Supply concerns send base metals prices higher

Base metals prices trended upward on Tuesday. The price of nickel reached new highs as cash prices hit $40,600 per tonne and three-month prices were up to $38,200 per tonne at one point in the day as traders worried about possible supply disruptions on the potential of a strike at an Xstrata mine in Canada. The Sudbury mine produces around 5 percent of the world’s nickel supply. There have also been production delays at nickel mines in Australia and New Caledonia, helping prices higher. The three-month price fell a bit by late afternoon but remained $450 above Monday’s close, settling at $37,750 per tonne.

Tin prices were up $410 as they hit $12,200 per tonne during the day on concerns that the government of Indonesia could further tighten its hold on the export of tin in its efforts to lessen environmental damage at non-state-approved mines. The price of aluminium was also up, with three-month prices $56 higher to $2,813 per tonne on a strike in Guinea that has curtailed exports of bauxite, which is essential in the production of aluminium.