{"id":40666,"date":"2025-06-14T11:39:31","date_gmt":"2025-06-14T11:39:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quickassetsmarket.com\/index.php\/2025\/06\/14\/uncertainties-persist-in-base-metals-market-regarding-us-china-trade-deal\/"},"modified":"2025-06-14T11:39:31","modified_gmt":"2025-06-14T11:39:31","slug":"uncertainties-persist-in-base-metals-market-regarding-us-china-trade-deal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quickassetsmarket.com\/index.php\/2025\/06\/14\/uncertainties-persist-in-base-metals-market-regarding-us-china-trade-deal\/","title":{"rendered":"Uncertainties persist in base metals market regarding US-China trade deal"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

There is a considerable amount of uncertainty in the base metals market surrounding the implication of the trade deal between the US and China. <\/p>\n

Base metal prices reacted unevenly to the US-China tariff agreement. Aluminium prices initially increased<\/a>, while nickel and copper prices declined.<\/p>\n

At the time of writing, the three-month copper contract on the London Metal Exchange was at $9,574 per ton, down 1.3%. Nickel was up 0.2% at $15,136 a ton. <\/p>\n

The agreement is beneficial for base metals as it mitigates the risk of renewed conflict escalation, according to Commerzbank AG.<\/p>\n

On the other hand, tariffs, particularly those imposed on China, continue to be considerably higher than pre-Trump levels. <\/p>\n

This elevated tariff environment is expected to suppress demand within the metals market<\/a>, which is of paramount importance, the German bank said in a report.<\/p>\n

Aluminium prices<\/h2>\n

\u201cMeanwhile, the rise in aluminium prices could be mainly due to supply concerns,\u201d Thu Lan Nguyen, head of FX and commodity research at Commerzbank, said in the report.<\/p>\n

LME inventories have been consistently decreasing since last spring. <\/p>\n

Simultaneously, whispers suggest significant market concentration, with a handful of companies reportedly holding substantial positions, enabling them to procure vast amounts of aluminum, Nguyen said.<\/p>\n

She added:\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n

This could cause difficulties for counterparties given the low inventory levels and lead to a so-called \u2018short squeeze\u2019.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Past market trends, mirroring current conditions, have consistently resulted in significant price surges in the metal markets<\/a>. A notable instance is the dramatic rise in nickel prices observed in 2022.<\/p>\n

At the time of writing, the three-month aluminium contract on the London Metal Exchange was at $2,485 per ounce, down 1.5% from the previous close. <\/p>\n

Iron ore remains under pressure<\/h2>\n

Iron ore prices continued to face downward pressure, dropping below $95 per ton in Singapore on Friday. This decline occurred ahead of China’s industrial production figures release on Monday.<\/p>\n

China’s iron ore imports in May were reported on Monday, showing a 4% year-on-year decrease to 98.1 million tons.<\/p>\n

In the first five months of this year, an average of 97.3 million tons were imported. This signifies a decline of approximately 5% when compared to the same period last year.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, China’s steel production figures, based on high-frequency data, suggest a probable year-on-year decline in May.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile the official figures will not be published until Monday, figures from the industry association point to a decline of 2%,\u201d Nguyen said. <\/p>\n

China sales figures<\/h2>\n

Daily sales figures from the Chinese real estate market continue to show no expected improvement in steel demand from this sector in the near future.<\/p>\n

Therefore, a significant decline in real estate sales is anticipated for May, a trend that has persisted into June, according to Commerzbank.<\/p>\n

\u201cWeak property sales are therefore likely to continue to weigh on construction starts and thus on steel demand,\u201d Nguyen added in the report. <\/p>\n

\n

In view of the ongoing difficulties in the Chinese property market, we continue to see only limited potential for recovery in iron ore prices.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The post Uncertainties persist in base metals market regarding US-China trade deal<\/a> appeared first on Invezz<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There is a considerable amount of uncertainty in the base metals market surrounding the implication of the trade deal between the US and China.  Base metal prices reacted unevenly to the US-China tariff agreement. Aluminium prices initially increased, while nickel and copper prices declined. At the time of writing, the three-month copper contract on the <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":40667,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-40666","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-investing"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quickassetsmarket.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40666","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quickassetsmarket.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quickassetsmarket.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quickassetsmarket.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quickassetsmarket.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40666"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quickassetsmarket.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40666\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quickassetsmarket.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40667"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quickassetsmarket.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40666"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quickassetsmarket.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40666"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quickassetsmarket.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40666"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}