Glencore to Slash 124 Jobs at Its Rosh Pinah Zinc Mine

The largest publicly traded commodities supplier, Glencore Plc has decided to cut around one fifth of full time in its Rosh Pinah Zinc and Lead Mine located in Namibia.

The company said during Monday that management of Rosh Pinah Zinc Corp. has already announced about the changes that deals with the major economic pressures. They said that the changes would affect around 124 full time jobs. The company did not disclose any further information relating that.

Based on the Namibian Chambers of Mines’ annual report, Rosh Pinah Zinc and Lead Mine is an underground mine, which is located 800 kilometers south of Windhoek, the capital city of Namibia. By the end of 2013, according to the report, the mine has a total of 600 permanent employees and around 138 contractors and temporary employees. Last year mine produced about 113,818 metric tonnes of zinc concentrate, which widely used in steel auto parts, rubber and even in sunscreen and lead produced also rose 18% to 20,551 tonnes.

Zinc metal for delivery in LME has rose 1.4 percent while, lead metal has decreased 4.3 percent in the three month period. In the first quarter of this year, Glencore’s zinc production decreased to 306,000 tonnes, while lead showed a little change of about 79,000 tonnes. Rosh Pinah Corp. said that it has made discussion with the chamber for securing new jobs for the affected employees.

New Benchmark for the North American Aluminum Industry, CME Symbol ALI

After several months of steady decline, the price of aluminum surged 5 percent during the month of April. Some have suggested that the recent price activity could signal a turnaround, but prices remain low from a historical perspective and until we see further strength, the current rally appears to be a normal market reaction amid a longer-term downtrend.

This price, however, is not in line with the prices seen by commercial buyers and industry analysts in North America. For the past few years, this decline in the LME aluminum price has been offset by a surge in the US Midwest (MW) premium which has led to a situation where the MW premium represents an ever-increasing percentage of the all-in cost.

The disconnect between the price quoted on the London Metal Exchange and the deliverable price of aluminum has made it increasingly difficult for hedgers and investors to use the LME contract as their benchmark for physical aluminum. The price that producers, manufacturers, analysts and investors are trying to forecast roughly translates to the LME price + the MW premium.  The CME Group’s Midwest Premium contract (AUP) helps commercial market participants hedge the MW premium portion of their risk, but a mix of two price markers is not an ideal situation for anyone.

Major producers, commercial buyers and financial firms have all expressed interest in a transparent benchmark that will allow them to efficiently hedge and invest in the “all in” price of aluminum.  As a result, CME Group launched a physically settled aluminum contract to specifically address these issues.  CME Group’s new contract incorporates all available information into a single price and provides commercial buyers with a swift and efficient delivery process for the physical metal.

Tim Weiner, MillerCoors Global Risk Manager recently said in regard to the CME ALI contract, “We firmly believe the contract can become the new benchmark for the North American aluminum industry…I applaud CME Group for responding to the concerns of aluminum users like MillerCoors and bringing this new risk management tool to market.”

CME Group’s “all in” ALI contract launched on May 6th and garnered early support from the industry’s largest participants including UC Rusal, Reynolds Consumer Products and MillerCoors along with Macquarie Bank executing the first trades.

Will the Contract Be Successful?  

That remains the $800m question but early indications appear positive for a number of reasons. First, large industrial buying organizations gave the contract its initial liquidity – a most necessary step. Second, though not a lot from a daily volume perspective open interest continues to grow – initially through the first six months and now through May 2015. Third and perhaps most important, we see the makings of a dynamic forward curve which helps industrial buyers and other market participants create a Midwest price benchmark.

In addition, CME Group has confirmed banks have begun to open trading accounts with FCM’s (Futures Commission Merchants), many with interest in physical delivery.

But the ultimate test involves whether or not an end user can gain access to his or her material as described in the CME Group contract specifications – when, where and for the price specified.

And this last piece – efficient product delivery – will provide industrial buying organizations with the confidence to move more of their positions on to the screen creating a dynamic forward price curve.  If successful, aluminum buyers will once again have the ability to accurately define and manage their aluminum price risk.

Newmont halts copper output from Indonesian mine - union

(Reuters) - Newmont Mining Corp has halted production of copper concentrate at its Batu Hijau mine in Indonesia, a union official told Reuters on Tuesday, as a deadlock continues over a mineral export ban in Southeast Asia's largest economy.

"Production activities have been stopped since two days ago because our concentrate stockpiling facility is full," Yoesrawan Galang, chairman of the Newmont Nusa Tenggara unit of an Indonesian mine workers' union, told Reuters.

"As of now there (has been no) layoffs," Galang said, adding that the firm had not declared force majeure yet.

Newmont's Indonesian office could not be reached immediately for comment. 

Chinese Port Stops Metal Shipments Due to Probe - Trade Sources

China's northeastern port of Qingdao has halted shipments of aluminium and copper due to an investigation by authorities, causing concern among bankers and trade houses financing the metals, trading and warehousing sources said on Monday.

Port authorities could not immediately be reached for comment. China has a public holiday on Monday.

"We were told we can’t ship any material out while they do this investigation," a source at a trading house said.

The port of Qingdao is China's third-largest foreign trade port and the world's seventh-largest port, trading with 700 ports in more than 180 countries, according to its website (http://www.qdport.com/).

"Banks are worried about their exposure," one warehousing source in Singapore said.

"There is a scramble for people to head down there at the minute and make sure that their metal that they think is covered by a warehouse receipt actually exists," he said.

Metal imports have been partly driven in China as a means to raise finance, where traders can pledge metal as collateral to obtain better terms. In some cases the same shipment can be pledged to more than one bank, fuelling hot money inflows and spurring a clampdown by Chinese authorities.

