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.
Japan’s Marubeni boosts stakes in Australian coal mines
Japan’s Marubeni boosts stakes in Australian coal mines
Tokyo, 30 June (Argus) — Japanese trading house Marubeni has increased its stakes in two Australian coal mine projects to bolster coal supply for steelmaking, the company said today. Marubeni purchased an additional 4.7pc interest each in the Jellinbah East and Lake Vermont steelmaking coal mine projects from Queensland-based investment firm Zashvin. The transaction brings Marubeni's total interest in each project to 43pc and 38pc, respectively, it said. The expanded investment will boost Marubeni's overall equity coking coal output by 700,000 t/yr, bringing its total output to 6.7mn t/yr, a company representative told Argus. The company declined to disclose the breakdown by project. Marubeni will supply coking coal offtakes from the two mines to Japan, India and the domestic Australian market. It will adjust delivery volumes based on regional demand, the representative said. By Yusuke Maekawa Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2025. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
Japan's Toyota starts building EV plant in Shanghai
Japan's Toyota starts building EV plant in Shanghai
Beijing, 27 June (Argus) — Japanese automaker Toyota started building an electric vehicle (EV) plant in Shanghai today, said the local government. Toyota established a subsidiary Lexus (Shanghai) New Energy in the Jinshan district of Shanghai in February to develop EVs and EV batteries. The company signed an agreement with the municipal government of Shanghai and the government of Jinshan district in April to move forward with this project. The plant aims to produce 100,000 EVs a year and to start delivering in 2027. Construction is expected to be completed in 2026. Toyota will be the sole owner of the new China-based firm — an unusual move as foreign automobile producers typically form a joint venture with a local car manufacturer. Tesla's Shanghai factory is the last wholly foreign-owned automaker in China. The Japanese firm's new venture in China and its moves in the US are part of the company's wider strategy to sell 1.5mn EVs by 2026. Its new Shanghai project aims to deliver its EV brand "swiftly" to Chinese customers. But Toyota's EV sales in China may face challenges in a highly competitive market, according to industry participants. China has more than 40 domestic new energy vehicle manufacturers. Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2025. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
Japan’s Australian iron ore imports fall on year in May
Japan’s Australian iron ore imports fall on year in May
Tokyo, 27 June (Argus) — Japan's iron ore imports fell by 16pc on the year to 7mn t in May, mostly because of lower shipments from the country's major suppliers including Australia. Japan's iron ore imports from its top supplier Australia fell by 22pc on the year to 3.3mn t, data released by the country's finance ministry on 27 June show. Purchases from Brazil, the country's second-largest iron ore supplier, fell to 2.4mn t, down by 22pc from a year earlier. Japan imports mostly agglomerated or non-agglomerated iron ore and Brazil is the largest supplier of the former, for which deliveries slightly fell by 1.4pc on the year to 430,611t. Imports from Canada more than doubled on the year to 719,535t. By Yusuke Maekawa Japan's iron ore imports 000t May '25 May '24 y-o-y % ± Australia 3,337 4,288 -22.2 Brazil 2,364 3,031 -22.0 Canada 720 336 114.2 US 0 0 0.0 New Zealand 0 80 -100.0 India 0 0 0.0 China 0 0 0.0 South Africa 405 491 -17.5 Russia 0 0 0.0 Mauritania 30 0 0.0 Chile 152 148 2.5 Peru 0 0 0.0 Oman 0 0 0.0 Others 0 0 0.0 Total 7,008 8,375 -16.3 Based on preliminary data Source: Japanese finance ministry Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2025. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
Europe rare earths: Yttrium moves higher
Europe rare earths: Yttrium moves higher
London, 26 June (Argus) — Most European rare earth import prices were unchanged this week on a lack of spot trade, but yttrium oxide moved higher on very tight availability and stronger pricing in China edged neodymium oxide slightly upward. No further export licenses from China for heavy rare earth sales to Europe were heard granted this week, after a small number were heard approved in the previous ten days. One trader said it expects that large players willing to share information on end usage with China will get export licenses fairly smoothly, but noted that many of these large players are not willing to do so. Light rare earths The weekly assessment for 95.5-99.9pc neodymium oxide edged higher on the lower end to $66-74/kg cif Europe today, from $65-74/kg on 19 June, lifted by a small uptick in Chinese prices caused by anticipation of a potential fall in ore feedstock supplies from mining quotas. The assessment for 99pc neodymium metal was flat at $81-86/kg cif Europe on limited trading activity. Other light rare earth prices were unmoved this week, including 95.5-99.9pc cerium oxide which stayed flat at $1.85-2.20/kg cif Europe. Heavy rare earths Yttrium oxide moved up this week to $50-70/kg, from $45-65/kg previously, on indications that business was no longer possible below the $50/kg mark. Users of the product for certain applications were willing to pay significantly above the assessment range. The cif Europe assessment for min 99.5pc dysprosium oxide was unchanged at $650-850/kg today on lack of spot trade. Terbium oxide was steady at $2,300-3,400/kg cif on business heard done in the upper half of the range. Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2025. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
Spotlight content
Browse the latest thought leadership produced by our global team of experts.
Battery and base metals face mixed outlook
Examine the battery material and base metals markets with this joint paper, with insight from the Argus and LSEG teams.
Insight papers - 04/02/24INI: A new suite of Indonesian nickel benchmarks
Learn about the new suite of nickel prices launched by Argus in partnership with PT Indeks Komoditas Indonesia (PT IKI) in our latest white paper.
Insight papers - 24/06/22The return of aerospace
How has the supply/demand for aerospace metals changed and how can OEMs and T1-3 suppliers overcome these new supply chain challenges.