EUROPEAN MORNING BRIEF 12/06

(MB) Copper prices on the Shanghai Futures Exchange weakened during Asian morning trading on Tuesday, with a firmer dollar and easing supply concerns weighing on investors’ appetite for the red metal. The most-traded August copper contract price on the SHFE dropped to 53,830 yuan ($8,407) per tonne as at 10.28am Shanghai time, down 330 yuan per tonne from Monday’s close. Manganese ore prices rose in China this past week due to higher offers from producers, although few deals took place, especially for 44% manganese ore. The thin trading was attributed to resistant buyers, who preferred to take a wait-and-see stance on the direction of the market, according to sources. Aqua Metals Inc has begun commercialization of its non-polluting electrochemical lead recycling technology with the production of pure AquaRefined lead. Physical cobalt prices fell again on June 8, faced with cheaper metal supplies, seasonally weaker spot demand and poor sentiment, market sources told Metal Bulletin. Steel plate prices in the United States are up for the second week in a row on a potential supply squeeze stemming from Section 232 tariffs on the European Union, Canada and Mexico. Buying activity in the Commonwealth of Independent States export slab market has shown signs of recovery during the week ended Monday as several bookings were heard done in Southeast Asia and the Middle East.