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Before we head into the weekend, let’s take a look back at the week that was and some of the metals storylines here on MetalMiner:

Keep up to date on everything going on in the world of trade and tariffs via MetalMiner’s Trade Resource Center.

• Global steel production contracted in October, according to the World Steel Association.
• We looked back at some of the most-viewed MetalMiner stories from November.
• Global aluminum production rose in October.
• Earlier this week, we released our Monthly Metal Outlook forecast report.
• General Motors and Isuzu are teaming up to build a new Ohio plant via their DMAX joint venture.
• MetalMiner’s Belinda Fuller took a look at the relationship between gold prices and the U.S. dollar.

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The Copper Monthly Metals Index (MMI) held at last month’s value of 73 based on November price data. 

LME copper prices took a sideways turn during November as uncertainty over the strength of the global economy continued to constrain copper prices.

Source: MetalMiner analysis of London Metal Exchange (LME) and FastMarkets.

The price continued to trade below $6,000/mt throughout November, averaging a value of $5,877/mt for the month.

SHFE copper prices continued firmly sideways

SHFE copper prices continued to move sideways once again in November, with the trading range continuing to move tightly around the CNY 47,000/mt price level.

Source: MetalMiner analysis of FastMarkets. 

Like LME prices, SHFE prices continued to look slightly stronger by remaining higher than values seen a couple of months ago.

China’s increased smelting capacity pushes 2020 TC/RCs lower

China copper smelting capacity will increase by an estimated 900,000 tons this year,  according to press reports, plus another 350,000 tons during 2020.

As a result, competition for concentrate drove down treatment charges this year. Therefore, official TC/RCs recently set for 2020 contract negotiations remain lower at $62 per ton for smelting and $0.062 cents/pound for refining.

Demand for copper in China could start to pick up in 2020

China’s manufacturing sector could be rebounding, based on positive PMI readings for November, with both the official and private Caixin/Markit readings coming in higher than expected.

The Caixin/Markit manufacturing index edged up to 51.8, from 51.7 last month.

The official PMI manufacturing reading of 50.2 also crossed 50 this month.

This brings both indexes back into expansionary territory.

Rio Tinto extends Kennecott project through 2032 with $1.5 billion investment

Rio Tinto approved a plan to invest $1.5 billion in its Kennecott copper site in the U.S. The investment will allow mining in a new area of the ore body, which will extend Kennecott operations through 2032. As a result, the company expects to mine close to one million tons of copper from 2026 through 2032.

Kennecott operations presently supply close to 20% of annual U.S. copper production, according to the company.

What this means for industrial buyers

Copper prices moved predominantly sideways of late — with prices generally holding value rather than dropping back, even with slowed Q4 demand growth. Industrial buying organizations need to stay alert for further signs of price increases, in case a pickup in manufacturing impacts prices into the new year.

Want an easier solution to tracking industrial metals prices and trade news? Request a demo of the MetalMiner Insights platform.

Buying organizations seeking more insight into longer-term copper price trends may want to read MetalMiner’s Annual Metal Buying Outlook.

Free Partial Sample Report: 2020 MetalMiner Annual Metals Outlook

Actual copper prices and trends

Copper prices showed mixed movements this month, but the majority of prices in the index increased mildly.

U.S. producer copper grade 110 and grade 122 increased by 1.5%, the largest increase this month, both now at $3.47 per pound. U.S. producer copper grade 102 increased 1.4% to $3.69 per pound.

China’s copper bar prices increased by 1.0% to $6,729/mt. China’s primary cash and copper wire prices both increased, by 0.8% and 0.9% respectively, to $6,736/mt and $6,732/mt, respectively. China’s copper #2 price held nearly flat at $5460/mt.

Japan’s primary cash price fell by 1.0% – following last month’s 4.0% jump – now at $6,090/mt.

The LME primary 3-month price stayed relatively flat with a 0.5% increase, now at $5,877/mt.

Korean copper strip fell by 1.9% to $7.92 per kilogram.

