12 January 2022 – Base metals have already shown some upward momentum again on Tuesday and also today, Wednesday. Nickel and tin in particular have shown more than significant gains on SHFE and LME. In Brazil, severe storms led to flooded iron ore mines and railway lines. Beware of prophetic predictions by so-called steel experts. EU import quotas for steel in digital chaos.
Base Metals in the wake of rising energy prices
After energy prices, especially for oil and natural gas, had already risen significantly by up to 4% yesterday afternoon, they remain at a high level at the start of trading today.
Nickel over $22,000 per tonne
This also boosted the base metals on the LME and drove nickel values in particular up to just before the $ 22,000 per tonne mark. Unsurprisingly, the price of nickel then jumped to over 22,000 dollars on Wednesday morning, with the trend continuing to rise.
Metals clearly up on the SHFE
The values on the SHFE are also in an upward trend. Aluminium went up by about 1%. Hot-rolled coil (HRC) futures gained about 1.9%. Chinese nickel futures rose by 3.82%. Stainless steel also showed the same. Stainless steel futures gained more than 3.1%. The winner in base metals, however, seems to be tin, which jumped by about 4.38%.
Brazilian iron ore mines flooded
Due to heavy storms, iron ore mines in Brazil were flooded and had to be closed. In addition, railway connections had to be suspended. Officials are monitoring dams. And in some parts of the country, evacuation measures have been taken as a precaution.
The news also boosted iron ore prices on the DCE, which rose by more than 3%.
Opinion: Caution with predictions by alleged steel experts
In view of the current developments, it is once again clear that forecasts for several months by so-called experts in the steel sector are more like reading through the slag left over from a batch of crude steel and thus resemble ancient prophecies. This is not very serious and one should always ask oneself for which stakeholders and for whose benefit these people are speaking.
Digital chaos: EU import quotas for steel
The current chaos with the EU import quotas for steel products shows once again that the European Commission is hopelessly out of its depth in the digital world. Since the beginning of the year, the import quotas that can be viewed have been in a mess. This raises the legitimate question of when professionals will finally be allowed to work in Brussels?
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Disclaimer: Many things here represent our opinion. Others are information from the Internet. We can therefore never claim to be correct or complete. And never base a business decision solely on the news you receive from us.
