IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: 5 key stories from March 29

Here are five Fastmarkets MB stories you might have missed on Friday March 29 that are worth another look.

A cargo of 30,000 tonnes of Chinese-origin alumina has been sold at 2,810 yuan ($417.10) per tonne fob Yantai port to Glencore in recent days, a source familiar with the matter told Fastmarkets on Friday March 29. The cargo has been loaded and was approaching Yantai port in northeast of China this week with its destination unknown, several sources confirmed.

The London Metal Exchange has announced new warehouse reform proposals – the friendliest to warehousers in seven years – that aim to make LME warehousing attractive again and encourage more metal onto the exchange. In a discussion paper sent to members on Friday March 29, the exchange proposed relaxing queue-based rent capping (QBRC) to 80 days, lower rent and Free On Truck (FOT) fees, as well as measures to allow the market to break evergreen rent deals simply by cancelling metal rather than needing to deliver metal out.

Brazilian miner Vale reported reduced nickel production of 244,600 tonnes in 2018, down 15.1% from 2017’s 288,200 tonnes. The depressed year-on-year figures come despite the company increasing its fourth-quarter nickel production by 14.9% to 64,000 tonnes, up from 55,700 tonnes in the third quarter of 2018.

Miner MMG has declared force majeure on copper concentrate supply contracts from the Las Bambas mine in Peru. Two customers due to receive tonnages said they had been told by offtake partners they would not be receiving material as contracted.

China exported 596 tonnes of ferro-vanadium (basis 75% vanadium) in February, an increase of 2.6% month on month and 148% year on year respectively, according to official but unconfirmed data seen by Fastmarkets. The volume of ferro-vanadium exports in the first two months of 2019 totaled 1,177 tonnes, recording a year-on-year rise of 83.9%, the date showed.

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The influential annual treatment and refining charge (TC/RC) benchmark that sets the price that smelters charge miners to process their copper concentrate could be at risk, according to multiple market sources, although most believe the system, or elements of it, will remain
Fastmarkets' initial low-carbon premium for nickel briquettes captured existing regional price differences, with growing awareness and legislative incentives indicating there is potential for a strong market to emerge
The Chilean government is pushing ahead with plans for a new copper smelter despite the global smelting crisis, Chile’s minister of mining, Aurora Williams told Fastmarkets, adding that the state will also play a key role in developing the country’s premium lithium assets
Just under two weeks ago, the chair of BHP made a phone call to his counterpart at mining peer Anglo American and set in motion a flurry of activity designed to create the largest copper producer in the world
Brazilian aluminium supply coming from Companhia Brasileira de Alumínio (CBA) is said to have tightened, helping to boost the P1020A ingot premium, market participants told Fastmarkets in the two weeks to Wednesday April 24
In anticipation of a tight market, copper concentrate traders have locked in 2025 volumes at notably low treatment charges, with deals being placed well below the long-term industry benchmarks