An aluminum market that has lived with Chinese oversupply for two decades is experiencing a very different year in 2021. According to Reuters, it is starting to price in a very different future. Stay up to date on MetalMiner with weekly updates – without the sales pitch. Sign up now. Aluminum prices of the future […]
Stuart Burns
The dark side of lithium-ion batteries
So far, it has been largely Samsung cell phones or laptops batteries that have caught the media’s attention when devices have caught fire, particularly in contained locations like aircraft or offices. But a spate of reports suggest the problem could also extend to cars, where the potential for serious consequences could be even greater — […]
Tin, from a technical and fundamental analysis, seems a one-way bet
MetalMiner’s new technical analyst Jimmy Chiguil recently spoke at a MetalMiner workshop, explaining how tin’s meteoric rise this year (up 68% since January), should power higher if it sustains its break above its previous peak of U.S. $33,600 per metric ton set way back in 2011. From a technical analyst perspective, previous peaks form natural […]
Copper caught in the summer doldrums
Dial back to the sentiment earlier this year and copper would be powering through $11,000 per metric ton with today’s fundamentals. However, it has spent much of the last month bobbing around the mid $9,500 per metric ton mark (currently sub-$9,400 for cash). We’re offering timely emails with exclusive analyst commentary and some best practice […]
Oil prices are unlikely to be lower for much longer
You wouldn’t believe the oil price had been quietly falling since early July when you went to fill up your tank this summer. Gasoline demand is nearly back to pre-pandemic levels from 2019. As a result, pressure on refiners has been so marked that prices have risen sharply enough to make the Biden administration urge […]
Steel prices in China looking more vulnerable in the face of falling input costs
Unusually, the global steel market is diverging in the opposite direction from “normal.” Historically, China would show signs of strength driven by robust construction activity while Europe and the U.S. struggled, facing more mature markets and relatively higher levels of foreign penetration. The U.S. continues to power ahead. There, mill lead times remain stubbornly protracted. […]
Global shipping market deteriorates further
The global shipping market has been a depressing topic to report on this year. We have posted two or three updates on the state of play over the last eight months, each time expecting the situation to improve. Depressingly, by the time we come back to it, it has, if anything, gotten worse. Stay up […]
What does the IPCC report mean for metals markets, industries?
The media has been buzzing with various interpretations of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report on rising greenhouse gas emissions and the likely scenarios before us for the next decade (and through to the end of the century). Interpretations vary between “the end of the world is nigh” and “this is getting […]
China witnesses a decline in steel prices as emissions targets are eased
Despite all the media coverage and public proclamations, did we really believe China was going to force its massive steel industry to shutter capacity and retrench if it meant an impact on GDP growth? For a while it seemed as if they were going to follow through on their declarations. Certainly prices rallied strongly on […]
COMEX-LME copper arbitrage tells a story
After a barnstorming first quarter, the copper price appears to be bucking the wider bull market narrative by trading sideways in the second quarter. Yet there remains a strange disconnect between COMEX and the North American market and the LME and rest of the world. Receive the latest short-term and long-term outlook for the full […]
