By Karen Ng / March 05, 2018 / www.metalbulletin.com /
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Good morning from Metal Bulletin's office in Singapore as we bring you the latest news and pricing stories on Monday March 5.
Base metals traded on the Shanghai Futures Exchange were broadly weaker during Asian morning trading on Monday, with only nickel and tin prices managing to post slight gains.
Check Metal Bulletin's live futures report
here.
| SHFE snapshot at 10.02am Shanghai time |
| Most-traded SHFE contracts |
| Price (yuan per tonne) | Change since Friday's close (yuan) |
| Copper (April) | 52,140 | -180 |
| Aluminium(May) | 14,330 | -95 |
| Zinc(April) | 25,970 | -290 |
| Lead(April) | 18,830 | -65 |
| Tin (May) | 147,610 | 230 |
| Nickel (May) | 102,250 | 70 |
| LME snapshot at 02.02am London time |
| Latest three-month LME Prices |
| Price ($ per tonne) | Change since Friday's close ($) |
| Copper | 6,930 | 32 |
| Aluminium | 2,143.5 | -5.5 |
| Lead | 2,461 | 13 |
| Zinc | 3,381 | 26 |
| Tin | 21,590 | 115 |
| Nickel | 13,440 | -10 |
China's bauxite imports
could increase to 130-150 million tonnes per year within the next ten years, as it seeks to fill a domestic supply gap, according to Mark Roggensinger, senior market analyst at Hydro.
Hydro has
declared force majeure at its Alunorte alumina refinery in Brazil's northern state of Par?? following an order by the country's authorities to cut output by 50%.
The Atlantic alumina market
will swing back to a premium over the Pacific as a result of a 50% cut to output, and subsequent
force majeure announcement, from Hydro's Alunorte refinery in Brazil, according to market participants spoken to by Metal Bulletin.
Downstream market participants in
both steel and aluminium were in a state of alarm following US President Donald Trump's confirmation that he intends to levy tariffs on imports of both metals into the United States.
Brazil's aluminium industry is concerned
about a potential surge of Chinese sheet and foil shipments into the country following Trump's decision.