IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: 5 key stories from November 19

Flat-rolled steel sales volumes from Brazilian distributors rose by 18.3% year on year in October, outpacing purchases and leading to a decline in stocks, steel distributors’ association Inda said on November 19.

Next year will be a “transitional year” for the nickel market ahead of a shift into a structural deficit in 2021, Denis Sharypin, head of market intelligence at Norilsk Nickel, told delegates at Fastmarkets’ International Ferro-alloys Conference in Budapest, Hungary, this week.

Australia’s Hornsdale Power Reserve, the world’s biggest lithium-ion battery plant, is set to expand capacity by 50% to 150 megawatts, according to Neoen SA, the French power producer that owns and operates the site.

Chinese portside manganese ore prices rose for the first time since August on Friday November 15 after many ore traders held back from offering and those that did offer raised their prices in response to the concentration of inquiries, market sources told Fastmarkets.

UG2 chrome ore prices sank to $130 per tonne this past week, marking a record low for Fastmarkets’ cif China index.