Trade tensions and critical minerals: 2025 outlook on disruptions, supply chain diversification, and local production strategies.

Renewed US-China trade tensions with Donald Trump’s second presidential term could bolster Southeast Asia’s aluminium scrap industry in 2025, particularly amid still-growing Chinese demand, sources told Fastmarkets by Tuesday, January 14.

European steel and aluminium producers have urged the European Commission to take immediate and effective action to tackle "scrap leakage" so that the European Union can meet its sustainable development aims and secure industrial competitiveness.

China issued its first national standard for black mass material used in lithium-ion battery recycling on the final day of 2024, with market participants expecting that it will provide clearer guidance on importing the material into the powerhouse country, Fastmarkets heard on Friday January 10.

Reducing reliance on China’s hugely successful critical minerals supply chain dominance was never going to be easy, as some western mining companies are finding out the hard way.

Markets will be required to pay a premium for green alumina soon because of producer Alunorte’s developments in terms of decarbonization and sustainability, Carlos Neves, vice president of operations at Hydro Bauxite and Alumina, said in an interview with Fastmarkets on Tuesday January 7.

The first amendment decreases the differentials’ publishing frequency to once monthly from once weekly. Both differentials will be next assessed on January 3, 2025, and on the first Friday of each month thereafter. The monthly frequency matches Fastmarkets’ low-carbon aluminium differentials in other regions and better reflects current market liquidity. No feedback was received during […]

China's tightened export controls on gallium and germanium formalize existing restrictions, heightening supply concerns amid ongoing geopolitical tensions.

Japan’s government has announced plans to make carbon trading, a system of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions quotas, mandatory for high-emission firms from the 2026 fiscal year, which could have far-reaching consequences for Asian steelmakers, sources told Fastmarkets in the week to Friday November 29.

There are five major challenges facing China’s green ferro-alloys premiums, multiple sources told Fastmarkets at the 40th International Ferro-alloys Conference held in Istanbul, Turkey, on November 10-12.