Novelis hikes aluminum sheet product prices in North America

Novelis has announced price hikes for automotive and specialty aluminum sheet products in North America. The revised prices will be applicable for all new orders effective immediately, Novelis added. However, all existing orders and firm agreements prior to August 7th will conform to old price.

Among automotive products, the 6000-series automotive alloys will see an increase on $0.06 per pound. The 5000-series automotive alloys prices will witness a similar jump of $0.06 per pound. Among specialty products, the prices of 1000-series and 3000-series of alloys will be hiked by $0.05 per pound. An increase of $0.03 per pound will be applied to 5000-series products. Also, 6061-O prices will be increased by $0.03 per pound. The price increase in automotive products is in addition to the pricing adjustments announced earlier in January this year.

The company also announced its commitment to the promised capacity additions and expansion in North American region. It has already commissioned two new auto finishing lines in Oswego, New York. The completion of the third line is expected soon. This is expected to lift the company’s capacity in the region to 360,000 tons per year. It also announced that the commissioning of the finishing lines in Changzhou, China and Nachterstedt, Germany would take the global capacity to 900,000 tons per year by end-2015.

Headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, Novelis Inc. is the leading producer of rolled aluminum products. They are also the world’s largest recycler of aluminum.

Crude oil rises as Obama authorises air strikes in Iraq

Oil prices rose in Asia today after US President Barack Obama said that he has authorized air strikes against Sunni extremist militants in key crude producer Iraq.

US benchmark West Texas Intermediate crude for September delivery rose 35 cents to $97.69, while Brent crude for September delivery gained 67 cents to $106.11 in mid-morning trade.

Obama in an address yesterday said that he had ordered the air strikes to prevent “genocide” by the so-called Islamic State fighters against the besieged Yazidi minority in Iraq’s north.

“I therefore authorized targeted air strikes if necessary to help forces in Iraq as they fight to break the siege and protect the civilians trapped there,” Obama said.

He did not say whether air strikes have already been carried out.

Desmond Chua, market analyst at CMC Markets in Singapore, said the development could add “significant risk premium to oil prices” as dealers worry about potential supply disruptions.

“The announcement certainly edges up the geopolitical concerns about Iraq and the Middle East region, and comes as a bit of a surprise to investors,” Chua told AFP.

Islamic State insurgents now control large swathes of Iraq’s north and west. The sweeping offensive began on June 9, preventing Baghdad from exporting oil via a pipeline to Turkey and by road to Jordan.

Iraq’s oil ministry had on July 24 said crude exports totalled 2.42 million barrels per day in June, falling far short of a budgeted projection of 3.4 million bpd.

As the number-two producer in the OPEC cartel, Iraq’s 11 per cent of proven world reserves plays a key role in world markets and prices after violence disrupted oil exports from Syria and Libya.

The dip in exports adds to the woes of Iraq, which is heavily dependent on oil revenues, while spending more on military equipment to battle the Islamic State group.

Copper price tumbles on dismal China data, Indonesia exports

In pre-open New York trade on Wednesday September copper slid more than 1% to a low of $3.1660 a pound after data out of China showed unexpected weakness and new supply come onto the market.

Growth in China’s services sector slowed sharply in July to its lowest level in nearly nine years according toan HSBC survey of purchasing managers.

Tightness in China's domestic supply is easing, evidenced by a tumble in Shanghai premiums

Hongbin Qu, Chief Economist, China & Co-Head of Asian Economic Research at HSBC commented the weakness likely reflects the impact of the ongoing property slowdown in many cities and that the date "points to the need of continued policy support to offset the drag from the property correction."

The numbers are in stark contrast to the improved activity registered by the country's manufacturing sector.

The price of the red metal was also hurt by the prospect of at least 756,000 tonnes of concentrate (holding roughly 225,000 tonnes of metal) coming onto the market as Freeport McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) restarts exporting copper concentrate from Indonesia after a six-month hiatus.

Copper has been in recovery mode since hitting a near four-year low mid-March of $2.92 a pound as global stockpiles continued to decline.

Currently, copper inventories at warehouse operated by the London Metals Exchange, Shanghai Metals Exchange and on the Comex market in New York stand at roughly 275,000 tonnes, down almost by half year to date.

Growing scrutiny of China's copper financing trade may keep copper prices under pressure

But tightness in China's domestic supply are easing evidenced by a fall in premiums for copper in Shanghai warehouses to $85 a tonne, down from $105 a month ago.

China which consumes more than 40% of the world's copper imports tumbled 8% in June to 350,000 tonnes compared to the previous month.

The fall is blamed on Beijing's crackdown on the practice of using warehoused inventories as collateral for trade finance after fraudulent transactions were uncovered at the major port of Qingdao.

Reuters quotes a Commonwealth Bank of Australia research note saying the slump in imports may indicate "the growing scrutiny of China's copper financing trade may weaken China's apparent copper demand and keep copper prices under pressure."

