March 14, 2024

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• LME Aluminum 3M Select is down $3/mt, trending sideways.
  • Last trade was $2,259.5/mt (6:45 AM CST)
  • Century Aluminum and MX Holdings will soon build a plant for low-carbon secondary billet production, according to a press release from Wednesday. The companies expect production to begin in 2026 and will ultimately produce 250 million lbs/year. They are currently reviewing several locations in the Ohio Valley for the facility. (Source: Century Aluminum, MX Holdings)
• LME Copper 3M Select is down $24.5/mt, pulling back after yesterday’s 3% rally.
  • Last trade was $8,895.5/mt (6:45 AM CST)
  • The saga surrounding Chinese copper production continues and has pushed global prices to the highest level since last August. According to anonymous sources, 19 Chinese copper smelters met on Wednesday and agreed to production cuts due to low profitability amid a collapse in treatment charges. These treatment charges are the fees that miners pay to have their raw copper concentrate processed into refined metal. The companies also reportedly discussed switching to more copper scrap, delaying projects, and rearranging maintenance schedules. (Source: Bloomberg)
• Prompt month CME HRC Steel last traded at $785/st, down $2/st (6:45 AM CST).
  • Prices for zinc, a key raw material for hot-dipped galvanized steel production, have jumped in recent weeks while investment funds cover their short position. At the end of February, investment funds, which are generally speculators in metals markets, had a net short position of approximately 19,000 contracts. As of last Friday, however, these funds had a net short position of only 6,900 contracts. Given that investment funds can have an oversized impact on metals markets, this is likely why LME zinc prices have rallied nearly 6% this month. (Source: LME)
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Price Indications

Today's Charts

AEGIS Insights

3/13/2024: AEGIS Factor Matrices: Most important variables affecting metals prices

2/27/2024: Aluminum Consumers Should Still Implement Hedges, Even Though Russia Sanctions Mean Little

2/13/2024: Important US Economic Data (AEGIS Reference)

2/2/2024: China's Real Estate Woes Provide Opportunity for Copper Consumers

1/25/2024: Aluminum Starts 2024 On a Down Note, But Potential Supply Shocks Give Consumers a Reason to Hedge

3/13/2024: MX Holdings and Century Aluminum Announce Their Intent to form a New Joint Venture, Focusing on the Casting of Low Carbon Secondary Billet

3/13/2024: Biden to express concern over Nippon Steel's deal for U.S. Steel, source says

3/13/2024: China's top copper smelters agree on rare joint production cuts, sources say

3/13/2024: Toyota agrees to biggest wage hike in 25 years, paves way for BOJ shift

3/13/2024: China coal group says US curbs on Russia to keep prices high, hurt exports

3/13/2024: Australia's Wyloo says industry will turn from LME without green nickel

3/12/2024: Tin supply trapped in resource nationalism squeeze

Important Disclosure: Indicative prices are provided for information purposes only, and do not represent a commitment from AEGIS Hedging Solutions LLC ("Aegis") to assist any client to transact at those prices, or at any price, in the future. Aegis makes no guarantee to the accuracy or completeness of such information. Aegis and/or its trading principals do not offer a trading program to clients, nor do they propose guiding or directing a commodity interest account for any client based on any such trading program. Certain information in this presentation may constitute forward-looking statements, which can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as “edge,” “advantage,” “opportunity,” “believe” or other variations thereon or comparable terminology. Such statements are not guarantees of future performance or activities.