Industrial Metals Update Investor sentiment could be about to turn Sentiment towards metals remained broadly positive in Q3 as the prospect of capacity cuts in China later in the year supported industrial metals prices whilst heightened geopolitical risks buoyed... 15th September 2017 · 1 min read
Industrial Metals Update China Industrial Metals Demand Monitor (Aug.) China’s August activity and spending data suggest that the slowdown that started in July continued into August. In particular, a downturn in infrastructure spending does not bode well for metals... 14th September 2017 · 1 min read
Industrial Metals Update Still cautious on copper … A combination of investor optimism about future demand, the depreciation of the dollar and disruptions to mine supply have been the key drivers of this year’s rally in the price of copper. But, in our... 5th September 2017 · 1 min read
Industrial Metals Update Investors exaggerate move in metals prices Whilst fundamentals have played a role in the most recent rallies in industrial metals, we think that speculative activity has exacerbated the move up in prices. In some cases – notably copper –... 24th August 2017 · 1 min read
Industrial Metals Update No shortage of tin now! The ongoing surge in ShFE tin stocks was the main story in the last month. In fact, inventories of most ShFE metals have risen in the last four weeks, while stocks of nearly all the LME metals have... 23rd August 2017 · 1 min read
Industrial Metals Update Iron ore’s last hurrah? The price of iron ore has staged an impressive rally since late June, fuelled by a combination of strong growth in China’s steel output and speculative activity. However, with steel demand and... 15th August 2017 · 1 min read
Industrial Metals Update China Industrial Metals Demand Monitor (Jul.) China’s July activity and investment data showed a marked downturn and reversed most of the gains recorded towards the end of the second quarter. We had always expected policy tightening to translate... 14th August 2017 · 1 min read
Industrial Metals Update Zinc rally to fade towards year-end After falling at the start of the year, robust demand and constrained supply have pushed the price of zinc higher in recent months. The strength in prices is likely to persist over the next couple of... 10th August 2017 · 1 min read
Industrial Metals Update Stocks of most metals edge lower Exchange stocks of most metals fell over the last month. With the exception of copper and tin, inventories are now substantially lower than at the start of the year, pointing to tightening markets... 27th July 2017 · 1 min read
Industrial Metals Update China’s metals imports point to strong demand so far in 2017 China’s detailed trade data, released yesterday, revealed that metals demand was strong in the first six months of the year, which helps to explain the recent price rallies. That said, we expect... 25th July 2017 · 1 min read
Industrial Metals Update China Industrial Metals Demand Monitor (Jun.) There was across-the-board strength in China’s June activity and investment data, which helps to explain the recent resilience of industrial metals prices. However, we still expect ongoing policy... 18th July 2017 · 1 min read
Industrial Metals Update It is hard to be positive on nickel With the fading prospect of mine closures in the Philippines, the outlook for nickel supply is improving. At the same time, demand is expected to weaken this year. However, we think that the... 12th July 2017 · 1 min read
Industrial Metals Update How tight is the cobalt market really? New supply prospects in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) could ease the current tightness in the cobalt market. Admittedly, the country’s mine practices are controversial and there is a risk... 6th July 2017 · 1 min read
Industrial Metals Update China Industrial Metals Output Monitor (May) After a strong start to 2017, growth in China’s refinery output appears to be slowing. This corroborates broader activity and investment data, which have lost some momentum going into the second... 28th June 2017 · 1 min read
Industrial Metals Update Stocks are not painting a clear picture of demand Exchange stocks generally fell over the last month. The bigger picture is that there have been sharp drawdowns in global exchange stocks of aluminium and zinc and a large build in copper inventories... 19th June 2017 · 1 min read
Industrial Metals Update China Industrial Metals Demand Monitor (May) China’s activity data were broadly stable in May, but a slowdown in construction starts and growth in investment do not bode well for future metals demand. 15th June 2017 · 1 min read