However, year to date China is still importing refined copper at a record setting pace – up a whopping 26% over 2013 to 2.52 million tonnes.

The copper price is highly correlated with economic growth thanks to the widespread use of the metal in the construction, transport and power industries, and the robustness of the red metal is prompting industry to switch to much cheaper aluminum for some applications.

Zinc becoming investors new darling

Instability in precious and base metals prices during the past three months has pushed investors to find alternative objects of affection, with zinc quickly becoming a favourite and hitting near three-year highs, a report published Tuesday by the London Metal Exchange shows.

Prices for the metal, mainly used as a protective coating for iron and steel in construction, have jumped almost 17% since early May, hitting $2,410 a tonne late July amid worries over mine supply and falling warehouse stocks.

Experts remain bullish on the metal outlook despite a temporary pullback in prices in the last two days. Zinc fell Wednesday for a second day in London amid expanding stockpiles and speculation that a strengthening dollar will slow demand for the metal.

But bets on rising zinc prices, or long positions, accounted for 30% of total open interest as of Aug. 1, the most among the six metals traded by LME, according to its Commitments of Traders report. Money managers are net-long all of the metals, the data showed.

And according to analysts, such as Naveen Joshi, the level of underlying demand for zinc, coupled with the fact that new mine supply would not be added anytime soon could lead to the emergence of tightness in supply side over the next two years.

“Zinc has now become one of the hottest commodities in the world. The global imbalances with regards to higher demands and supply constraints would make the prices of the metal go higher not only in the short term but also long term,” he writes.

LME zinc stocks have increased 1.5%, the most since April 1, to 668,625 tons on a jump in New Orleans.

Gold Jumps As Ukrainian Fighter-Jet Shot Down Over Donetsk

Gold futures broke above $1315 as a double whammy of NATO threats and Ukraine headlines spark safe-haven buying:

• *FIGHTER JET SHOT DOWN OVER REBEL-HELD EAST UKRAINE: AFP

10Y Treasury yields are under 2.43% and JPY is strengthening once again as carry trades are unwound.

As Bloomberg notes, Fighter jet shot down over East Ukraine, AFP reports, without citing where it obtained the information.

As AFP reports,

A Ukranian fighter jet was shot down on Thursday as it flew low over rebel-held territory in the east of the country, an AFP journalist witnessed.

The aircraft crashed into a field after an explosion and the pilot was seen parachuting out in an area some 40km east of the insurgent bastion of Donetsk

The reaction...

Gold Jumps $20, Most In 2 Months On NATO Headlines

Talking-heads drew "this is not geopolitical risk fears" comfort yesterday that the stock sell-off was not accompanied by a big bid for gold.

 Today... not so much. Gold and silver have surged since around 8amET (when Ukraine incursion headlines began today from NATO) with the yellow metal up over $20 - its biggest jump since mid-Jun (with futures over $1310).

Russian Defense Minister Tells Troops "To Be In State Of Constant Battle Readiness"

Having discussed his view that the Ukraine government is at fault for worsening the conflict, Russia's Putin explained to Angela Merkel that a "rising civilian toll has created a humanitarian crisis in Ukraine." However, it was Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu's comments that "the world has changed and changed dramatically," demanding that his troops "must be in constant combat readiness," are the most disconcerting as his strong tone in the following clip appears to confirm Poland and NATO's fears.

Putin's conversation with Merkel...

Russian President Vladimir Putin, German Chancellor Angela Merkel spoke by phone, exchanged views on “intensifying crisis situation” in Ukraine, Kremlin says in e-mailed statement.

*PUTIN TELLS MERKEL UKRAINE GOVT AT FAULT FOR WORSENING CONFLICT

Putin says “real political dialogue” needed between authorities in Kiev and representatives of rebels

Offensive by Ukrainian forces in southeast leads to mounting civilian toll, humanitarian problems: Putin

Shoigu starts talking (in Russian) at around 30 second mark, clip includes coverage of the military drills that are under way...

Excerpted Transcript (via NTV),

Sergey Shoigu, Russia's Defense Minister said that "Peacekeeping units should be in a state of constant battle readiness."

He added: "The world has changed, and has changed dramatically. As you know from previous examples, including in the brigade, peacekeeping units can be activated without warning."

After checking the 15th motorized rifle brigade of peacekeeping forces, the defense minister said that now all peacekeeping brigades are staffed exclusively by contractors, reported "Interfax".

Meanwhile, the humanitarian crisis in eastern Ukraine is getting worse by the day. Today the problems of those who are located in the eastern Ukraine zone where the Ukrainian army has been dispatched was discussed at an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council.

According to recent reports, the casualties of the conflict now amount to 1,400 people, with more than four thousand injured. In addition, about 300,000 people have fled their homes.

"Prepare for the unexpected," Shoigu concludes...