IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: 5 key stories from November 19

Here are five Fastmarkets MB stories you might have missed on Tuesday November 19 that are worth another look.

Flat-rolled steel sales volumes from Brazilian distributors rose by 18.3% year on year in October, outpacing purchases and leading to a decline in stocks, steel distributors’ association Inda said on November 19.

Next year will be a “transitional year” for the nickel market ahead of a shift into a structural deficit in 2021, Denis Sharypin, head of market intelligence at Norilsk Nickel, told delegates at Fastmarkets’ International Ferro-alloys Conference in Budapest, Hungary, this week.

Australia’s Hornsdale Power Reserve, the world’s biggest lithium-ion battery plant, is set to expand capacity by 50% to 150 megawatts, according to Neoen SA, the French power producer that owns and operates the site.

Chinese portside manganese ore prices rose for the first time since August on Friday November 15 after many ore traders held back from offering and those that did offer raised their prices in response to the concentration of inquiries, market sources told Fastmarkets.

UG2 chrome ore prices sank to $130 per tonne this past week, marking a record low for Fastmarkets’ cif China index.

What to read next
Fastmarkets will discontinue its lithium contract price assessments, effective October 2024.
The global decarbonization drive is turning electrical steel into one of China's key ferrous products, with electrical steel exports surging in recent years, sources told Fastmarkets
China’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) will work with relevant parties to regulate crude steel production, with a focus on energy saving and reducing carbon emissions. It will also release guidance on crude steel output for different steel mills later this year after a national investigation on steel capacity
The low-carbon aluminium differential in the US made its first move on Friday April 5 since Fastmarkets launched it five months ago.
Fastmarkets proposes to amend the specifications of five of its steel products assessments and billet index originating from the Black Sea basin.
Fastmarkets launched a suite of CIF India aluminium scrap prices on Wednesday April 17.