 6,944.50 1
Aluminium 2,269 -26
Lead 2,332 12
Zinc 3,247 18
Tin 21,175 125
Nickel 14,265 0

SHFE snapshot at 10.24am Shanghai time
Most-traded SHFE contracts
  Price (yuan per tonne) Change since Monday’s close (yuan)
Copper (June) 51,540 -320
Aluminium (June) 14,480 -555
Zinc (June) 24,510 10
Lead (June) 18,355 -85
Tin  (September) 146,620 -1,530
Nickel  (July) 103,820 -1,110

The US Department of the Treasury’s decision to extend the deadline for US businesses to wind down dealings with Rusal until October 23, as announced in a statement on Monday, may usher in short-term bearishness, according to market participants.

China has granted import quotas for copper scrap this year that are reduced by 83.7% from a year ago, in its first 10 rounds of approvals for solid waste import licenses, according to calculations made by Metal Bulletin.

UG2 chrome ore, and Chinese and Japanese ferro-chrome markets were bearish last week on anticipation of China’s stainless steel mills lowering their ferro-chrome tender prices for May.

Participants in the European aluminium market expect a bearish reversal of premiums after the US Treasury decided on Monday that it will not impose secondary sanctions on non-US market participants for doing business with Russian supplier Rusal.

And finally, be sure to check out Metal Bulletin’s latest battery raw materials market report.

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