Swedish state-owned iron ore producer LKAB plans a short maintenance stoppage at its facility at Malmberget next week.LKAB's sorting and concentrating plants at Malmberget, in the northernmost county of Norrbotten, will be out of action for 12 hours on July 15, the company said this week."LKAB ?s planned maintenance stops are decisive for our ability to...Read More

Market participants say off-warrant aluminium stocks are much higher than what is reflected in this week's London Metal Exchange data release, but many welcomed the added transparency. As part of a new warehouse reform, the LME has begun publishing off-warrant stock data. In the data published yesterday, it highlighted an extra 1 million tonnes of aluminium available as of the end of May 2020. So...Read More

Copper showed the largest increase in deliverable stocks in percentage terms in Shanghai Futures Exchange-approved warehouses in the week to Friday July 10, climbing by 23,018 tonnes or 20.1% to 137,336 tonnes.The largest inflow was reported at the Zhongchu Wusong warehouse in Shanghai, where stocks rose by 9,827 tonnes (47.6%) week on week to 30,469 tonnes, according to the weekly report.The rise...Read More

China's hot-rolled coil prices weakened on Friday July 10 amid inactive trading, with buyers taking a wait-and-see position after restocking at high prices earlier this week.DomesticEastern China (Shanghai): 3,850-3,870 yuan ($551-554) per tonne, down 10 yuan per tonneNorthern China (Tangshan) - weekly assessment: 3,720-3,750 yuan per tonne, up 100 yuan per tonneSellers in Shanghai were offering H...Read More

The LME three-month nickel price was trading down 1.2% on the previous day's close at around $13,080 per tonne during the morning session on Friday July 10, continuing its descent from yesterday's $13,550 per tonne intraday high.Yesterday's shadow-stock report from the London Metal Exchange said that 18,753 tonnes of nickel was available off-warrant globally, which constitutes about 8% of the 234,...Read More

An overview of the minor metals markets and the reasons for their latest price moves.Read More

The cobalt alloy grade, in-whs Rotterdam trade log including business, bids and offers reported to Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets publishes trades logs for its key price assessments and indices to bring more transparency into the markets it covers and the pricing process it applies.Fastmarkets assessed cobalt alloy grade, in-whs...Read More

The cobalt standard grade, in-whs Rotterdam trade log including business, bids and offers reported to Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets publishes trades logs for its key price assessments and indices to bring more transparency into the markets it covers and the pricing process it applies.Fastmarkets assessed...Read More

Key data from the Friday July 10 pricing session in Shanghai.Key driversChina's cobalt metal prices edge up amid rising local futures prices with investors' appetites strengthening on cobalt demand optimism from the electric vehicle (EV) sector after news that BMW Group signed a ?,?100 million ($113 million) contract to secure cobalt supply. Spot demand remained sluggish, however....Read More

An overview of the Chinese minor metals markets and the reasons for their latest price moves. Read More

Production at Glencore's Katanga copper and cobalt mine in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has been uninterrupted by the confirmation of six Covid-19 cases at the operation.Closure of the mine is unlikely although the possibility has not been ruled out, Fastmarkets understands. The six...Read More

The price of stainless steel in the European domestic market has dropped this week because of low demand, sources told Fastmarkets on Friday July 10.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for stainless steel cold-rolled sheet, 2mm, grade 304, transaction domestic, delivered North Europe, was ?,?1,930-2,000 ($2,185-2,264) per tonne on Friday, down by ?,?50 per tonne week on week.Read More

Turkish steel producers resumed deep-sea scrap purchases at the end of the week at slightly lower prices, sources said on Friday July 10.A steel mill in the Izmir region booked a cargo from the United States, comprised of shredded scrap at $258 per tonne and bonus-grade scrap at $263 per tonne cfr.Another steel mill in the Marmara region also booked a US cargo at $255 per tonne cfr for a...Read More

Some US, French and German shipping lines have stopped handling shipments of non-ferrous scrap material to China, citing concerns over the delayed launch of a policy in the East Asian country to trade scrap as renewable materials.Some shipments scheduled to arrive in mainland China and Hong Kong before September 1, 2020, have been cancelled by the shipping companies as a result, industry sources s...Read More

Workers at Chile's giant copper mines are caught between the urge to protect themselves and pressure to keep the country's economy moving.Since declaring a state of emergency in March to deal with the Covid-19 pandemic, the Chilean government has tried to maintain a difficult balance between slowing the spread of the disease and shielding the economy through the inevitable downturn. Mining compani...Read More

Silver is moving up quite shortly today, whichsounds bullish, until one realizes that silver tends to be particularly strongright before the precious metals market tops. And you know what’s the otherthing that quite often happens at the tops, in addition to silver’s temporarystrength? Miners tend to underperform. What did goldminers do on the last trading day of the previous week? Min...Read More

The risks to the downside for silver are quite low since it has been so unloved. We could have a nice move higher for silver once most of the...Patrick Karim on Palisade RadioTom welcomes Patrick Karim back to the show to discuss his latest charts on silver. Patrick is a proprietary capital manager and chart trader.Patrick is cautiously optimistic about precious metals and, in particular, silver....Read More

Silver is moving up quite shortly today, whichsounds bullish, until one realizes that silver tends to be particularly strongright before the precious metals market tops. And you know what’s the otherthing that quite often happens at the tops, in addition to silver’s temporarystrength? Miners tend to underperform. What did goldminers do on the last trading day of the previous week? Min...Read More

Publisher's Note: Today we're bringing you an excerpt from an Interim Warning Bulletin from The Dines Letter.Mr. Dines keeps his readers up-to-date between monthly issues with IWBs and, with gold topping $1,800 and extreme risk in the markets, it is good to hear from him.Call it like you see it,Nick Hodge Even though many stock market averages are near their all-time highs, our Mass Psychology In...Read More

Silver is moving up quite shortly today, whichsounds bullish, until one realizes that silver tends to be particularly strongright before the precious metals market tops. And you know what’s the otherthing that quite often happens at the tops, in addition to silver’s temporarystrength? Miners tend to underperform. What did goldminers do on the last trading day of the previous week? Min...Read More