IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: 5 key stories from January 17

Here are five Fastmarkets MB stories you might have missed on Friday January 17 that are worth another look.

Import prices of flat-rolled steel in South America made no clear trend for the past week while negotiations between sellers and buyers for March shipments intensified and put some markets under pressure ahead of the Chinese New Year break (January 24-30).

Aluminium billet premiums in Brazil and Japan ticked down on January 17 due to weak demand, while premiums in Europe and the United States were steady on unchanged fundamentals.

Fastmarkets’ copper concentrates treatment and refining charges (TC/RCs) continued to increase this week, with smelters and traders now largely squared for the first quarter.

All battery-grade lithium compound prices were steady week on week on Thursday January 16, with market activity thinning in Asia ahead of the Chinese New Year holidays while renewed demand supported prices in Europe and the United States.

Glencore plans to restructure its Rustenburg ferro-chrome smelter in South Africa due to deteriorating conditions in the ferro-chrome market and high power costs, the trader-miner announced on January 17.

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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.
The publication of Fastmarkets’ US base metals prices were published early during the week of March 11-15 following the daylight saving time change in the US on March 10.