The copper concentrate market was already tight, but the addition of major new smelting capacity this year – starting with the expansion of Freeport’s Gresik smelter in Indonesia — will likely mean maintenance breaks, capacity curtailments and potentially even closures while operating costs start to become untenable, Fastmarkets understands.

Major aluminium producers Alcoa, Rio Tinto and Century Aluminum have been accused of pocketing vast sums of money from the sale of aluminium products to the beverage industry in the US at inflated prices – and of potentially colluding to do so

Fastmarkets has amended the formula for its MB-AL-0231 — aluminum P1020A all-in price, delivered Midwest US, US cents/lb to include the London Metal Exchange official cash AM bid aluminium price effective immediately.

A US Congressman has alleged that aluminium producers including Alcoa, Century Aluminum and Rio Tinto have engaged in anti-competitive price collusion by not offering duty-free aluminium to buyers in the country’s beverage industry

The pace of demand for paper packaging in the US slowed in 2023 due to end-user destocking and prices for unbleached paper dropped by $40-50 compared to 2022

Global primary aluminium premiums were mixed during the week to Tuesday February 7, mostly affected by weak spot demand and low activity in parts of Asia and in Brazil, while some markets remained supported amid growing tightness

Ferrous scrap prices in main Mexican markets dropped sharply in the week to Tuesday February 6 – their third consecutive weekly decrease – amid weak sentiment, Fastmarkets understands

China has released the first round of rare earth mining and smelting and separation quotas for 2024 in a joint announcement by the country's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and the Ministry of Natural Resources on Tuesday February 6

After a consultation period which ended on Tuesday January 30, Fastmarkets has amended the chemical specifications and names of its MB-MNO-0001 manganese ore 44% Mn, cif Tianjin and MB-MNO-0005 manganese ore 44% Mn, fot Tianjin indices.

Phoebe O'Hara, battery raw material analyst at Fastmarkets, shares her analysis on electric vehicle (EV) demand in 2023 and some insights for 2024 and beyond