Weekly review of LME base metals markets covering aluminium, copper, zinc, lead, nickel, and tin, analysing price action, spreads, warehouse stocks, cancelled warrants, and the macro and physical drivers behind trading activity during the week ending 3 July 2026.
For decades, nickel has been priced according to chemistry, purity and form. Increasingly, however, industrial buyers are asking a different question: how was it produced?
Emirates Global Aluminium has reported that restoration work at its Al Taweelah site is progressing ahead of schedule, with 89 of the plant's 1,262 reduction cells restarted as of today.
London Metal Exchange copper stocks remain near their highest levels since 2013, but available metal is tightening as cancellations rise.
Konkola Copper Mines has taken its Nchanga smelter offline for planned maintenance, with the shutdown forming part of a wider cycle of outages across Zambia’s copper-processing sector.
Aluminium Bahrain [Alba] has agreed to acquire Aluminium Dunkerque, the largest primary aluminium smelter in the EU, in a deal valued at $2.2 billion, subject to regulatory approval.
Weekly review of LME base metals markets covering aluminium, copper, zinc, lead, nickel, and tin, analysing price action, spreads, warehouse stocks, cancelled warrants, and the macro and physical drivers behind trading activity during the week ending 29 May 2026.
LME Nickel closed at $18,540/mt on 21 May, up over $2,200 from its mid-March low. Indonesia accounts for ~60% of supply; and the market has run a surplus for four years. That suggests oversupply, yet physical premiums and warrant data point to tighter conditions, defying the fundamentals.
Weekly review of LME base metals markets covering aluminium, copper, zinc, lead, nickel, and tin, analysing price action, spreads, warehouse stocks, cancelled warrants, and the macro and physical drivers behind trading activity during the week ending 22 May 2026.
Carbon pricing is reshaping aluminium markets. As CBAM introduces a measurable cost on emissions, high-carbon metal becomes less competitive while low-carbon supply gains value. The result is a structural shift in pricing, trade flows and the emergence of a green premium within global markets.
Weekly review of LME base metals markets covering aluminium, copper, zinc, lead, nickel, and tin, analysing price action, spreads, warehouse stocks, cancelled warrants, and the macro and physical drivers behind trading activity during the week ending 15 May 2026.
Treatment and refining charges across copper, aluminium, and nickel have reached levels that make new Western processing investment economically indefensible. The political case for reshoring is not wrong. The timeline implied by current economics is.
Nickel markets are focused on Indonesia’s quota cuts – but tightening sulphur supply is the real story. Disruptions in Iran, the Gulf and China, combined with declining hydrocarbon output, are constraining availability and reshaping the market balance.
Aluminium and copper are reacting differently to the same conflict. Aluminium faces real supply shocks – force majeure, halted smelters, surging premiums and constrained output – creating a price floor Copper’s rise reflects risk pricing amid ample supply, leaving it vulnerable to rapid reversal.
The market has moved in two phases: Phase one: visible stocks rose and prices fell. Phase two: available stocks tightened and prices recovered. Copper did not fall because demand disappeared. It fell because inventories rose. It recovered because available metal still looked scarce.
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