Indian copper cash prices fell by 1.8% to $6.06 per kilogram.

We observed last month that the peak had passed in nickel prices and earlier suggestions from some quarters that nickel may hit $20,000 per ton were highly unlikely.

Any stainless consumers taking that on board and living hand to mouth will have seen surcharges come down and should have been able to trim stocks in line with falling input prices. Anyone who committed to bulk buys in Q3 will now be sitting on high-price stock as the nickel price — and with it stainless surcharges — continues to ease.

Keep up to date on everything going on in the world of trade and tariffs via MetalMiner’s Trade Resource Center.

MetalMiner’s Monthly Metal Buying Outlook offers more in-depth advice as to how to react to the nickel price falls and the current market (at least for those who are subscribers).

But the question on many buyers’ minds may be where is it all going from here?

It helps to better understand what has driven the price in recent months.

The LME nickel price has risen 54% since the start of the year, Reuters reported, driven in large part by a perceived supply shock in the form of an accelerated ban on the export of Indonesian nickel ore (a key raw material for Chinese pig iron and stainless-steel makers).

Further support for the nickel price has come in the form of a sustained outflow of refined nickel from LME warehouses, even since September inventory has continued to leave with live warrants down to just 42,000 tons from over 200,000 tons at the start of the year.

The supply-side picture sounds supportive; however, as we wrote last month, the problem is demand.

The market continues to worry about the trade war impacting Chinese manufacturing and, hence, demand, despite the Financial Times reporting this week that Chinese manufacturing expanded at the fastest pace in three years last month. The demand backdrop, though, is one of almost unending doom; reports of high stainless-steel inventory in China are not helping price sentiment.

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The risk remains to the downside, which is not what those holders of high-price stock would want to hear. However, for the time being, the nickel price seems to be following the rest of the metals sector: at best sideways and at worst toward further weakness.

The Aluminum Monthly Metals Index (MMI) held relatively flat this month, with a one-point increase to 83, as the majority of prices in the index showed mild increases.

LME aluminum prices generally moved sideways during November and were unable to generate strong upward price momentum due to slower recent economic growth rates and uncertainty over demand in early 2020.

Source: MetalMiner analysis of London Metal Exchange (LME) and FastMarkets

While prices have not gained as much value recently — even compared to early November highs — prices have not dropped as low either.

During the past month, prices dropped back below the $1,800/mt level after trading above that level during the first week or so of November, but still found support firmly above the $1,700/mt level.

Overall macroeconomic conditions continued to restrain price increases.

SHFE aluminum prices continue sideways

SHFE aluminum prices continued to move firmly sideways during the past month.

Source: MetalMiner analysis of Fastmarkets

Since March, prices traded in a firm band between CNY 13,500/mt and CNY 14,500/mt.

The sideways trend looks set to continue. However, prices recently hit some progressive lows, (although the drops look mild):

Source: MetalMiner analysis of Fastmarkets

Aluminum production in China will most likely continue to grow much faster than demand, according to a webinar by analysts at Shanghai Metals Market (SMM).

In 2020, China’s output of primary aluminum looks set to increase by 2.5% to 36.44 million metric tons (after contracting by 1.51% this year).

This year, capacity totaled around 40.69 million tons, with actual production of around 35.1 million tons on an annualized basis.

Aluminum consumption in China will increase by 0.3% next year to 36.19 million metric tons, after declining by 1.48% this year.

Increased use of aluminum in autos will not be enough to absorb China’s rising production

According to a report prepared for the International Aluminum Institute on long-term automotive use in China earlier this year, aluminum demand for use specifically within the sector in China will increase from an estimated 3.8 million tons in 2018 to 10.7 million tons by 2030, based on a compound annual growth rate of 8.9%.

Let’s put that in perspective.

This past October, Chinese production totaled just around 3.0 million tons.

High production levels likely to constrain price increases into early 2020

Surplus production could continue to weigh on prices next year, resulting in a price drop below $1,700/mt, particularly early in the year.

