Our Head of Research was invited to speak at the 121 mining conference in London, where he was talking about the outlook for copper, nickel and tin. Please find his latest talk here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDEFvBmiSig
May 24, 2024 - Dan Smith
12 April 2024: After a weak start to 2024, base metal prices jumped in March and early April, mainly driven by speculative forces. There are three reasons to believe that prices look overextended. First, net speculative positions look very high for copper and tin and rallies in nickel and zinc look difficult to justify given […]
April 15, 2024 - Dan Smith
19 March 2024: LME nickel prices have outperformed the rest of the base metals complex in the past month, with fundamentals starting to tighten. The market was in significant oversupply in 2023, but this drove prices down to rock bottom levels and producers then reacted quickly by cutting output. Also bullish is that nickel demand […]
March 20, 2024 - Dan Smith
15th May 2023: Base metal prices have diverged so far year, as fundamental drivers have started to reassert themselves. In particular, tin was supported by concerns about supply shortages, due to problems in Myanmar and copper prices have been resilient, helped by the green energy transition. By contrast, significant weakness was seen in aluminium, lead, […]
May 15, 2023 - Dan Smith
31st January 2023: Last year was a weak period for most of the base metals and prices trended lower through the year, although nickel was an exception and followed its own bullish path. By contrast, aluminium, copper, tin and zinc prices have all rallied this year, despite a weak fundamental backdrop. While there is currently […]
January 31, 2023 - Dan Smith
Nickel prices have had a roaring start to 2022. An extended drawdown of visible inventories reflects acute global physical market tightness, particularly for Class 1 refined nickel. The market is struggling to satisfy demand from the burgeoning electric vehicle battery sector and improving expectations for stainless steel demand growth in China. Acute supply risks due […]
March 4, 2022
Why is there a shortage? In early March nickel prices retreated by ~20% from February highs. The sharp move came after China steel giant and top nickel producer Tsingshan announced plans to produce a precursor to battery-grade nickel from nickel pig iron (NPI). This dampened investor expectations for a future shortage of Class 1 nickel […]
March 16, 2021