London Metal Exchange: Base Metal Inventory Update
Performance of All Base Metals except Tin Slid on February 23
Copper stock levels decreased
On February 23, the inventory levels of all base metals except aluminum declined in the London Metal Exchange (or LME). The inventory levels of tin in LME had the biggest decline out of all base metal stock levels on Tuesday. The inventory levels of copper decreased by 0.88% and reached 203,700 tons on Tuesday. The highest recent stock level of copper was recorded as 371,250 tons on August 28, 2015, and has fallen by 45.13% since then.
The inventory levels of aluminum in LME have been in a downtrend since the beginning of 2015. On February 23, the stock levels of aluminum increased by 0.26% to 2,789,150 tons. In the week ended February 20, the aluminum inventory levels in LME fell by 5.31% to 208,525 tons. Last year, the aluminum stock levels in LME declined by 31.7%.
The inventory levels of nickel declined
The stock levels of nickel in LME decreased by 0.85% in the week ended on February 13 and reached 435,378 tons. On Tuesday, the inventory levels of nickel remained almost unchanged by declining by 0.08% to 435,396 tons. The stock levels of nickel in LME reached a low of 393,228 on December 9 and rose 10.72% from that low.
In the week ended February 20, the stock levels of zinc in LME increased by 9.72% and reached 504,375 tons. On Tuesday, the stock levels of zinc declined by 0.82% to 498,175 tons. The recent peak inventory level of zinc was 617,325 tons on September 15, 2015, and it has dropped by 19.3% since then.
Stock levels of tin dropped
The inventory level of tin decreased by 6.55% to 3,850 tons on February 23. In the week ended February 20, the stock levels of tin declined by 5.36% and reached 4,065 tons. The inventory levels of tin in LME declined by 49% in 2015.
On February 23, base metal miners Freeport-McMoRan (FCX), Glencore (GLNCY), Alcoa (AA), and BHP Billiton (BHP) fell by 8.7%, 2.19%, 4.26%, and 4.74%, respectively. The PowerShares DB Base Metals ETF (DBB) declined by 1.86% on Tuesday.
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