IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: 5 key stories from February 18

Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Tuesday February 18 that are worth another look.

Export prices for Chinese cold-rolled coil and hot-dipped galvanized coil fell during the week to February 18 amid a slowdown in domestic trading while downstream sectors gradually return to work.

Increasing aluminium inventories pressured China’s aluminium price amid, generally, uninterrupted production from aluminium smelters and declining downstream demand as a result of the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) outbreak, several sources told Fastmarkets on Monday February 17.

China’s Tsingshan Group and Taiyuan Iron and Steel have held their ferro-chrome tender prices flat for February delivery, despite Chinese spot alloy prices surging in recent weeks due to raw material and transport disruptions caused by the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV).

Indonesia will reduce its nickel ore production by 52% year on year to 25 million wet metric tonnes in 2020, according to the Indonesian Nickel Mining Association, while introducing four new domestic smelters to produce ferro-nickel and nickel pig iron ahead of the domestic mineral ore export ban this year.

Glencore will prioritize the production ramp-up of its Katanga mining asset in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in 2020, the trader-miner said on February 18 during its full-year results announcement.