IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: 5 key stories from June 7

Here are five Fastmarkets MB stories you might have missed on Friday June 7 that are worth another look.

The outlook for continuing Chinese demand for copper scrap from the United States, especially No2 copper (birch/cliff), is cautiously optimistic among market participants.

In base metals, the ongoing trade war between the US and China is dampening investor interest in the primary copper industry, executives said at Fastmarkets’ 5th Annual Copper Seminar on Wednesday June 5 in New York. Additionally, disappointing US job growth figures hung over the commodity markets and sent the three-month lead price on the London Metal Exchange lower at the close of trading on June 7, with the metal failing to sustain gains made earlier in the week but staying above its nearby $1,800-per-tonne support level.

A customer of Konkola Copper Mines has been informed that it will not be receiving copper deliveries in June after the Zambian government’s recent liquidation order on the supplier.

Fastmarkets examines the disconnect between manganese ore and alloy prices, which has led to squeezed margins for alloy producers.

Cobalt prices have continued to slide amid weak buying activity.

What to read next
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
This move aligns with global demands for sustainability in the mining sector and sets Nexa on a path toward achieving net zero emissions by 2050
Fastmarkets has corrected the pricing rationale for MB-AL-0302 aluminium 6063 extrusion billet premium, ddp North Germany (Ruhr region), $/tonne, which was published incorrectly on Friday April 19. No prices were corrected.
The low-carbon aluminium differential in the US made its first move on Friday April 5 since Fastmarkets launched it five months ago.