Es geht los, liebe Leute. Immer knackiger. Wir solidarisieren unsere Wirtschaft immer weiter. Mir tun alle Häuslebauer und Bauunternehmen, Handwerker und Maschinenbauer leid. Aber ihr wart bisher zu leise. Wollt ihr noch länger warten? [_link]

— Evi Denz (@ElefantImRaum2) August 19, 2022

Europe's largest smelters shut down operations

Just one day earlier, a zinc smelter in the Netherlands had announced a production stop due to rising energy costs. The Budel smelter, which belongs to the Belgian company Nyrstar, is one of the largest smelters in Europe. From September 1, it is to be put into a maintenance and repair state "until further notice", as the Bloomberg finance agency writes, citing the company. Zinc prices shot up over 7 percent after the news.

The leading zinc producer Glencore had already warned of the consequences of the energy crisis for Europe at the beginning of August. The supply of base metals is coming under increasing pressure due to the gas crisis.

Putting commodities pricing and production in perspective ...

"Concerns of a global slowdown, flowing from the US Fed's aggressive tightening, structural changes in China's economy, and the impact of its COVID-19 lockdowns dragged down industrial metals more than 25% in Q2 2022. This was the sharpest quarterly fall since the Global Financial Crisis in 2008," Hynes said. "Amid interest rate increases and inflation, a risk is emerging that some major economies may experience a 'hard landing.'"

'Sapere aude'