EUROPEAN MORNING BRIEF 31/01: SHFE nickel prices continue to correct lower; US copper premium inches higher; US Midwest aluminium premium edges up

Good morning from Metal Bulletin’s office in Shanghai, as we bring you the latest news and pricing stories on Wednesday January 31.

Nickel prices on the Shanghai Futures Exchange were weaker during Asian morning trading on Wednesday, tracking the pullback in prices seen on the London Metal Exchange in the previous session.

Check Metal Bulletin’s live futures report here.

LME snapshot at 02.01 am London time
Latest three-month LME Prices
Price ($ per tonne)  Change since yesterday’s close ($)
Copper 7,055 5
Aluminium 2,217 10
Lead 2,590.5 -1.5
Zinc 3,504 8
Tin 21,685 60
Nickel 13,370 20

SHFE snapshot at 10.01 am Shanghai time
Most-traded SHFE contracts
Price (yuan per tonne)  Change since yesterday’s close (yuan)
Copper (March) 52,980 10
Aluminium(March) 14,445 -25
Zinc(March) 26,625 -205
Lead(March) 19,405 -135
Tin (May) 149,830 -190
Nickel (May) 101,990 -1,790

Price premiums in the United States copper market showed their first upward moves since November on Tuesday January 30, with market participants noting that higher freight and logistics costs were nudging overall costs higher.

Speculation as to what US President Donald Trump’s next move might be in the Section 232 investigation into aluminium imports appears to be pushing the US Midwest aluminium premium up despite a lack of actual spot demand to support it.

Aluminum scrap markets in the US were slightly mixed over the past week; some mill-grade aluminium scrap prices inched higher following gains on the London Metal Exchange, while smelter-grade prices maintained a steady footing.

Chrome producer Afarak has drawn up a proposal to delist from the Helsinki Stock Exchange, maintaining a single listing in London following a request from a major shareholder.

The commissioning of Strategic & Precious Metals Processing’s (SPMP) antimony roasting project in Oman is expected to be postponed due to a delay in the arrival of key electrical equipment, SPMP’s parent company, Tri-Star Resources, announced last week.

What to read next
The most recent financial results published by base metals mining companies highlight just how inflation is affecting profit margins, with increasing wages, financing costs and input prices all hitting profits, sources told Fastmarkets in the week to Thursday March 28
Century Aluminum is among those selected to start award negotiations for up to $500 million in Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act funding to build a new aluminium smelter, the company said on Monday March 25
Participants in the copper concentrates market are struggling to comprehend an “unstoppable” decline in treatment and refinement charges (TC/RCs), with every week bringing spot deals at fresh lows and rumors each “crazier” than the last, sources have told Fastmarkets
The US Department of Energy selected five base metals projects to receive more than $900 million in federal investment from its Industrial Demonstration Program (IDP), leading to a reduction of four million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions annually, according to a statement by the Department on Monday March 25
Aluminium producer and recycler Constellium announced on Tuesday March 12 that the company is moving to test hydrogen utilization at an industrial scale as a power source in its casthouses
Fastmarkets has corrected its MB-ALU-0002 alumina index, fob Australia and its MB-ALU-0010 alumina inferred index, fob Brazil, which were published incorrectly on Monday March 18.