15 April 2026 – Nickel and copper surged on the SHFE today, with European nickel prices rising above $18,000 at the open. Crisis Winners in Brussels: Big Industry Grabs Billions in Aid – SMEs Pick Up the Tab.
Commodity Markets: Nickel and Copper Post Strong Gains
Nickel (+2.61%) and copper (+1.63%) posted strong gains on the SHFE, while aluminium traded sideways. Stainless steel futures rose 1.68%, with Asian spot prices also moving higher. The move extends Tuesday’s rally on the LME, where copper gained 1.99% and nickel 1.7%. At the European open, nickel is trading at $18,278, copper at $13,277 and aluminium at $3,561 per tonne.
Crisis Winners in Brussels: Big Industry Grabs Billions – SMEs Pick Up the Tab
The European Commission is planning billion-euro aid packages for energy-intensive industries. Behind the noble-sounding crisis framework lies a familiar pattern: large corporations collect, SMEs bleed.
Déjà-vu from the Ukraine Crisis
The moment energy prices rise, Brussels drafts new support schemes. The State Aid Temporary Crisis Framework, sent out for consultation by the Commission on 13 April 2026, sounds technically neutral – but it is anything but. At its core: higher subsidies for “energy-intensive industries” beyond the previously applicable 50% ceiling.
This refers to steel giants, chemical multinationals and aluminium conglomerates – sectors that have already benefited massively from relaxed state aid rules since March 2022: by early 2023, the Commission had approved state aid totalling €672 billion under the then-current crisis framework. In addition, the guidelines for the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) were revised to provide €60 billion between 2021 and 2030 to offset higher electricity costs for the aluminium, steel and certain chemical sectors alone.
Beyond that, Brussels has no solutions on offer – just more taxpayer money thrown at acute problems, again.
Who Really Benefits?
Energy-intensive industries are, by definition, capital-intensive – and they maintain well-funded, specialist lobbying operations in Brussels, financed to the tune of millions of euros. The CISAF framework, which the new proposal seeks to modify, was only adopted in June 2025, and is already being softened in favour of those very same industries. According to media reports on the draft, beneficiaries will not be required to demonstrate individual consumption tracking. Statistics will suffice. Oversight? None to speak of.
SMEs: Contributing, But Not Benefiting
A baker, a garden centre, a mid-sized metal fabricator – they all pay higher energy prices. Yet the simplified large-scale subsidies under CISAF only kick in above thresholds that are out of reach for small businesses. What remains for SMEs? A “limited amount of aid per company” – buried in the fine print, barely relevant.
SMEs Finance the Competitive Advantages of Their Largest Rivals
If Brussels meant what it says – targeted, temporary, proportionate support – it would lower the ceiling for large corporations rather than raise it. Instead, millions of small businesses are once again financing the competitive advantages of their biggest rivals through taxes, energy levies and carbon charges.
Crises end. Subsidy dependencies do not.
(Note: Should any SME be among the recipients of the subsidies in question, our criticism does not apply to them in any respect.)
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