ASIAN MORNING BRIEF 10/05: Most LME metals post modest gains; Gerdau sees 232 benefits; Peru mine output rises

The latest news and price moves to start the Asian day on Thursday May 10.

Base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange were firm at the close of trading on Wednesday May 9, with copper’s 1% climb leading a positive afternoon surge across the complex. Read more in our live futures report.

Here are how prices looked at Wednesday’s close:

Latin American steelmaker Gerdau sees the results of the Section 232 investigation of steel imports by the United States as “positive” for the company, and expects it will lead to increased utilization capacity, chief executive officer Gustavo Werneck has said.

Peru’s zinc mine production rose by 7.2% year on year in March, attributed to a recovery from last year’s decline caused by torrential rainfall.

Tata Steel Europe has begun to seek potential buyers for its non-core business units in an effort to strengthen its forecast for the steel strip business.

Wire rod processors have called for the removal of the material from the list of products targeted by the safeguard investigation opened by the European Commission (EC) into steel imports from non-EU nations.

Shahnawaz Islam, who left CME Group last month, will join Amalgamated Metal Trading (AMT) in July to develop the LME ring-dealing member’s ferrous and aluminium premium contract brokerage services.

Primary aluminium consumers in Brazil are being denied import licenses with a 6% tariff exemption because the country’s quota on tax-free imported aluminium ingot has largely been depleted.

Glencore-owned Access World opened a new warehouse in Dubai on May 9 in partnership with Rais Hassan Saadi Group, part of its continued multiproduct push beyond LME metals.

Australian miner Metro Mining has made its first shipment of 62,000 tonnes of bauxite to China but market players have downplayed the impact on spot bauxite prices due to the miner’s limited supply in the near term.

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