Industrial Metals Update Re-visiting the iron ore forecast Previously volatile iron ore prices have barely moved in the last six months. Despite ample supply, strong growth in China’s steel production supported prices. That said, we expect steel output to... 5th September 2018 · 1 min read
Industrial Metals Update Surging steel output to lead to lower prices World Steel Association data, released earlier this week, showed a 5.8% y/y increase in global steel output in July, driven by higher production in China, India, the US and the EU. We expect this... 30th August 2018 · 1 min read
Industrial Metals Update Lower supply to support aluminium prices next year After surging to a seven-year high in mid-April on the back of the US Treasury’s decision to impose sanctions on Russian aluminium producer, Rusal, the price of aluminium has since collapsed. While we... 23rd August 2018 · 1 min read
Industrial Metals Update Has copper further to fall? While investor sentiment is likely to remain the main driver of copper prices this year, we expect declining supply and growing demand from the green energy sector to give a boost to prices in 2019... 16th August 2018 · 1 min read
Industrial Metals Update China Industrial Metals Demand & Supply Monitor (Q2) China’s industrial activity held up well in the first half of 2018 but there are now clear signs that the economy is losing momentum, which is likely to prevent any significant gains in industrial... 8th August 2018 · 1 min read
Industrial Metals Update Rising protectionism poses a real threat to cobalt Profit-taking and deteriorating investor sentiment were the main drivers of the recent fall in the price of cobalt. As such, for now, we are sticking with our end-year forecast of $100,000 per tonne... 10th July 2018 · 1 min read
Industrial Metals Update Prices to fall further The prices of industrial metals have been caught up in the general market sell-off following the ramping up of trade tensions between the US and China. We expect prices to continue to trend lower over... 21st June 2018 · 1 min read
Industrial Metals Update Copper rally won’t last The ongoing wage negotiations at several copper mines are likely to keep prices well supported in the short term. However, we think that growing supply and only subdued demand will weigh on copper... 12th June 2018 · 1 min read
Industrial Metals Update Will the lead rally be sustained? Over the past month, the price of lead has surged. This appears to be the result of a clampdown on recycling plants in China, which has reduced scrap lead supply since the start of the year. However... 6th June 2018 · 1 min read
Industrial Metals Update Nickel unlikely to hold on to price gains Tighter supply and strong demand have led to a rapid drawdown of nickel exchange stocks and given a lift to prices. But with supply starting to pick up and more subdued demand growth, we expect the... 31st May 2018 · 1 min read
Industrial Metals Update Investors become less positive on metals Investor sentiment in the metals markets has deteriorated since the start of 2018, although more so for precious metals than industrial. Some of the technical indicators that we monitor have recently... 25th May 2018 · 1 min read
Industrial Metals Update Stocks fall but demand remains subdued Total exchange stocks of most industrial metals have fallen over the past month but cancelled warrants have in most cases also declined, which points to lacklustre demand. Aluminium and tin were the... 14th May 2018 · 1 min read
Industrial Metals Update Have zinc prices further to fall? After two years of sizeable deficits, there are signs that the tightness in the zinc market is easing, which explains why prices have fallen sharply since the start of the year. We think that prices... 10th May 2018 · 1 min read
Industrial Metals Update China Industrial Metals Demand & Supply Monitor (Q1) China’s industrial activity held up well in the first quarter of 2018, but year-on-year growth in some of the more metal-intensive sectors slowed from the previous quarter. Moreover, we expect the... 26th April 2018 · 1 min read
Industrial Metals Update Aluminium price has further to fall The US Treasury’s decision to soften its position on sanctions against Russian aluminium producer, Rusal, has sent the price of aluminium tumbling in the past couple of days. We think that prices will... 25th April 2018 · 1 min read
Industrial Metals Update Tin to tread water Growth in tin demand is expected to slow this year, but remain slightly stronger than the historical trend. However, constrained supply should support prices, which we expect to be relatively flat... 23rd April 2018 · 1 min read
