Aluminium prices fell on Monday after data showed heavy exports of aluminium products from China, while nickel declined after inventories rose to a record high. Three month aluminium on the London Metal Exchange ended down 1.05 percent at $2,033.50 a tonne. Volume was the heaviest on the LME at around 16,500 lots versus second-place zinc at around 2,250.
Trade data over the weekend showed a strong pace of Chinese unwrought aluminium and products exports in October, up 12.5 percent for the year to date. "This is one of the bear arguments for aluminium. Yes, there's a deficit in the world outside China, but this will be met by rising (Chinese) product exports," said Robin Bhar, head of metals research at Societe Generale in London.
October exports of 380,000 tonnes were down 5 percent from September but up 19 percent year-on-year and will increase in coming months as Chinese smelter capacity expands, said Ivan Szpakowski, an analyst at Citi in Shanghai. "This growth in Chinese exports has had a notable weakening impact on Asian aluminium markets, and cargoes are being diverted to the Middle East, Turkey and southern Europe," he said in a note.
LME copper was last bid down 0.82 percent at $6,660 a tonne. Copper earlier hit a session high of $6,726.25 a tonne, its strongest since November 4, after data showed Chinese copper imports improved. "I'm certainly not calling a restock cycle starting just yet, but with consumer inventories relatively low and prices where they are, there are certainly chances of one developing," analyst Daniel Hynes of ANZ in Sydney said.
Workers at Peru's largest copper mine began an indefinite strike on Monday, although the union and the Antamina mine provided differing accounts on the impact of the dispute on operations. In other metals, nickel slid 1.13 percent to end at $15,250 a tonne after further gains in stocks. LME inventories climbed 2,112 tonnes to a record of 389,334 tonnes, showing the market was well supplied despite a ban on ore shipments from top exporter Indonesia. Zinc closed down 0.07 percent at $2,243.50 a tonne, while tin shed 0.89 percent to end at $20,050 a tonne and lead ended up 0.15 percent at $2,040 a tonne.
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