IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: 5 key stories from August 2

Here are five Fastmarkets MB stories you might have missed on Friday August 2 that are worth another look.

Three-month base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange were predominantly weaker at the close of trading on Friday August 2. The downturn was largely prompted by fresh tariff threats against China by United States President Donald Trump that sparked caution among investors and prompted them to reduce risk-exposure in commodities.

Chinese customs authorities are considering introducing a new import standard for zinc concentrates to alleviate pollution of smelting operations, according to a consultation document seen by Fastmarkets. 

China’s customs agency has held discussions with the country’s major copper smelters with the aim of creating stricter limits on impurities contained in imported copper concentrates, four sources with direct knowledge of the matter told Fastmarkets.

Soaring iron ore prices have pushed Chinese hot metal costs up above those for ferrous scrap in recent months, stimulating greater use of the secondary raw material, according to calculations by Fastmarkets’ research team.

In battery raw materials, international cobalt prices increased on stronger sentiment in China and higher offer prices while the battery-grade lithium hydroxide spot price fell sharply for the week to Thursday August 1 after China’s lithium market moved lower due to ample availability of material and depressed demand.

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.