PRICING NOTICE: Correction to SHFE vs LME physical aluminium, zinc arbitrage 10/09

Due to a technical error, Metal Bulletin’s Shanghai-London physical arbitrage calculations for aluminium and zinc were published incorrectly on Monday September 10.

Metal Bulletin has corrected its physical arbitrage figures for aluminium and zinc imported to China on September 10.

The aluminium price was incorrectly published as -$813.21 (-5,591.7 yuan) per tonne. It should have been -$406.63 (-2,796.02 yuan) per tonne.

The zinc price was incorrectly published as $489.66 (3,366.97) per tonne, it should have been $79.02 (543.33 yuan) per tonne.

Metal Bulletin’s price book and database have been updated to reflect this correction.

*Metal Bulletin calculates the physical arbitrage for import into China daily by using SHFE front-month and LME three-month prices at 3pm Shanghai time, taking account of VAT and import duties (where applicable), physical premiums and exchange rates at the time of the comparison. On January 2, 2018, Metal Bulletin improved its calculation to more accurately reflect arbitrage windows for physical trading. In addition, Metal Bulletin has adopted China’s latest announced VAT of 16% to its arbitrage calculation, effective May 2, 2018. For more details on the formula, please read this pricing notice. Also, on August 28, 2018, Metal Bulletin amended its arbitrage calculation and will use the midpoint of the copper, aluminium, zinc and nickel premiums rather than the single number for its LME-SHFE arbitrage calculation. For more details, please read this pricing notice

For details of physical premiums in Shanghai, and other Asian locations, please see the Metal Bulletin price book.

What to read next
Fastmarkets proposes to launch eight (8) monthly price assessments for tissue jumbo/parent rolls of toilet paper and paper towel in North America on June 12, 2026.
Fastmarkets is inviting feedback from the industry on the pricing methodologies for its MB-STE-0185 steel cold-rolled coil, fob mill US; MB-STE-0186 steel hot-dipped galvanized coil (cold-rolled base), fob mill US; and MB-STE-0172 steel cut-to-length plate carbon grade, fob mill US assessments, as part of its announced annual methodology review process.
Fastmarkets wishes to clarify that it accepts data submissions in outright price and as a differential to the Mineral Benchmark Price (HPM)-plus-premium for its Indonesian domestic trade nickel ore price assessments. Fastmarkets is also seeking market feedback on recent changes to the Indonesian government’s HPM specifications.
Under the proposed change, Fastmarkets will update the normalization coefficient for its Iron ore 61% Fe fines, cfr Qingdao and Iron ore 62% Fe fines, cfr Qingdao indices on a daily basis, allowing the coefficient to better reflect daily price movements. The normalization coefficient is currently updated on a monthly basis. Fastmarkets had observed that […]
Fastmarkets is inviting feedback from the industry on the pricing methodology for its PIX Packaging Europe indices as part of its announced annual methodology review process.
Fastmarkets invited feedback from the industry on the pricing methodology for its steel hot-rolled coil index, domestic, exw Northern Europe, €/tonne (MB-STE-0028) and steel hot-rolled coil index, fob mill US Midwest, $/cwt (MB-STE-0184), via an open consultation process between March 25 and April 27, 2026.