IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: 5 key stories from May 17

Here are five Fastmarkets MB stories you might have missed on Friday May 17 that are worth another look.

The United States will give a 180-day window to its auto trading partners to reduce imports of automobiles and certain automobile parts, essentially delaying potential Section 232 tariffs on these products, the White House said on Friday May 17. On the same day, US President Donald Trump announced an agreement had been reached to remove Section 232 tariffs from Canada and Mexico

Copper concentrate treatment and refining charges edged lower in the second week of May, with traders snapping up tender tonnages at low numbers while smelters hesitated on spot purchases.

The European Commission has initiated a review of its steel import safeguard measures, it said in a notice published in the Official Journal of the European Union on May 17.

Rumors that around 1,000 tonnes of bismuth held in Fanya warehouses might be auctioned dampened buying interest in China, causing the domestic Chinese bismuth price to plunge by 4% week on week on Friday.

The Chinese import price for bauxite will continue to rise gradually over the next 5-10 years on stronger domestic demand, Metro Mining chief executive officer Simon Finnis told Fastmarkets at the Alumina & Bauxite Conference held in Zhengzhou on May 16-17.

What to read next
The most recent financial results published by base metals mining companies highlight just how inflation is affecting profit margins, with increasing wages, financing costs and input prices all hitting profits, sources told Fastmarkets in the week to Thursday March 28
Century Aluminum is among those selected to start award negotiations for up to $500 million in Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act funding to build a new aluminium smelter, the company said on Monday March 25
Participants in the copper concentrates market are struggling to comprehend an “unstoppable” decline in treatment and refinement charges (TC/RCs), with every week bringing spot deals at fresh lows and rumors each “crazier” than the last, sources have told Fastmarkets
The US Department of Energy selected five base metals projects to receive more than $900 million in federal investment from its Industrial Demonstration Program (IDP), leading to a reduction of four million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions annually, according to a statement by the Department on Monday March 25
Aluminium producer and recycler Constellium announced on Tuesday March 12 that the company is moving to test hydrogen utilization at an industrial scale as a power source in its casthouses
Fastmarkets has corrected its MB-ALU-0002 alumina index, fob Australia and its MB-ALU-0010 alumina inferred index, fob Brazil, which were published incorrectly on Monday March 18.