IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: 5 key stories from October 1

Here are five Fastmarkets MB stories you might have missed on Tuesday October 1 that are worth another look.

Chilean miner Codelco has increased its United States’ annual copper cathode premium to 3.1 cents per lb for 2020 supply, making it the benchmark’s highest level since 2016, sources close to the matter confirmed to Fastmarkets.

The benchmark premium paid for the supply of aluminium to main Japanese ports (MJP) in the fourth quarter of 2019 has settled at $97 per tonne on a cif basis over the London Metal Exchange cash price.

Adjustments to EU safeguard measures will “stabilize trade flows by containing import concentrations from certain exporting countries,” the European steel association Eurofer said on October 1.

Prices of cobalt metal, salts and hydroxide continued their upward momentum in September, while the chemical prices outperformed amid strong demand incited by concerns of supply tightness following the news on Glencore’s Mutanda mine closure in early August.

Ferro-alloys prices will continue to trade lower going into 2020 amid slowing economic and steel production growth, Fastmarkets analyst, Amy Bennett, told delegates at the North-American Ferro-alloys conference in Chicago last week.

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 […]