Base metals
Overview
From vehicle lightweighting to increased demand for copper to wire our connected world, base metals are used widely in manufacturing industrial and consumer products, and demand is only going to increase. Base metals are the most connected to the futures market already so what does even more demand mean for commodity investments?
Argus provides base metals premiums in the most active trading regions around the world, in addition to data from the world’s metals exchanges on a real-time (additional fees apply) or 30-minute delay basis.
Base metals coverage
Argus delivers price data on over 300 base metals through the LME, CME and COMEX, as well as proprietary assessments. Our market news and analysis spans copper, aluminium, nickel, lead, tin, zinc and other base metals crucial to commercial and industrial enterprises.
Track premiums in the most active trade regions and use our daily analysis to better understand the link between the physical and paper markets to better navigate futures, options and exchange-traded funds (ETFs).
Investors that do take positions on the financial markets can use Argus tools to highlight arbitrage opportunities and receive alerts when prices reach upper and lower threshold limits on their contracts of interest.
Highlights of Argus global base metals coverage
- Value-added exchange data tools offer a deeper level of insight to the standard exchange feed windows (calculated derived cash, global view of all exchanges on a single screen, threshold alerts).
- Full suite of non-ferrous scrap prices can be analysed to detect correlations or leading indicators for base metals prices.
- Currency and unit of measure conversions allow easy comparison of exchange data in different regions of the world to identify arbitrage opportunities.
- Base metals workspaces facilitate an holistic view of each individual market’s performance.
Latest base metals news
Browse the latest market moving news on the global base metals industry.
Trump to impose new tariffs on auto imports
Trump to impose new tariffs on auto imports
Washington, 26 March (Argus) — President Donald Trump will announce new tariffs on the automobile industry later today, the White House said, at a time of significant uncertainty about his trade policies. Trump plans to offer further details on the automobile tariffs this afternoon, less than a week before he plans to announce tariffs against major foreign trade partners on 2 April, which Trump has dubbed "Liberation Day". Trump has already imposed a 25pc tariff on steel and aluminum, and earlier this week said he would announce tariffs on imported lumber, semiconductor chips and pharmaceuticals. Trump last month threatened to impose 25pc tariffs on most imports from Canada and Mexico, starting on 4 March — including imported automobiles and vehicle parts — but he eventually offered a one-month reprieve for US automakers before delaying those tariffs entirely until 2 April. The scope and timing of the upcoming automobile tariffs remains unclear, and the White House has yet to provide further details. But Ontario premier Doug Ford previously warned that steep tariffs on Canada could cause auto manufacturing in the US and Canada to grind to a halt within as few as 10 days. Earlier this week, Trump said that South Korean automaker Hyundai's recent decision to invest $5.8bn to build a steel mill in Louisiana offered a blueprint for how companies could avoid tariffs. "This is the beginning of a lot of things happening," Trump said. Even as a lack of details about the upcoming tariffs has fueled uncertainty for businesses and sharp declines on US stock markets, Trump has continued to announce additional tariffs. On Tuesday, Trump said any country taking delivery of Venezuelan oil or gas would be "forced" to pay an incremental 25pc tariff on any goods imported in the US. US oil executives appear to be growing tired of Trump's chaotic trade policy, particularly his imposition of a 25pc tariff on imported steel that is used in drill pipes, executives said in a survey the US Federal Reserve of Dallas released Wednesday. The uncertainty over tariffs and trade policy is causing "chaos", they said in the survey, and increasing their cost of capital. "Tariff policy is impossible for us to predict and doesn't have a clear goal," an unnamed oil executive said in the survey. "We want more stability." By Chris Knight Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2025. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
Korea's LGES inks US energy storage system battery deal
Korea's LGES inks US energy storage system battery deal
Singapore, 26 March (Argus) — South Korean battery manufacturer LG Energy Solution (LGES) has secured a deal to supply Taiwanese electronics manufacturing firm Delta Electronics a total 4GWh of residential energy storage system (ESS) batteries. The two firms signed a "strategic partnership" and the US-produced batteries will be supplied during 2025-30, said LGES on 26 March. LGES will begin the production of lithium-iron-phosphate (LFP) ESS batteries in the second half of 2025 at its plant in Holland, Michigan, which will be equipped with an ESS production line. They will also under the partnership explore the power grid and commercial ESS markets, said LGES. Delta last year agreed to jointly develop new electric vehicle (EV) charging architecture in the US alongside the US' EV public charging station provider EVGo. LGES last year said it plans to reduce its dependence on the EV battery business and is looking to produce ESS cells in the US from 2025 through its subsidiary, LGES Vertech. The anticipation of higher tariffs on Chinese ESS batteries coming into effect in the US has driven LGES to expect greater growth in market demand for US-produced batteries, the firm said. The firm earlier this week signed another LFP ESS battery deal with Polish state-controlled utility PGE and it intends to also expand ESS battery production in Europe. By Joseph Ho Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2025. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
