There was an air of optimism among copper participants attending a conference in the Chinese city of Qiqihar on Thursday September 5, with many there telling Fastmarkets they had heard deals and offers for copper cathode at higher levels than in recent weeks due to improving market fundamentals.
Albania-based chrome ore miner and high carbon ferro-chrome smelter Albchrome has extended the maintenance period of two of its furnaces for an additional three months, the company said on September 6.
China’s Hebei Steel, the country’s second largest steel mill, has released its purchase price for silico-manganese at 7,700 yuan ($1,078) per tonne for September delivery, down by 150 yuan per tonne from its August tender price, market sources told Fastmarkets.
Latin America’s apparent steel consumption fell by 3% year on year in the first half of 2019, to 33.67 million tonnes, mainly due to lower performance in Mexico and Argentina.
China’s domestic spot battery-grade lithium carbonate price narrowed downward in the week ended September 6 with most deals concluded at lower end of Fastmarkets’ published range, while those few deals struck at higher rates were done so on credit terms.
