18 June 2024: Base metal prices rallied in the first half of this year, but we believe that the rally is overdone, given the state of fundamentals, where investors are positioned and seasonality charts. Chinese demand was strong in Q1, but weakened into Q2. In many cases this fed through into higher domestic inventory levels […]
June 19, 2024 - Dan Smith
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
Get the latest insights on base metals via our research video, which is now available for clients on Youtube. See link below. https://youtu.be/mayVdpMry7g The base metals showed significant divergence in terms of price trends in the past year. We explain why this happened, where we are in terms of fundamentals and what happens next? The […]
February 27, 2024 - Dan Smith
9 February 2024: LME tin prices have outperformed the rest of the base metals complex in the past month, with fundamentals starting to tighten. Demand is improving, helped by an upswing in the global technology cycle. Even in China, electrical/electronic products are benefitting from government stimulus focussed on tin-related sectors, with limited exposure to the […]
February 9, 2024 - Dan Smith
19 January 2024: After a weak start to 2024, the major LME base metals are likely to trend higher in the year ahead. Interest rates are expected to fall and key parts of the global economy, such as China and the US should continue to grow. Furthermore, base metals demand is receiving a significant boost […]
January 19, 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
12th December 2022: Tin prices have rallied in recent weeks, as LME speculators have gone from net short to net long. Like other base metals, tin is being boosted by hopes that the Chinese economy will see a strong bounce back, after severe Covid-related lockdowns in November. However, current fundamentals look weak and exchange stocks […]
December 12, 2022 - Dan Smith
The tin price has receded since early March but maintains its underlying bull market uptrend. China’s import demand is likely to absorb stronger ex-China production in Q2. The market remains vulnerable to scarcity pricing behaviour with global visible inventories near historical lows. However, global demand headwinds and recovering supply point to a significant pullback in […]
April 11, 2022