Base metals rose on Friday on expectations that U.S. President Donald Trump’s plans for reciprocal global tariffs would not come into effect until April, with copper prices hitting three-month highs. Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange rose 1.3% to $9,609 a metric ton by 0813 GMT, hitting its highest since November 8. The most-active copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange gained 0.9% to 78,090 yuan ($10,719.97) a ton, the highest since November 6. The premium for U.S. Comex copper futures (HGc2) over the LME contract rocketed to a ...

India, the No. 2 importer of crude from Russia, wants to buy Russian oil only if it is supplied by companies and ships that have not been sanctioned by the United States, the country’s oil secretary said. Widened sanctions on Moscow by western countries including the United States have roiled global oil trade and forced buyers of discounted Russian crude to find new ways to maintain their purchases. “It is the responsibility of the supplier to deliver to me something that meets my requirements of compliance,” Oil Secretary Pankaj Jain ...

Dalian iron ore futures prices rose for a second consecutive session on Thursday, aided by lingering concerns over weather-related supply disruptions in major exporter Australia. However, fears of a major global trade war after U.S. President Donald Trump’s fresh tariffs on steel and aluminum imports curbed gains. The most-traded May iron ore contract on China’s Dalian Commodity Exchange (DCE) TIO1! climbed 0.3% to 823 yuan ($112.64) a metric ton by 0209 GMT. Australian shipments are expected to fall further after Port Hedland, the world’s largest iron ore export hub, closed ...

During his first term as US president, Donald Trump announced tariffs of 10% on aluminium and 25% on steel imports, effective March 23 2018, under Section 232, citing national security concerns. Initially, only Mexico and Canada were exempt, but they, along with the EU, were hit with these tariffs two months later. Multiple deals eventually ended tariffs for many countries. Under former President Joe Biden, tariffs on Chinese steel and aluminium were tightened. On July 10 2024, Biden imposed a 25% tariff on Mexican steel melted or poured outside North ...

Malaysian palm oil futures slumped on Thursday, snapping a five-session rally, as weaker Dalian oils and declines in crude oil prices sparked by talks to end the Ukraine-Russia war weighed on the market. The benchmark palm oil contract FCPO1! for April delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange slid 65 ringgit, or 1.41%, to 4,556 ringgit ($1,023.13) a metric ton at the close. Crude palm oil futures were lower following a selloff in energy markets after U.S. President Donald Trump initiated diplomatic efforts to end the war in Ukraine, said ...

Ukraine soybean meal exporters are aiming to expand their presence in European markets, but they face significant challenges due to strong competition from major South American producers like Brazil and Argentina, particularly in terms of pricing and plentiful soybean supply, Christina Serebriakova, CEO at ASAP Agri & Broker at Atria Brokers said. Traditional destinations for Ukraine-origin soybean meals are Egypt, Turkey, Poland, and Hungary, but in December 2024, Ukraine made its first shipment of a handy-sized vessel, delivering 27,500 mt of soybean meal to Spain. This was followed by a ...

South Africa produced 21.8% less maize in the 2023/2024 season compared with the previous season, the Crop Estimates Liaison Committee (CELC) said on Thursday. The CELC’s final summer crop estimates put the 2024 harvest at 12.85 million metric tons, down from the 16.43 million metric tons harvested the season before. The CELC figures are marginally higher than the final estimate by the government’s Crop Estimates Committee of 12.72 million metric tons, published on November 27. According to the CELC, the harvest consists of 6.055 million metric tons of white maize, ...

Chicago corn and soybeans edged lower on Thursday as traders assessed South American supply, while wheat bounced off a one-week low with support from major import tenders. A subdued grain market was also awaiting more developments in U.S. President Donald Trump’s initiatives to negotiate an end to the war in Ukraine and to impose tariffs on trading partners. The most-active soybean contract on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) was down 0.2% at $10.26 bushel by 1247 GMT, while CBOT corn was 1.0% lower at $4.85-1/2 a bushel. Corn and ...

Brazilian miner Vale will announce on Friday a 70 billion reais ($12.2 billion) investment to expand its iron ore and copper mining operations in the Carajas complex in northern Brazil, the presidential palace said on Wednesday. The announcement will be made at an event with Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, the presidential palace said. Source: Reuters (Reporting by Andre Romani; Editing by Chris Reese)

Ukraine, the world’s largest exporter of sunflower oil, reduced sunoil exports to 340,000 metric tons in January from 526,000 tons in the same month a year earlier, Ukrainian traders union UGA said on Thursday. The union gave no reason for the decrease while analysts have said that a jump in local sunflower seed prices caused by a smaller harvest has forced some sunoil refineries to suspend production and exports. Refineries have switched to processing soybeans after a record 6 million ton harvest in 2024. UGA said soybean oil exports rose ...

Indonesia’s imports of light distillates, including gasoline, naphtha and LPG, rose 18.74% month over month and 2.75% year over year to 2.544 million mt in December, Statistics Indonesia data showed Feb. 12, amid higher inflows of gasoline and naphtha. The country imported 1.735 million mt of 90 RON to 97 RON gasoline in December, up 33.77% month over month and 1.82% year over year, amid the year-end festivities and potential consumer spending boosts from a government stimulus package, sources said. The government announced a stimulus package worth $27.35 billion on ...

Britain will seek to persuade the U.S. government that its steel and aluminium products should avoid tariffs due to the sensitive role they play in the U.S. defence sector and its manufacturing supply chains, Britain’s business minister said on Thursday. U.S. President Donald Trump said on Sunday he would introduce new 25% tariffs on all steel and aluminium imports into the U.S., on top of existing metals duties, as part of his trade policy overhaul. Britain’s business minister, Jonathan Reynolds, said he agreed with the U.S. that there was over ...

India’s state-run refiner Bharat Petroleum Corp plans to buy propane and butane from Norwegian energy giant Equinor Plc, Indian energy minister Hardeep Singh Puri said on Thursday. The two companies this week signed a preliminary deal, he told a news conference. The agreement, which has a one-year duration, was signed at prices that are lower than global markets, Puri said at the India Energy Week conference. He declined to share more details. BPCL also signed a 12-month tender deal for the purchase of 1 million barrels of Abu Dhabi’s Murban ...

China’s Iron and Steel Association said the 25% tariff increase on all steel and aluminum imports to the U.S. would have an adverse impact on the supply chain of the global steel industry, including China’s steel industry, state broadcaster China Central Television reported on Thursday. The U.S. move may lead other countries to follow suit, thereby reducing the competitiveness of China’s steel exports, it said. Source: Reuters (Reporting by Farah Master and the Beijing newsroom; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)

Aluminium prices fell on Thursday as markets continued to assess the impact of U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to impose 25% tariffs on steel and aluminium imports from March 12. Three-month aluminium ALI1! on the London Metal Exchange (LME) was down 0.4% at $2,611.5 a metric ton in official open-outcry trading, while copper HG1! was steady at $9,455. More than half of the aluminium used in the United States is imported, with the vast majority coming from Canada. Much of the Canadian supply comes from Quebec, whose Premier Francois Legault ...