ASIAN MORNING BRIEF 07/08: Mixed showing for LME base metals; EVs upending auto industry, analytics firm says; Russian steel producers raise sheet prices

Base metals on the London Metal Exchange consolidated for much of trading on Monday August 6, with closing prices mixed despite broad strength in the US dollar and an ongoing trade spat between the United States and China. Read more here in our live futures report.

Here is how prices looked at the close of trading:

Electric vehicles are exerting a significantly disruptive effect on the automotive industry and will transform the sector over the next five years, according to analytics firm GlobalData.

Steel producers in Russia’s central region around Moscow have increased their prices for hot-rolled and cold-rolled steel sheet on improved demand.

Turkey’s finished steel output increased 9% year on year in January-June 2018, while consumption increased 11.5%, according to the latest data published by the Turkish Steel Producers Association (TÇÜD).

Swedish state-owned iron ore producer LKAB expects to restart iron ore pellet production at its Svappavaara plant in northern Sweden on August 8, a spokesman told Metal Bulletin.

Russia’s Novolipetsk Steel (NLMK) is testing potential new supplies of steel slab to its assets in the United States, after a 25% import tariff was imposed on deliveries of its own semi-finished product from Russia.