IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: 5 key stories from September 30

Here are five Fastmarkets MB stories you might have missed on Monday September 30 that are worth another look.

The European Commission has made a number of changes to its existing regime of safeguard measures concerning 26 steel product categories, it said on Thursday September 26. At the same time, the appointment of a European chief trade enforcement officer was welcomed by the steel and aluminium industries, with industry experts noting at a meeting of the European Parliament Committee on International Trade in Brussels that it should help ease trade problems in the sectors and help tackle Chinese excess capacity.

Weak fundamentals in global downstream aluminium-product premiums were a key concern among market participants further up the supply chain, they said during Fastmarkets’ International Aluminium conference in Athens, Greece, on September 23-25.

The Chinese ammonium paratungstate price shot up by 9.7% week on week on September 25 due to improved market sentiment and a tighter upstream concentrate supply.

Global supplies of silico-manganese rose by 21% year on year in August, to 1.63 million tonnes, according to the latest data from the International Manganese Institute.

The benchmark alumina price in the Pacific region has fallen below $290 per tonne for the first time since May 25, 2017.

What to read next
Steel producers in the United States remain optimistic about construction demand despite its lackluster short-term outlook, according to market participants
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
Caroline Messecar, strategic markets editor for Fastmarkets, explores the world of rare earth prices in her opinion piece for ‘The Crucible’ titled ‘Why have rare earth prices fallen?’
After a consultation period, Fastmarkets has amended the pricing frequency of its MB-STE-0141 steel billet import, cfr Manila, $/tonne, price assessment from a daily basis to twice per week.
The publication of the following prices was delayed on Tuesday April 30 due to technical issues. Fastmarkets’ pricing database has been updated.
Fastmarkets launches MB-NI-0256 nickel low-carbon briquette premium, cif global, $/tonne, on Wednesday May 1.