This morning in metals news, 2017 was a good year for Chilean miner Codelco, the city of Handan in China has called for a 25% reduction in steel mill production and the impact on Mexico of a terminated North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). State Miner Says Profit, Output Rose Last Year Codelco announced that its […]
Category: Supply & Demand
This Morning in Metals: DOC Announces Exclusion Process for New Tariffs
This morning in metals news, the U.S. Department of Commerce announced its tariff exclusion process for steel and aluminum, world leaders announce the intention to work together on steel overcapacity, and bank accounts have been seized in connection to a corruption probe involving Rio Tinto’s Mongolia mine. Need buying strategies for steel? Try two free months […]
Have Zinc Prices Already Peaked?
This month, zinc prices started to trade lower, returning to the $3,200 level. This activity represents the first short-term price pullback we’ve seen in zinc prices since June 2017, when prices started their latest rally. Need buying strategies for steel? Try two free months of MetalMiner’s Outlook But going back even further, the zinc price […]
This Morning in Metals: Brewers Association Expresses Concern Over Tariffs
This morning in metals news, the Brewers Association issued a statement expressing qualms about the Trump administration’s steel and aluminum tariffs, one analyst says U.S. Steel might actually be worse off after the tariffs, and copper miners are looking to the Mongolian dunes. Need buying strategies for steel? Try two free months of MetalMiner’s Outlook […]
Buyer Beware When it Comes to Cobalt
Cobalt may be a minor constituent of lithium ion batteries, but it is a crucial one. Need buying strategies for steel? Try two free months of MetalMiner’s Outlook Lithium has been the metal in the news this year. Bolstered by rising demand for hybrid and electric cars, however, the supply market has been struggling to […]
Gravity May be Reasserting Itself in China’s Aluminum Smelter Sector
In an effort to curb horrendous atmospheric pollution, particularly during the winter heating season, Beijing’s crackdown on energy-intensive and polluting industries resulted in widespread closures across the Chinese aluminum smelting industry. Buying Aluminum in 2018? Download MetalMiner’s free annual price outlook But even as expectations rise that those smelters from Shandong to Shanxi may soon […]
Is the Lithium Market a Bull or a Bubble Set to Pop?
A while back I was called by a journalist at a prominent paper and asked what I thought about the lithium market. Was it another rare earth metals story – limited supply and rapidly escalating demand? Or, worse, was the world simply going to run out of lithium in the face of surging battery demand […]
Chinese Steel Prices Ease as Demand Softens in Winter Season
Normally when supply is constrained prices will rise, but China’s steel market is presently at the mercy of several dynamics. Need buying strategies for steel? Try two free months of MetalMiner’s Outlook On the one hand, Beijing is constraining polluting industries like steel and coke production. Those same policy decisions, however, are hitting industries that […]
This Morning in Metals: Weaker Chinese Demand Might Hold Back Copper, Aluminum Rallies
This morning in metals news, weaker demand in China could counterbalance other forces that would push the prices of copper and aluminum up, the Chinese perspective on potential looming trade actions from the Trump administration, and new research has produced a “super-strong” aluminum alloy. Buying Aluminum in 2018? Download MetalMiner’s free annual price outlook Could […]
Copper Had a Big 2017, but What Does 2018 Hold?
The 2017 calendar year saw copper heat up in a big way. According to MetalMiner IndX data, LME primary cash copper was $5,512/metric ton on Jan. 1, 2017. It closed the year at $7,215/mt, good for a meteoric rise of 30.9%. Need buying strategies for copper in 2018? MetalMiner’s Annual Outlook has what you need […]