Once prices drop further, the rate of smelter closures will likely increase, thus relieving downward price pressure.

However, at this time prices continue to trade near break-even levels, likely delaying announcements of production closures into Q1 2020.

What this means for industrial buyers

Aluminum price momentum remained stalled overall this month, with most index prices holding sideways or making only mild gains.

A return of price momentum cannot be ruled out for Q1 2020, especially if both the automotive and manufacturing sectors see a strong global recovery.

Buying organizations interested in tracking industrial metals prices with ease, including embedded forecasting, will want to request a demo of the MetalMiner Insights platform.

Buying organizations seeking more insight into longer-term aluminum price trends may want to read MetalMiner’s Annual Metal Buying Outlook.

Free Partial Sample Report: 2020 MetalMiner Annual Metals Outlook

Actual metal prices and trends

This month, China aluminum scrap prices increased once again, rising by 2.4% to $1,849/mt. Chinese aluminum primary cash prices also increased again, by 1% to $1,994/mt. Chinese aluminum billet and bar prices saw increases of around 0.4%, to $2,049/mt and $2,144/mt, respectively.

Korean prices dropped back this month by around 3%. Korean commercial 1050 sheet came in at $2.95/kilogram. The 5052 coil premium over 1050 was $3.12/kilogram and the 3003 coil premium over 1050 was $2.92/kilogram.

The LME primary three-month price increased by 0.8% to $1,761/mt.

European commercial 1050 sheet and 5083 plate both increased mildly again this month, by 0.3% and 0.9%, respectively, to $2,482/mt and $2,862/mt.

India’s primary cash price increased by 0.5% to $1.87 per kilogram. 

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Gold prices surged this year due to greater uncertainty in the global macroeconomic environment.

By August, the price briefly regained the $1,500/ounce price point and stood at $1,460/ounce in late November.

Keep up to date on everything going on in the world of trade and tariffs via MetalMiner’s Trade Resource Center.

Over the longer term, gold prices and the dollar tend to move in an inverse relationship, as demonstrated by this chart, which shows prices from July 2012 through early November 2019:

Source: MetalMiner data from MetalMiner IndX(™)

However, the relationship does not always hold true.

More recently, we’ve once again seen a break in the relationship, which started late last year (the vertical blue dotted line above) and picked up steam around June.

Source: MetalMiner data from MetalMiner IndX(™)

Both gold and the dollar trended up in value overall, especially from July until September. However, gold prices gained greater momentum and increased by a greater measure than the dollar. Then, both values fell in September and October.

The relationship appeared to switch back to an inverse pattern in November.

Gold prices and the dollar-yuan exchange rate

Source: MetalMiner data from MetalMiner IndX(™)

Because the value of the yuan is set by the central government, the graph above using the CNY/$ exchange rate serves as a proxy to examine the relationship between the currency and gold prices.

Keeping in mind that a higher value on the right axis means a weaker yuan, we should expect to see these two prices moving together.

As the yuan weakens against the dollar, gold prices weaken. As the yuan rises in value, gold prices rise in value.

In real life, the relationship gets impacted by multiple variables. The yuan and the dollar do not have to move in an inverse pattern; the yuan is not a commodity but a currency (the same is true for gold).

However, in recent months, the gold price appeared to more tightly follow the CNY/$ exchange rate in a predictive fashion, rather than holding to its longer-term inverse dollar relationship.

This type of pattern emerged during 2016, as well.

Will quantitative easing by the Fed send gold prices up in Q4?

Monetary policy is known to impact commodity prices.

Quantitative easing is a form of monetary policy; therefore, we can expect any such actions in this direction to impact gold prices.

Quantitative easing can be used when interest rates are already quite low. In effect, it increases liquidity in the system, thus spurring growth.

U.S. Federal Reserve balance sheet since 2008

Source: Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System

Quantitative easing occurs when the government purchases certain financial assets, which in turn raises the value of the assets but lowers their yield.

