U.S. Gulf:
Market sources put the Gulf import market on either side of $50/mt CFR for the week, unchanged from the previous report. Brazil import tons were generally described in a $53-$57/mt CFR range, also flat from one week earlier. Northwest European smelter activity continued to be heard in a $15-$20/mt FOB range.
Tight supply conditions were described throughout much of the U.S. domestic market. Sources put Midwest spot sales at $90-$100/t DEL, with contracts called roughly $10/t below spot. West Coast tons were heard at $110-$120/t DEL, while material sold into the Gulf region was priced at $100-$110/t DEL, unchanged from the prior week.
Chile:
Chilean copper smelter outputs fell by 20.9 percent in May, according to the Chilean Copper Commission, with production totaling 96,600 mt for the month. The sliding outputs capped a period of reduced production for the January-May 2017 period. Chile produced a combined 534,600 mt for the period, an 18.3 percent year-over-year decline. Sources attributed much of lost output to unplanned maintenance outages and inclement weather.
The Chilean acid market was called $40-$45/mt CFR.
Indonesia:
A large number of Indonesian nickel smelters temporarily halted production in June due to falling nickel prices, according to a Reuters report. The production stoppage affected approximately 13 smelters with a combined output approaching 750,000 mt/y.
The closures were blamed in part on the international nickel market registering a one-year low $8,680/mt in June, an approximate 60-percent reduction from the 2014 high of $21,625/mt. Nickel traded at $9,720/mt on the London Metal Exchange on July 19.
Additional smelters began powering down in early July, sources reported, bringing the total number of idled facilities to 17.