The weaponization of critical minerals supplies due to trade tensions could lead to the kind of emergency that would provide the push that the US needs to develop its metals and mining sector, the chief executive officer of Alaska Energy Metals has said.

After a consultation period, Fastmarkets is increasing the publication frequency of two copper concentrates index coefficients — MB-CU-0422 copper concentrates counterparty spread and MB-CU-0423 copper concentrates Co-VIU — from monthly to fortnightly.

Access a snippet of the Random Lengths weekly Lumber Market Report, exploring how prices have stabilized in 2025.

Read Fastmarkets' carbon market coverage on why US President Trump's executive order to exit the Paris Agreement has sparked uncertainty over CORSIA credit supply and demand.

President Donald Trump’s long-promised series of day-one executive orders imply a seismic shift in the approach of the United States to the environment, critical minerals and energy.

After years of insufficient domestic supply that brought prices to record highs, China’s fluorspar supply tightness will ease in 2025 due to several newly developed mining sites as well as rising imports from Africa, sources told Fastmarkets, adding that demand from batteries, especially the energy storage sector (ESS), will continue to rise.

Fastmarkets will not publish any price assessments for US animal fats and oils; animal proteins; biomass-based diesel; hide and leather; grain and feed ingredients; organic/non-GMO; and vegetable oils on Monday January 20 due to the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday in the US and the consequent closure for the day of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange.

Participants in the market for copper scrap and blister in China, the world’s largest importer of copper raw materials, expect there to be fiercer competition for material in 2025, industry sources told Fastmarkets in the week to Thursday January 9.

The biggest threat to keeping carbon emissions low in the steel industry is imports flowing in from regions where there is a lack of focus on emissions reduction, Kevin Dempsey, president and chief executive officer of the American Iron and Steel Institute, said at Fastmarkets’ second annual Circular Steel Summit on Wednesday January 15 in Houston, Texas.

How Trump’s 2025 trade tactics could shape the future of the US steel industry, with expert insights and predictions.