ASIAN MORNING BRIEF 12/12: LME copper price jumps on LME; Saudi Arabia's rebar imports hit by weak domestic demand; Middle East steel market outlook picks up on higher oil pricing

The latest news and price moves to start the Asian day on Wednesday December 12.

Base metal prices rose on the London Metal Exchange by the close on Tuesday December 11, with copper surging after market sentiment was boosted by positive news of easing tensions between China and the United States. Read more in our live futures report.

Here are how prices looked at the close of trading:


Saudi Arabia has not imported rebar in 2018 and cannot utilize its full production capacity due to weak domestic demand, Ahmed Al-Hussain, rebar director of Saudi National Committee for Steel Industry, said at Fastmarkets MB's Middle East Iron and Steel Conference in Dubai on December 11.  

The outlook for the Middle East steel market is improving because of higher oil prices, Abu Bucker Husain, chief executive officer of United Arab Emirates-based Al Ghurair Iron & Steel, said in his presentation at the Dubai conference on Tuesday.

Flat steel import prices in Saudi Arabia and the UAE have been stable over the past week due to limited demand near year end, sources said on Tuesday.

US ferrous scrap exports were pushed higher in October, with lower ferrous scrap export prices sparking healthy demand from Mexico and Asia and offsetting significantly reduced shipments to Turkey.

Brazil's Companhia Brasileira de Alum?-nio will invest 30 million Reais ($7.7 million) to increase its aluminium billet production capacity, the company's primary operations director, Luis Jorge Nunes, told Fastmarkets MB on Monday.

TradeCloud is set to allow its users to report business concluded on the platform to Fastmarkets automatically, TradeCloud CEO Simon Collins said.

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