IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: 5 key stories from May 22

Here are five Fastmarkets MB stories you might have missed on Wednesday May 22 that are worth another look.

A consortium of commodities companies and financial institutions is planning to launch an inventory management system focused on the use of blockchain and other digital methods to manage the post-trade processing of transactions for metal commodities.

The liquidation order issued by the government of Zambia that would allow it to take control of Konkola Copper Mines, the copper-producing assets held in the African country by global metals producer Vedanta, has sent shockwaves through the global industry.

A decline in output from the automotive market in Europe has negatively affected demand in the vanadium and ferro-chrome markets, with prices for both materials falling to multi-month lows.

Germany’s Aurubis has agreed to acquire copper-tin recycler Metallo Group in a €380 million ($424 million) share purchase deal, it said on Wednesday May 22.

Troubled United Kingdom-based long steel producer British Steel has been placed into compulsory liquidation following an order from the UK high court, the UK official receiver – part of the UK’s Insolvency Service – said on Wednesday.

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US copper scrap market participants are shifting from COMEX to LME pricing in response to extreme price volatility and a new 50% copper import tariff. The change is influencing discount formulas, export strategies and long-term trading dynamics across the sector.