64
a seasonally adjusted supply surplus 49
000 tonnes in the 1st quarter of 2020 is
anticipated. Coronavirus hardly played a
role during this period.
The LME quotes have been in a manage-
able range for weeks. Most recently they
were US$ 5 882 per tonne with stocks
reported to be 226 050 tonnes. Bright
wire scrap raised US$ 5 500, Copper
granules 1a was worth US$ 5 568 and
non-alloyed bright wire scrap US$ 5 298.
Trading activities dropped temporarily
by up to 30%, not least because many
retailers held back goods in anticipation
of higher prices. Overall, though, most
market participants in the copper mar-
ket were satisfied. In the past few
weeks, business has picked up again
significantly with many market partici-
pants reporting increased activity.
NICKEL
The market for alloyed metals remained
quite weak and the main customers of
stainless steel plants were particularly
affected by weak economies. Nickel
recently traded on the LME at US$ 12
57 per tonne7. V2A scrap was US$ 1
029 and V4A scrap was at US$ 1 484.
ZINC
The zinc market has also remained calm
in recent weeks and has been limited to
immediate needs. Sufficient zinc is avail-
able and there was a global surplus of
around 241 000 tonnes in the period
from January to April, when a year earli-
er the market was in deficit by 81 000
tonnes. Trading remained calm
although deals were available only for
the short term to cover immediate
needs. The LME quotes were US$ 2 022
per tonne, and 123 400 tonnes.
market analysis
LME Non-Ferrous Prices & Stocks Reference date July 2, 2020
/ Aluminium / Copper
– LME prices (in U.S. dollars/MT)
– LME stocks (x 1000 metric tonnes)
– LME prices (in U.S. dollars/MT)
– LME stocks (x 1000 metric tonnes)
/ Lead / Zinc
– LME prices (in U.S. dollars/MT)
– LME stocks (x 1000 metric tonnes)
– LME prices (in U.S. dollars/MT)
– LME stocks (x 1000 metric tonnes)
J J A S O N D J F M A M J
1773 1777 1713 1744 1809 1805 1799 1764 1705 1536 1491 1486 1597
1150 1100 910 910 948 1150 1425 1115 1115 1213 1213 1652 1562
1000
1500
2000
2500
3000
3500
1000
2000
3000
4000
5000
6000
J J A S O N D J F M A M J
J J A S O N D J F M A M J
5970 5925 5652 5792 5932 6000 6186 5965 5687 4854 5085 5241 5984
250 270 271 271 241 185 135 160 160 216 216 221 221
4000
5000
6000
7000
8000
9000
0
100
200
300
400
500
J J A S O N D J F M A M J
J J A S O N D J F M A M J
1913 2002 2038 2117 2132 2000 1912 1900 1846 1672 1707 1660 1787
78 82 70 70 70 68 66 67 67 71 71 69 69
0
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
0
70
140
210
280
350
J J A S O N D J F M A M J
J J A S O N D J F M A M J
2580 2472 2284 2313 2482 2440 2406 2354 2062 1879 1932 1975 2067
790 785 598 598 532 520 513 752 752 754 754 1230 1230
1000
1500
2000
2500
3000
3500
300
440
580
720
860
1000
1140
1280
J J A S O N D J F M A M J
CONTRIBUTED BY
* Ralf Schmitz, German non-ferrous
trade association VDM (Europe)
* Robin Latchem
62-63-64_manonferrous.indd 64 06-07-20 13:16