"It appears there is a discrepancy in metal that should be there and metal that is actually there," said another source at a warehouse company with operations at the port.

"We hear the discrepancy is 80,000 tonnes of aluminium and 20,000 tonnes of copper, but we hear that the volumes will actually be higher. It’s either missing or it was never there – there have been triple issuing of documentation," he said.

Beijing last year set new rules to curb currency speculation amid signs that hot money inflows helped push the yuan to a series of record highs. The rules required banks to tighten the management of their foreign exchange lending and types of clients that are able to access those loans.

"It’s such a massive port I would think virtually everybody has exposure," the trading source said.

"Once the investigation is over, it could be bearish for metals. I think that a lot of Western banks will try to offload material and try not to deal with Chinese merchants," the trading source added.

Chinese customs releases nickel import statistics for April '14

The Chinese customs authorities have released the export and import statistics for the month of April this year.

According to the data, the total imports of unwrought Nickel amounted to 16,250.8 mt during the month. The largest exporter of unwrought nickel to the country was Russia. The imports from Russia totaled 8,435.4 mt, accounting for more than 50% of the total imports by the country during the month. In second place was Finland with 2,024.8 mt, followed by Canada with 1,773.5 mt. The unwrought nickel imports during the initial four month period of the year totaled 54,393.8 mt.

Meanwhile, the imports of Nickel Matte,Oxde and Sinter during April ’14 totaled 35,342 mt.

The imports of Ferro-Nickel totaled 29,903.9 mt during the month. The largest exporter of Ferro-Nickel to the country was Colombia. The imports from Colombia totaled 9,494.4 mt, accounting for more than one-third of the total imports by the country during the month. In second place was Japan with 7,854.4 mt. The Ferro-Nickel imports during the Jan-Apr period this year totaled 104,765.2 mt.

The imports of Nickel ore and concentrates by China during April ’14 totaled 2.225 Million mt.The imports from Philippines topped the list. The Chinese imports from Philippines totaled 1.835 Million mt during the month.In second place was Indonesia with 298,948 mt. The cumulative Nickel Ore and concentrate imports by China during the initial four months of the year totaled 15.362 Million mt.

Strong Rumours P-Notes from Mauritius will be TAXED in India

Hearing from Mumbai & Calcutta :

P-Notes from Mauritius will be TAXED in India to Stop Black Money Circulation !

Some Top People saying P-Notes will be banned Completely 

Can See this Announcement in coming Budget !

Watch : Wednesday or Thursday … Nifty Will Hit TOP and Slide will start !

The Best And Worst Performing Assets In May

If April was supposed to be the best month of the year only to leave everyone scarred, bruised and battered, another confirmation that in the Fed's New Normal all the folksy old aphorisms no longer work came with the last trading day in May when we learned that the old adage of "sell in May and go away" has not yet paid off with broad gains for most asset classes in the past month. Equities, Rates, Credit and EM were all generally stronger. Commodities delivered the key underperformance largely led by a sell-off in softs and precious metals.

And while the best performer in May was by far the Russian stock market (which may have crushed Jay Carney's hopes for a macro hedge fund career in his post-White House life), the highlight has certainly been the global rally in DM rates. Indeed the global rally saw nearly all (except for Denmark, Iceland and Greece) the 10-year yields of developed government bond markets finish the month lower.

Other observations on the past month's performance from Deutsche:

The strong performance in US rates has definitely provided a boost to EM and spread products across the world. This has trumped good or bad data/fundamentals as the driver of assets in the last few weeks. Having said that, a strong election outcome in India and some emergence of stability in the Russia/Ukraine stand-off were also helpful for EM sentiment. EM bonds were up nearly 2.5% in May bringing their YTD gains to 5%.

Away from EM fixed income, DM spread products also did well with positive total returns seen across IG and HY indices on both sides of the Atlantic. Given the performance in rates, IG has generally outperformed HY but much of this is due to the longer duration of IG indices. It’s worth noting that European and US IG/HY credit benchmarks have yet to have a negative month so far this year.

Turning to equities, the MSCI EM equity index added 3.5% in May. The ongoing market chatter around Chinese stimulus has also helped sentiment in the Hang Seng (+5.4%), which posted its best gains in 8 months. Staying in the region, Japan’s Nikkei (+2.3% in May) also enjoyed its best month this year although the index is still down 9.4% YTD. Away from Asian equities, the S&P 500, the DAX, and the Stoxx600 all recorded their best performance since February although overall European markets (especially the peripherals) are still outperforming their American counterparts so far this year.

Soft commodities were the worst performers in May largely driven by an improving supply outlook for grains. Wheat (-12%) posted its worst monthly drop since 2011 as better rainfall across the Great Plains in the US has apparently improved crop conditions. Away from softs, WTI Oil (+3.0%) and Copper (+3.1%) have been doing better though with the latter posting its best monthly performance this year on talks of Chinese stimulus. Let’s see if we see further momentum on the back of the better-than-expected Chinese manufacturing PMI print that was released over the weekend!

Looking at returns YTD:

YTD gains (including dividends) for the Stoxx600 and the S&P 500 are 7% and 5% respectively. These performances are being overshadowed by gains in Portugal, Ireland, Italy and Spain which are up by +13%, +9%, +16% and +11%, respectively this year.  Overall it has been a pretty good ride for Fixed Income so far this year, across both rates and credit, with total returns in DM credit ranging between as low as 3.3% (USD Fin Senior) to as high as +7.9% (Spanish bonds).

And visually: