EUROPEAN MORNING BRIEF 04/01: SHFE Copper in tight range; Chinese government policy’s sway on coking coal market; Indonesia to see greater domestic nickel consumption

Good morning from Metal Bulletin’s offices in Asia, bringing the key news and market stories on Thursday January 4.

January 4, 2018

By Ellie Wang

Copper was trading in a tight range during Asian trading hours on Thursday January 4 amid mixed market sentiment following the release of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) minutes overnight.

Check Metal Bulletin’s live futures report here.

LME snapshot at 0240 London time
Latest 3M LME Prices
	Price ($/t)	Change since yesterday’s close ($)
Copper	7170.5	-4
Aluminium	2217.5	-12
Lead	2555	-22
Zinc	3325	-5
Tin	19885	-50
Nickel	12410	-40

SHFE snapshot at 0240 Shanghai time
Most traded SHFE contracts
	Price (yuan/t)	Change since yesterday’s close (yuan)
Copper (Feb)	54800	-50
Aluminium (Feb)	14975	-90
Zinc (Feb)	25800	25
Lead (Feb)	19315	5
Tin (May)	145040	-10
Nickel (May)	97820	-800

Chinese government policies, especially those limiting pollution, will continue to be a factor affecting coking coal prices in 2018.

Heavy Chinese investment in Indonesian nickel smelting and stainless steel production means that an increasing quantity of nickel ore mined in the country will be consumed internally from 2018 onwards.

Brazilian flat steel producer CSN has applied an increase of 23% in its annual pricing contracts to local automakers, effective Monday January 1, the company confirmed to Metal Bulletin on January 3.

A $20-per-tonne increase in US ferrous scrap export prices prior to the holidays is heating up the market just as frigid weather conditions begin to trigger collection concerns among Northeastern market participants.

Most global nickel premiums were flat, while new Chinese import duties pushed free-trade briquettes to China from Australia to a historic high.