Australia's Simcoa may buy carbon credits until 2028
Australia's Simcoa may buy carbon credits until 2028
Sydney, 21 March (Argus) — Australia's silicon producer Simcoa will likely need to buy and surrender Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs) until 2028 for safeguard mechanism compliance obligations before it completes a key decarbonisation project, it told Argus today. The project was awarded federal funds on 20 March. Australia's federal Labor government granted Simcoa A$39.8mn ($25mn) under its Powering the Regions Fund (PRF) to expand charcoal production at its Wellesley facility in Western Australia (WA) and remove the use of coal in silicon production. The project is expected to reduce the company's scope 1 emissions by around 90pc, or approximately 100,000 t/yr of CO2 equivalent (CO2e). Simcoa is Australia's only silicon manufacturer, which is a key component of solar panels. The funding will help maintain silicon manufacturing capability in the country in addition to cutting emissions, energy minister Chris Bowen said. The company currently uses 35,000 t/yr of metallurgical low ash coal in its operations, and anticipates usage will drop to zero after it doubles its charcoal production capacity by 25,000 t/yr to 50,000 t/yr. The completion date for the expansion is not expected before 2028. The firm may continue to buy [ACCUs] as it must use coal as a reducing agent for part of its production for calendar years 2025-27, or until the expansion project can be commissioned, the company told Argus on 21 March. Simcoa surrendered 22,178 ACCUs in the July 2022-June 2023 compliance year as it reported scope 1 emissions of 122,178t of CO2e with a baseline of 100,000t CO2e at its Kemerton silicon smelter. Figures were lower for the July 2023-June 2024 compliance period, the company said, without disclosing details. Australia's Clean Energy Regulator (CER) will publish 2023-24 safeguard data by 15 April . Simcoa anticipates scope 1 emissions at the Kemerton smelter to be "considerably below" the baseline once the charcoal expansion is completed and could make it eligible to earn and sell safeguard mechanism credits (SMCs), which traded for the first time in late February . "We will take whatever opportunity is available to us," the company said on potentially holding or selling SMCs in future. By Juan Weik Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2025. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
Australia's Arafura secures new NdPr oxide offtake deal
Australia's Arafura secures new NdPr oxide offtake deal
Sydney, 20 March (Argus) — Australian producer Arafura Rare Earth will supply between 100-300 t/yr of neodymium-praseodymium (NdPr) oxide to Dutch trader Traxys Europe, bringing the company closer to its offtake target of 3,552 t/yr. Arafura has agreed to supply at least 100 t/yr of NdPr oxide to Traxys for five years, but can choose to sell up to 300 t/yr of the material. The deal is priced in terms of NdPr ex-works China prices, the company said on 20 March. Arafura indicated that it planned to link offtake deals to equity agreements , it said in an investor call in January. But the offtake deal with Traxys does not appear to include an equity component. Arafura is currently developing the 4,400 t/yr Nolans project, a combined mine and NdPr refinery in Western Australia (WA). The company is aiming to secure offtake deals accounting for 80pc of the project's capacity. German manufacturer Siemens has already agreed to buy 520 t/yr of NdPr from Arafura, with South Korean firms Hyundai and Kia taking an additional 1,500 t/yr of the material. Arafura has committed to sell 2,320 t/yr of oxide from the Nolans project since 2023. Arafura is continuing to negotiate offtake agreements with Asian, European, and US consumers. Firms have expressed interest in buying up to 4,740 t/yr of NdPr oxide from the company, beyond the 2,320 t/yr already committed to customers and above Nolans' production capacity. The rare earth developer has received extensive government support on its Nolans project. Australia's federal Labor government agreed to invest A$200mn ($126mn) into the project in mid-January. It previously committed A$840mn to the project in March 2024. But Arafura is not alone. Australian officials have backed other rare earths projects over recent years, including Iluka Resources' Eneabba refinery in WA. Argus ' praseodymium-neodymium oxide min 99pc fob China price has been rising over the last three months. The price reached $61,850/t on 19 March, when it was last assessed, up from $54,500/t three months earlier. By Avinash Govind Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2025. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
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