The London Metal Exchange three-month copper price was trading below $10,000 per tonne during morning trading on Thursday October 21, while the backwardation in the metal’s cash/three-month spread had narrowed to below $300 per tonne.

While Chinese New Year may have left some markets deflated, it was another busy week for Metal Bulletin’s news teams across the rest of the world.

Base metals prices on the Shanghai Futures Exchange were up across the board during Asian morning trading on Tuesday June 25, with a softening dollar helping to ease the bearishness engulfing the market amid continuing geopolitical uncertainty.

Teck Resources has signed annual zinc concentrate supply deals with European smelters Glencore and Nyrstar with treatment charges (TCs) set at a 12-year low of $147 per tonne, sources with knowledge of the matter confirmed to Metal Bulletin.

The largest zinc delivery in nearly five years has swung zinc’s London Metal Exchange cash/three-month spread into contango for the first time in 2018.

Zinc prices on the Shanghai Futures Exchange were down during morning trading on Thursday June 20, tracking the weakness exhibited by the galvanizing metal’s three-month price on the London Metal Exchange overnight.

Base metals traded on the Shanghai Futures Exchange were split into two camps during Asian morning trading on Tuesday March 6, with zinc, lead and tin prices weakening, while the rest pushed higher.

Zinc led the rest of the base metals traded on the Shanghai Futures Exchange downward during morning trading on Wednesday April 24, with stock inflows and a firm dollar weighing on the galvanizing metal’s prices.

Zinc concentrate treatment charges (TCs) rose to their highest level this year in May, with smelters refraining from purchases of spot tonnages. And the upward trend in lead concentrate TCs reversed after an import arbitrage opened up in China.

The three-month copper price on the London Metal Exchange was down during morning trading on Friday August 2, falling to its lowest level since June 10, while zinc futures shed 1.4% of Thursday’s gains.