Basically, easing targets asset classes that are performing poorly, thus correcting losses for financial institutions. This, in turn, allows financial institutions to lower borrowing rates, creating more liquidity in the system.

The ease of access to funds by businesses and individuals then stimulates economic growth.

Looking for metal price forecasting and data analysis in one easy-to-use platform? Inquire about MetalMiner Insights today!

What this means for industrial buying organizations

With the overall macroeconomic environment characterized as unstable, gold prices may generally continue to trend higher in the short term, as gold gets used as a hedge.

However, over a longer period, current monetary policies could weaken prices once more — assuming they take effect as intended.

MetalMiner’s December 2019 Monthly Metal Buying Outlook is in the books.

Need buying strategies for steel? Request your two-month free trial of MetalMiner’s Outlook

The Monthly Metal Buying Outlook, released at the beginning of every month, offers analysis and buying strategies for 10 metals:

• Aluminum
• Copper
• Nickel
• Lead
• Zinc
• Tin
• Hot-Rolled Coil  (HRC)
• Cold-Rolled Coil (CRC)
• Hot-Dipped Galvanized (HDG)
• Steel Plate

The monthly report supplies buyers with valuable data and analysis to mitigate price risk and buy at the most opportune times in the price cycle.

In addition to buying strategies, the outlook includes analysis of the last month in news and trends for each metal category, drivers affecting price movements, and resistance and support levels (and much more).

Request your free trial to the Monthly Metal Buying Outlook.

Global aluminum production in October totaled 5.39 million tons, according to a recent report by the International Aluminum Institute.

Keep up to date on everything going on in the world of trade and tariffs via MetalMiner’s Trade Resource Center.

Global production through the first 10 months of the year reached 53.04 million tons, down 0.9% from the 53.51 million tons produced during the first 10 months of 2018.

Of that total, China produced 3.01 million tons, which marked a decline from the 3.13 million tons produced in October 2018. However, China’s October production jumped compared with September’s 2.92 million tons.

Elsewhere, production in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries totaled 494,000 tons in October, up from the 478,000 tons in September and the 450,000 tons produced in October 2018.

North American production totaled 316,000 tons, up 1.9% from the 310,000 produced in September but down from 323,000 tons in October 2018.

Western European production totaled 286,000 tons in October, up from 276,000 tons the previous month and down from 321,000 tons in October 2018.

Production in east and central Europe totaled 356,000 tons in October, up form 344,000 tons in September and 343,000 tons in October 2018.

MetalMiner’s Stuart Burns weighed in on aluminum demand and prices last month.

“China’s gross domestic product growth slowed again to 6.0% year over year in the third quarter, its weakest pace in almost three decades, Aluminium Insider reports,” Burns wrote. “Citing a Reuters poll, the report notes industrial activity is expected to have shrunk for the sixth month in October, quoting a Reuters poll, suggesting hardly any relief from slowing global demand and the trade war.

“The latest economic data from the E.U. and the U.S. also indicate slowing growth, with Germany flirting with a recession in the manufacturing sector. Although the aluminum market was estimated to be in deficit last year and this, a Reuters poll suggests it is likely to flip into a surplus of 304,000 metric tons next year — almost a 1 million ton turnaround from the 658,500-ton estimate for this year.”

Despite slowing growth and lagging demand around the world, aluminum prices had previously shown signs of upward momentum, surging past the $1,800/mt threshold in the first half of November.

However, since hitting $1,820/mt as of Nov. 8, the LME three-month aluminum price has lost some steam. The LME three-month aluminum price dropped to $1,738/mt in the run-up to Thanksgiving, according to MetalMiner IndX data.

Alumina production

Meanwhile, the International Aluminum Institute also released alumina production figures Nov. 26.

China’s estimated production of alumina — a key aluminum making material — totaled 6.08 million tons in October, up from 5.88 million tons in September but down from the 6.16 million tons produced in October 2018.

