DESCUBRE FT MERCATI - PRUEBA GRATIS
FT Mercati pone a disposición de los suscriptores un boletín dedicado a las materias primas para mantenerse al día. He aquí una selección de las últimas noticias:
7/5/2024
The new taris on aluminium imports imposed by Mexico are aecting the aluminium's supply chain, trade ows and premiums, sources told last week ended Friday May 3.
“The entire supply chain of the light metal is being impacted, with premiums rising, including in the United States,” Fernando Garcia Martinez, vice president of operations at Mexican aluminium institute IMEDAL, told.
7/5/2024
Domestic raw steel production in the US was 1,709,000 net tons in the week to Saturday May 4, while the capacity utilization rate was 77.0%, according to the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI).
Broken down by districts, production stood at 740,000 tons in the South, 566,000 tons in the Great Lakes, 197,000 tons in the Midwest, 133,000 tons in the Northeast and 73,000 tons in the West, for a total of 1,709,000 tons.
Production is down by 2.9% from the corresponding period of 2023, when output was 1,760,000 tons and the capacity utilization was 78.2%.
Production was up by 0.5% from the previous week, when output was 1,701,000 tons and the capacity utilization rate was 76.6%.
7/5/2024
OPECNA, the news agency of OPEC, announced the OPEC Basket preliminary price
06 may = $ 83.74 /b (down from previous daily value)
(The OPEC Reference Basket (ORB) introduced on 16 June 2005, is currently made up of the following: Algeria, Angola, Congo, Ecuador, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia , UAE and Venezuela.
7/5/2024
China imported 891,383 tonnes of zinc concentrate in January-March, down by 27.1% year on year, and the March import volume was at its lowest since May 2022, according to the latest data from China’s General Administration of Customs.
Spot treatment charges (TCs) of zinc concentrate, the fee that miners pay smelters to convert their ores into refined metal, has fallen almost continuously since the beginning of 2023.
Typically, a supply surplus of raw material leads to an increase in TCs, and a deficit leads the TCs to move down, with smelters competing for concentrate.
With the London Metal Exchange zinc price plunging to a nearly three-year low in May 2023, a string of zinc mines chose to shut down or temporarily suspend operations because costs severely eroded their profits.
Global zinc mine production fell by 1.4% in 2023, data from the International Lead and Zinc Study Group (ILZSG) showed. There will be a deficit of about 300,000 tonnes of zinc concentrate worldwide in 2024.
Market participants are keeping a close eye on when closed mines are expected to come back online in 2024.
Boliden announced on Friday May 3 that it would ramp up production at the Tara mine in the fourth quarter, reaching full production capacity by January 2025.
However, the strong uptick in the zinc price in April could improve mines’ margins, but there is still doubt on whether the recent price spike could be sustained.
Another problem is that most Chinese zinc smelters did not lock monthly supply in long-term contracts with miners or traders for 2024; instead, they are exposed to spot market for purchasing overseas feedstocks.
In China, about 70% of zinc concentrate for smelting come from domestic mines, and 30% are imported feeds.
At the beginning of 2023, when import TCs were as high as $250-280 per tonne, most smelters secured raw material supply in long-term agreements.
But this year is the situation is totally different: for those who are in urgent need of feed, deals concluded at extremely low TCs, about $10-20 per tonne for Antamina-like high copper units, and offers have even fallen to one digit.
So, imported concentrates are way too expensive, and traders are struggling to break even on slumping TCs.
Some smelters chose to cut production or conduct care and maintenance, and market participants estimated a drop in China’s monthly zinc output in April compared with March: the traders think the tightness will not ease in the short term; at least, it will continue until the third quarter.
7/5/2024
The international analysis company World Bank reports the estimated average price for copper in 2024 and 2025, updated according to its latest release in april:
2024 = $ 8,900 /tonn .
2025 = $ 8,800 /tonn .
(Estimates are up from what was communicated in the previous release of october)
7/5/2024
The international analysis company World Bank reports the estimated average price for primary aluminium in 2024 and 2025, updated according to its latest release in april :
2024 = $ 2,300 /tonn .
2025 = $ 2,400 /tonn .
(Estimates are slightly up what was communicated in the previous release of october)
