Work is under way in Fredrikstad, Norway, to build a plant that will be key to electric vehicle (EV) transportation in Europe.

Global scrap prices in the key markets diverged in the week to Friday June 18, with those in Asia moving upward, while Turkish scrap prices fell amid slow buying driven by uncertainty over finished steel sales.

Rebounds were under way in the base metals complex in London this morning, Friday June 18, while in Shanghai the base metals mostly reflected the weakness seen on the London Metal Exchange on Thursday.

The steel mills in Bangladesh have picked up a raft of containerized scrap cargoes at higher prices over the past week, preferring boxes over bulk cargoes, market participants told Fastmarkets on Thursday June 17.

The gap between lithium spot and contract prices has narrowed significantly in 2021 as a result of tight availability along the lithium supply chain and price evolution, market sources said.

Fastmarkets is inviting feedback from the industry on its pricing methodology for its Northern Europe and United States hot-rolled coil indices as part of its annual methodology review process in compliance with the International Organization of Securities Commissions (Iosco) principles for price reporting agencies.

Growing steel demand presents an opportunity for a scrap pricing supercycle in the next decade, writes Bill Beck, reporting on the Fastmarkets virtual Scrap, DRI, and Mini-Mills conference in mid-April.

Metals continue to languish in high ground during morning trading on Monday June 14, with tin being the exception as it continues to push higher on strong fundamentals due to supply disruptions.

Many aluminium and steel market participants are increasingly optimistic that automotive production will bounce back in the second half of the year and hopeful that the semiconductor chip shortage will be resolved by 2022.

Buyers of bulk cargoes of scrap imports in the key Southeast Asian market of Vietnam were largely on the sidelines during the week to Friday June 11, due to falling domestic scrap and steel prices in the country, sources told Fastmarkets.