IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: 5 key stories from November 15

Here are five Fastmarkets MB stories you might on Friday November 15 that are worth another look.

Brazilian miner Vale has diversified its iron ore sales to yuan-denominated futures contract pricing, which is the first time for global miners to use such pricing.

Suppliers are offering wider discounts in early negotiations for long-term ferro-vanadium contracts for 2020 compared with this year, according to market sources.

China’s domestic battery-grade lithium market remains under downward pressure, with lower offers for carbonate bringing the assessment down by 1.8% week on week on Thursday November 14, while the downtrend in Chinese prices is weighing on the seaborne Asia market, market sources said.

Scrap prices in the global markets have been firm during the working week from Monday November 11 to November 15 thanks to demand from mills in Turkey and Southeast Asia and to seasonal factors that raised costs.

Most market participants expect the China domestic alumina price to fall further as more imported cargoes arrive in an already oversupplied market, delegates at the aluminium conference held in Qingdao on November 13-15 told Fastmarkets.