IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: 5 key stories from March 27

Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Friday March 27 that are worth another look.

European flat steel producers have reduced output, and some of them have stopped operating certain equipment, in their attempts to balance supply and demand after multiple automotive producers suspended their operations because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Zambian government will remove the 5% import duty on metal concentrates to ease the pressure on copper and cobalt producers during global lockdowns imposed to halt the spread of the Covid-19 virus and and sharp declines in commodity prices.

Hindustan Zinc, owner of some of the largest zinc mines and smelters in the world, is suspending most of its domestic operations in the northern Indian state of Rajasthan due to a nationwide lockdown.

Fastmarkets reviews the week’s developments in South African ores and alloys supply following the lockdown order from President Cyril Ramaphosa on Monday March 23 amid the spread of Covid-19.

The Chinese domestic spot battery-grade lithium hydroxide price fell by 3.7% on Thursday March 26 after nearly four months’ stability, while markets in the rest of the world were subdued due to the spread of the Covid-19 virus.

What to read next
Russian brands of metal produced after Saturday April 13 can no longer be delivered to the London Metal Exchange or CME Group following the imposition of new sanctions by the UK and the US
More copper smelters are likely to reduce capacity amid record-low spot treatment and refining charges (TCs/RCs), the chief executive of Chile-based copper miner Antofagasta Minerals said
Andy Farida, Fastmarkets base metals research analyst, looks at the effect of the US elections on US aluminium prices
A small deficit is emerging in the refined copper market, reversing consensual expectations a year-ago for a relatively balanced market in 2024, according to the chief executive of Chile-based miner Antofagasta Minerals
Antofagasta Minerals has secured two seats on the board of Peruvian miner Buenaventura and continues to focus on growing in copper in the Americas, the Chile-based miner’s CEO Iván Arriagada told Fastmarkets in a recent interview
Global copper market participants will descend upon the Chilean capital of Santiago for the annual CESCO Week industry gathering