IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: 5 key stories from July 9

Here are five Fastmarkets MB stories you might have missed on Tuesday July 9 that are worth another look.

Sinking product prices across the copper value chain are eroding processing margins for custom copper smelters, causing uncertainty as well as driving investments and consolidation in the industry.

The United States’ Section 232 tariffs have benefited certain steel producers but mostly negatively impacted others due to disruption to the global supply chain ecosystem, an NLMK USA executive said following the layoff of at least 80 employees at its Pennsylvania facility last week.

Italian steel re-roller Marcegaglia has warned that limiting imports of hot-rolled black stainless steel coil into Europe would “put at risk the viability of our stainless steel business,” chief executive officer Antonio Marcegaglia said in a letter to the EU published late last week.

Troubled UK long steel producer British Steel has reported “encouraging levels of interest” in the sale of the business after a number of bids were made before the June 30 deadline, the company said on July 5.

India’s Ministry of Steel is seeking stakeholder feedback by July 14 on a draft steel scrap policy that aims to reduce the country’s reliance on imports by establishing a network of recycling centers to collect and process ferrous scrap.

What to read next
Market reactions to the soon-to-be-implemented US copper tariff are driving short-term volatility and supply imbalances while fuelling long-term efforts to expand domestic production, recycling and infrastructure.
US export controls on recycled copper would have unintended consequences that could weaken the country’s domestic recycling and manufacturing ecosystems, the president of the Recycled Materials Association (ReMA) said.
The publication of Fastmarkets’ assessments for nickel 4x4 cathode, nickel briquette and nickel uncut cathode premiums in-whs Rotterdam was delayed on Tuesday July 16 because of a reporter error.
Fastmarkets has corrected its alumina index inferred prices, which were published incorrectly on Tuesday July 15.
The United States' copper recycling industry is ramping up pressure on policymakers to impose some form of export controls on high-purity copper scrap, arguing that current trade dynamics – particularly with China – are distorting prices, weakening domestic capacity and undermining national security goals.
Fastmarkets launched two new price assessments for Indonesia’s domestic trade in nickel ore on Tuesday July 15. The two price assessments are for domestic trades of Indonesian laterite ores with 1.6% and 1.2% nickel content. Indonesia now accounts for 60% of the global nickel supplies and while there is an official government reference price, known […]