4 April 2022 – Nickel (+3%) and aluminium (+1.5%) started strong in LME trading on Monday morning. Positive labour market data was reported from the United States and Germany. And what happens to dumped aluminium imports into Europe?
Soon end for Chinese aluminium imports?
After the European Commission had already shown toughness with regard to Indonesian and Indian stainless steel imports by imposing high anti-dumping and anti-subsidy duties, people are now eagerly awaiting an official decision on the anti-dumping duties regarding Chinese aluminium imports.
Danger of an end to the AD suspension increases
The anti-dumping monitoring installed by the EC has already shown that imports from China have increased significantly, despite a considerable rise in energy and raw material costs. The shaken European aluminium industry is also in the spotlight, which is now facing even greater challenges due to the Russian crisis. The European competition watchdogs are unlikely to have overlooked this. This is likely to have increased the risk of an end to the suspension of the anti-dumping measure.
Strong US labour market in March
US labour market data continues to be positive and strong. The unemployment rate fell from 3.8 to 3.6 per cent in March and is now only 0.1 percentage points away from the pre-Corona low. The US ISM sentiment indicator for manufacturing is also positive at 57.1 points, but still well above the expansion threshold of 50 points.
EU: Germany’s labour market remains positive
Germany, Europe’s largest economy, also continues to defy the crisis and was even able to further reduce the unemployment rate. In February 2022, the number of people registered as unemployed was more than 28% lower than in the same month last year, with an overall unemployment rate of just 3.1%.
Nickel picks up speed again
Having already climbed back above $32,000 per tonne on 1 April, nickel picked up further momentum today, 4 April 2022, climbing above $34,000 per tonne shortly after the start of trading. Aluminium is also up more than 1.5% on the LME.
New sanctions against Russia, which were announced by the EU and several member states over the weekend, are likely to play a role here. So far, Russian commodity exports have been largely exempt from sanctions, but this could now change.
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