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LONDON (Metal-Pages) 24-Mar-09.
European low grade spot cobalt prices have increased to $11.50-13.50 a pound, from $10.50-13/lb, in the past week as a recent advance in the higher grade price on inter-merchant business has dragged the market up, dealers said on Tuesday.
analystsSource: The Canadian Press
Posted: 03/20/09 4:02PM
Filed Under: Business News
TORONTO – With shrinking inventories, a jump in Chinese demand and a lower U.S. dollar, many analysts say base metals prices may have bottomed out and could be on their way back up.
Copper prices have benefited most from this shift in fortune and are already up approximately 25 per cent this year, compared to a decline of more than 50 per cent in 2008.
And Scotiabank’s base metals index was up 1.8 per cent in January – the most recent month for which data is available – after five consecutive months of declines.
Bob Tebbutt, an analyst with Peregrine Financial Group Canada, said base metals prices are currently being pushed higher by two major drivers: improvements in the Chinese economy and higher prices for commodities sold in U.S. dollars.
Thanks to a massive stimulus package, China has been buying huge quantities of metals, particularly copper – 300,000 tonnes so far, with an additional 900,000 tonnes expected – for its State Reserve Bureau to supply future development projects.
“The Chinese economy is clearly boosting the market starting right now,” Tebbutt said in an interview.
Added to that, a plan by the U.S. central bank to pump more than US$1 trillion into the American economy, announced Wednesday, is driving the U.S. dollar lower due to fears of inflation.
LONDON (Metal-Pages) 17-Mar-09. European spot cobalt prices have traded up 50 cents a pound on high grade, with no change on lesser grades, in line with increased offers in China, where domestic demand has been increasing lately.
Dealers said the move was due to firmer prices in China and the impact of recent production cuts, particularly in Africa, on supply. However, they reckon stronger prices in China have been mostly down to traders having a punt up to $ 20 a pound, only to then to re-sell that material to book a quick profit.
Yet while it may be difficult to source 5 tonnes of material, demand has been weak, dealers said.
“The market is cautious as there has been an increase in business activity, although it seems to be mostly inter-merchant deals, with little going to consumers, who have been cutting their melt rates due to weaker demand from their customers,” one dealer said.
Long positions are few and thinly spread in a limited period due to weak demand everywhere else in the world, which is expected to outweigh any increase in Chinese demand, dealers said.
Some of the recent Chinese deals have been bought medium-term on an in-warehouse basis in Rotterdam, while some will be shipped in the coming days due to virtually empty warehouses in Singapore and Japan, dealers said.
The spot price of cobalt, which is used in chemicals, batteries, land-based turbines and power generators, is around $ 12.50-14.50/lb, while lesser grades are some $ 10-12.50/lb.
Cobalt is also alloyed with other metals and used in jet engines, where alloys with high melting points are essential. Other off-take areas are hybrid motors. Annual world supply and consumption has been typically balanced at some 50,000 tonnes in recent years, with China taking a more prominent role as a producer, as well as a consumer.
16 Mar 2009 15:35 GMT
MARKET TALK: LME Metals Likely To Ease This Week – BarCap (Dow Jones)
1535 GMT [Dow Jones] LME base metals will likely retreat this week and next
as recent gains were driven by “unsustainable factors” such as short-covering,
says Barclays Capital. Says aluminum remains in oversupply as producers have
yet to cut output enough, lead appears overvalued and Chinese copper and zinc
imports appear to be easing, which should slow the decline in LME copper and
zinc inventories. LME 3-month copper continues to rise, last at $3,800/ton,
+$135; aluminum +$6 at $1,353/ton; zinc +$36 at $1,260/ton; lead +$47 at
$1,295/ton. (MWL)
13 Mar 2009 17:39 GMT
BASE METALS: LME Metals Up On Stocks, Chinese Comments (Dow Jones)
DJ BASE METALS: LME Metals Up On Stocks, Chinese Comments
By Devon Maylie
Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
LONDON (Dow Jones)–Base metals on the London Metal Exchange traded higher
Friday in Europe although slipped in afternoon trading weighed by lower U.S.
equities. The rise was inspired by Asian trading, traders and analysts said.
Copper led the industrial metal complex up Friday on a combination of
technical buying after copper held $3,500 a metric ton Thursday, a drop in LME
and Shanghai warehouses and comments from China’s Premier Wen Jiabao affirming
the country could achieve around 8% growth this year and if needed could
provide additional stimulus measures.
