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Commodities News

Up-to-date news on raw materials

FT Mercati provides subscribers with a dedicated commodities news bulletin to stay up-to-date.
Here is a selection of the latest news:

11/5/2025

FIRST TIN ALMOST TRIPLES GOTTESBERG RESOURCE

First Tin has announced a near-tripling of the Gottesberg tin resource in Germany.
The company revised the resource from its previous mineral resource statement of 6.7 Mt at 0.49% Sn for 33,000 tonnes of tin to 37 Mt at 0.25% Sn for 90,900 tonnes of tin.
Cut-off grade was reduced from 0.35% Sn to 0.15% Sn in line with improved geological understanding of the mineralisation and improved economics due to higher tin prices. The increase in the resource base was also due to greater tonnage in the inferred category.
First Tin said this revised resource is more in line with historical estimates from the deposit.
This target could see First Tin’s German assets benefitting considerably from diverse by-product revenues.
First Tin CEO Bill Scotting said the results “highlight the additional potential for tin as well as other critical minerals in this historic mining district in the heartland of Europe’s high-tech manufacturing belt, minerals which today are primarily imported from geopolitically sensitive regions”.
The upgraded resource total at Gottesberg highlights First Tin’s strong credentials as a future tin producer, with the company now holding one of the largest undeveloped tin resource totals in the world.

11/5/2025

BASKET OPEC PRELIMINARY PRICE

OPECNA, the news agency of OPEC, announced the OPEC Basket preliminary price
04 november = $ 65.43 /b (down from previous daily value)
(The OPEC Reference Basket (ORB) introduced on 16 June 2005, is currently made up of the following: Algeria, Angola, Congo, Ecuador, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia , UAE and Venezuela.

11/5/2025

PRODUCER RATINGS REFLECT FUNDAMENTALS AND BUSINESS PROFILES - FITCH

Most copper producers’ credit outlooks are supported by constructive copper fundamentals and business profiles. Fitch expects higher-for-longer copper prices and solid liquidity to provide deleveraging capacity for issuers with heavy capital spending or production disruptions, according to a new Fitch Ratings report.
Copper producers’ financial metrics generally remain strong , due in part to growing copper demand driven by its role in energy transition. Supplies will struggle to keep up because of mine disruptions, declining grades, and project cost increases and delays.
In addition, most copper producers have low financial leverage and solid liquidity because they reacted to the 2015/2016 commodity price slump by focusing on deleveraging and financial flexibility.

11/5/2025

SUMMARY OF MAIN FERRO-CHROME INDEX OF 4 november 2025

SUMMARY OF MAIN FERRO-CHROME INDEX OF 4 november 2025
1. Ferro-chrome lumpy Cr benchmark indicator, charge basis 52% (and high carbon), Europe, = 1.51 $/LB (increasing)
2. Ferro-chrome 50% Cr, delivered Europe, = 1.22 – 1.36 $/LB (unchanged);
3. Ferro-chrome High-Carbon 6-8.5%, basis 65-70% Cr, max 1.5% Si, Europe = 1.25 – 1.72 $/LB (unchanged)
4. Ferro-chrome 50% Cr import, cif main Chinese ports, = 1.01 $/LB (unchanged).
(Changes compared to the previous week figure are indicated in brackets)

11/5/2025

INDONESIA MAY ALLOW COPPER MINER AMMAN MINERAL TO EXPORT COPPER CONCENTRATE

Indonesia may allow copper miner Amman Mineral International to export copper concentrate, the country's energy ministry official said on Friday, after banning concentrate exports last year.
Indonesia banned exports of copper concentrate and other raw minerals from mid-2023 to boost the domestic metal processing industry, but Amman was permitted to continue exporting until December last year, when it was expected to commission a new smelter.
The government may now allow the copper miner to resume concentrate exports after a fire broke out at its smelter in Indonesia's West Nusa Tengggara this year, said energy ministry official Tri Winarno.
Energy ministry regulations allow exemptions to the export ban under force majeure conditions, he said, adding that Amman has submitted the required police report and insurance claim as proof of force majeure.
"We are in the middle of the process of giving it (the export permit)," Winarno said.
Earlier this year, Amman said it has 220,000 metric tons of copper cathode available for export.
It asked the government to allow copper concentrate exports because its smelter faced a number of technical constraints.

11/5/2025

INDEXES 4 November

(Changes from the previous figure are indicated in brackets):
BALTIC DRY INDEX = 1958 (increasing)
Shipping and freight cost index. Despite its name, it collects data from the world's major routes and not only those of the Baltic Sea.

CRB COMMODITY INDEX = 379.04 (declining)
The Commodity Research Bureau has been published since 1958 and is an index on commodities

LME INDEX = 4557.60 (falling)
London Metal Exchange index of non-ferrous metals, world reference.
Currently, the London Metal Exchange Index consists of 6 metals with the following weights: Aluminium (42.8%), Copper (31.2%), Zinc (14.8%), Lead (8.2%), Nickel (2%) and Tin (1%). The weights of the six metals are derived from the global production volume and the trade liquidity averaged over the previous five-year period.