Free Partial Sample Report: 2020 MetalMiner Annual Metals Outlook

Global alumina production totaled 110.3 million tons through the first 10 months of 2019, up 1.9% from 108.2 million tons produced during the equivalent period in 2018.

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It has been a busy, busy year for metals, ranging from steel prices’ trajectory as we head toward 2020 to nickel prices’ reaction to Indonesia’s impending nickel ore export ban.

Keep up to date on everything going on in the world of trade and tariffs via MetalMiner’s Trade Resource Center.

While it’s hard to believe, the year is almost over — so before we jump into the final month of 2019, let’s take a look back at some of the most-viewed stories on MetalMiner from November:

1. Amid Plunging U.S. Steel Prices, Has ‘Steelmageddon’ Arrived?

2. What happened to the nickel supply shortfall?

3. ICSG: Global copper market in deficit by 330K tons

4. Freeport-McMorRan Uses AI to Optimize Production at Arizona Copper Mine

5. ArcelorMittal Announces Shuttering of Plants in South Africa, Poland

6. Chinese steel, raw material prices are on the rise

7. This Morning in Metals: Automakers Await Trump’s Section 232 Auto Tariff Decision

8. Metal manufacturers, users call for Section 232 sunset provision

9. Aluminum Prices Rising Despite Weak Demand

10. Goldman Sachs is Bullish on Oil Prices in the Long Term

Free Partial Sample Report: 2020 MetalMiner Annual Metals Outlook

Happy Thanksgiving from MetalMiner!

On this day, we wish our MetalMiner readers a very Happy Thanksgiving.

While you may be busy putting the finishing touches on your Thanksgiving spread and, subsequently, taking a turkey-induced nap, you might find some time to revisit some of the most-read MetalMiner posts of the month so far.

Take a look and revisit some of the November posts below that caught readers’ attention:

1. Amid Plunging U.S. Steel Prices, Has ‘Steelmageddon’ Arrived?

2. What happened to the nickel supply shortfall?

3. Freeport-McMorRan Uses AI to Optimize Production at Arizona Copper Mine

4. ArcelorMittal Announces Shuttering of Plants in South Africa, Poland

5. This Morning in Metals: Automakers Await Trump’s Section 232 Auto Tariff Decision

We’re off today and will resume regular coverage tomorrow.

But for now, we wish you a Happy Thanksgiving, MetalMiner readers!

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This morning in metals news, U.S. steel imports were down 16% through the first 10 months of the year, steel companies are raising their prices and protests continue in the world’s top copper-producing country.

Keep up to date on everything going on in the world of trade and tariffs via MetalMiner’s Trade Resource Center.

Steel imports drop 16% through October

U.S. imports of steel through the first 10 months of the year were down 16% on a year-over-year basis, the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) reported this week.

Steel imports through the end of October totaled 24.78 million tons, according to the report.

Meanwhile, U.S. steel imports for totaled 2.18 million tons in October, which marked a 14.5% increase compared with the September import total.

Steel companies raise prices

Amid slumping steel prices, companies like U.S. Steel and ArcelorMittal are raising prices for their products, the Times of Northwest Indiana reported.

According to the Times’ report, the steelmakers have raised their prices for flat-rolled steel three times in less than a month.

Chile protests continue

Widespread protests erupted in Chile in October, at first over a proposed metro fare hike; since then, the protests have expanded to encompass more widespread, systemic ills that are being called out by the protesters in the streets of Santiago and other cities.

Chile is the world’s No. 1 copper producer. Bloomberg reports the country’s recent protests could in fact threaten the status of the country’s major state-owned producer as the world’s No. 1 producer.

According to the report, state-owned Codelco — the world’s top copper producer — had been planning to spend $20 billion in Chile over a decade to modernize its mines.

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However, Bloomberg notes, demands raised by protesters in Chile could be at odds with government funding Codelco had looked for toward that aforementioned modernization. As a result, Codelco may fall from its No. 1 spot, according to Colin Hamilton of BMO Capital Markets, as cited by Bloomberg.