Australia may lose $45 billion amid green steel rush, report says
Australia accounts for 56% of seaborne iron ore trade.
The price of copper sank on Wednesday, losing more than 4% in New York to $2.7170 or $5,990 a tonne on the Comex market, its lowest level since July 20 last year.
It was one of the busiest days of 2018 on commodity futures markets with with over 2.1m tonnes of copper worth $12.7 billion exchanging hands by early-afternoon. Wednesday was the ninth down day of the last 10 trading sessions for copper. The bellwether metal has declined by 18.5% just over the last month, dragging the base metal complex down with it.
Zinc is down 28% from its 2018 high, and cobalt is now trading down 24% from highs hit in March. Nickel is the only metal still in the black year to date but has retreated 14% over the past month dipping below $13,600 in London on Wednesday.
The trade dispute between the US and China, responsible for half the world’s consumption of copper, is quickly escalating and comes on top of sliding indicators of manufacturing and industrial activity in China. Due to its widespread use in manufacture, construction and electricity infrastructure, the copper price is often considered a gauge of broader economic activity.
Beijing has said it would hit back including through “qualitative measures,” a threat that US businesses in China fear could mean anything from stepped-up inspections to delays in investment approvals and even consumer boycotts
China has accused the US of bullying and warned it would hit back after the Trump administration threatened to slap new tariffs on an additional $200 billion of Chinese exports.
According to a Reuters report Beijing has said it would hit back including through “qualitative measures,” a threat that US businesses in China fear could mean anything from stepped-up inspections to delays in investment approvals and even consumer boycotts.
The Wall Street Journal, citing unnamed Chinese officials, said Beijing was considering steps including holding up licenses for US companies, delaying approvals of mergers involving US firms and stepping up border inspections of American goods.
China could also limit visits to the United States by Chinese tourists, a business state media said is worth $115 billion, or shed some of its US Treasury holdings, Iris Pang, Greater China economist at ING in Hong Kong, wrote in a note.
The $200 billion far exceeds the total value of goods China imports from the United States, which means Beijing may need to think of creative ways to respond to such US measures.
On Tuesday, US officials issued a list of thousands of Chinese imports the Trump administration wants to hit with the new tariffs, including hundreds of food products as well as tobacco, chemicals, coal, steel and aluminium, prompting criticism from some US industry groups.
(With Reuters)
2 Comments
miner49er
Where is this heading? Base metal prices are the fuel for a mining boom. Things looked like they were just starting to pick up out there in the exploration sector. This one should be real interesting. Hang on! miner49er
PK - Zambia
These trade wars are getting to everybody’s nerves now. I can not blame Trump for this. It is very clear that all countries are against trade tariffs; and Trump has even proposed that let all nations abolish tariffs and have free trade across the borders and oceans.
China in particular is resistant to this move because they are benefiting. They have tariffs on USA goods but they want their products to enter foreign markets at zero tariffs. In the end it will be China and other EU countries that will lose because they haven’t been exposed to these tariffs previously that Trump is now imposing to balance the equation. On the other hand USA won’t suffer much because they are already losing on tarrifs.