Trade groups representing different segments of the aluminium industry appealed to the incoming United States presidential administration to take contrary actions on the Section 232 aluminium tariffs.

Buyers have started withdrawing from the spot market in key importer Vietnam in the week to Friday January 15 due to growing sentiment of a price downtrend, market sources told Fastmarkets.

The London Metal Exchange base metals failed to hold on to the excitement from US President-elect Joe Biden’s speech overnight, with zinc and nickel the hardest hit and copper once again falling below $8,000 per tonne on Friday January 15 and most of complex trading in negative territory.

Hot-rolled coil prices in the United States have reached their highest level in at least 60 years, Fastmarkets has learned.

Mills in Bangladesh purchased three bulk cargoes in the last week, with prices easing gently, sources told Fastmarkets on Thursday January 14.

After strong gains on the London Metal Exchange on Tuesday January 12, when prices closed up with gains averaging 1.8%, prices were for the most part little changed this morning, with nickel the main mover.

After further weakness in the base metals on Monday January 11, that saw the complex close down by an average of 1.5%, prices were up across the board on the London Metal Exchange this morning but those on the Shanghai Futures Exchange base metals prices were down across the board while they followed yesterday’s performance on the LME.

Mining and metals producer Assmang has declared force majeure on its medium-carbon ferro-manganese production in South Africa, a source told Fastmarkets this week.

Manufacturers in the United States have been materially injured by imports of pre-stressed concrete (PC) steel wire strand from Argentina, Colombia, Egypt, the Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, Taiwan, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the US International Trade Commission (ITC) has determined.

China's looming presence as a new buyer in the Asian seaborne scrap market has sparked concerns of tight supply in the region, including in Taiwan, sources told Fastmarkets this week.