IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: 5 key stories from September 23

Here are five Fastmarkets MB stories from Monday September 23 that are worth another look.

China has announced a fourth round of copper scrap import quotas to allow an extra 31,658 tonnes of copper scrap into the country by the end of 2019, the environmental ministry said on September 23.

Faced with high and increasing emissions costs during a period of challenging market conditions, the steel industry is driving a change toward carbon neutral and fossil-fuel-free steel production in a bid to evolve and stay afloat.

The market for low carbon ferro-chrome (0.10% C) in Europe rose on Friday September 20, indicating that prices had bottomed-out at a historic low level, with demand remaining subdued.

The federal court in Belém, Brazil, has lifted one of the embargoes on Alunorte’s new bauxite residue deposit area, producer Norsk Hydro announced on September 20.

Chinese ferro-silicon smelters held their offer prices, which earlier this month hit a 27-month low, last week in expectation of renewed demand from consumers in the steel sector ahead of a national holiday next week, while in Europe steelmakers seemed in no rush to replenish their ferro-alloys feedstocks.

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The proposal would align the index more closely with physically traded volumes in the region, and enable it to adjust to evolving market conditions. This proposal follows an observed widening of the spread between trader and smelter purchase components of the index and is aligned with a majority of market feedback. Additionally, Fastmarkets seeks feedback […]
Until now, aluminium has been hard to move, not hard to find. Global aluminium supply had remained technically intact, even as output was curtailed in parts of the Gulf, inventory buffers were drawn down or repositioned, and shipping through the Strait of Hormuz was severely disrupted.
Global aluminium producers face heightened uncertainty over power supplies, with oil and gas prices elevated by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, through which around 20% of global oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG) flows, sources told Fastmarkets.
Fastmarkets is extending the consultation period for the methodology of several of its black mass payables indicators and prices, and is also proposing changes to the names of CIF South Korea and EWX Europe black mass prices.
Rio Tinto Aluminium is expanding its footprint beyond its historic hydro-powered Canadian base, targeting Europe, Asia and Latin America as part of a deliberate diversification strategy, according to the unit’s chief executive officer.
Fastmarkets has corrected its copper concentrates treatment and refinement charge indices, which were published incorrectly on March 20 2026 due to a technical error.