IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: 5 key stories from April 22

Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Wednesday April 22 that are worth another look.

The Covid-19 pandemic could nudge Chinese steelmakers toward using more electric-arc furnaces (EAF) to produce steel, market sources say.

Aluminium stocks on the London Metal Exchange continue to rise and there is now a lack of warehouse space in key Asia locations in a situation that mirrors issues during the 2008 financial crash, sources told Fastmarkets.

More than 100,000 lots of Comex copper futures traded on Tuesday April 21, pushing the May-July spread into a super contango – with prices for future delivery well above spot levels.

The European charge and high carbon ferro-chrome benchmark has jumped by 13 cents, or 12.9%, to $1.14 per lb for the second quarter of 2020.

Five suspects were arrested and 250 tonnes of antimony ingot seized in the latest crackdown on antimony smuggling led by China’s Changsha Customs, the country’s General Administration of Customs said on its website on April 17.

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Fastmarkets is extending the consultation period for the methodology of several of its black mass payables indicators and prices, and is also proposing changes to the names of CIF South Korea and EWX Europe black mass prices.
Rio Tinto Aluminium is expanding its footprint beyond its historic hydro-powered Canadian base, targeting Europe, Asia and Latin America as part of a deliberate diversification strategy, according to the unit’s chief executive officer.
Fastmarkets has corrected its copper concentrates treatment and refinement charge indices, which were published incorrectly on March 20 2026 due to a technical error.
Fastmarkets has corrected its copper concentrates treatment and refinement charge indices, which were published incorrectly on February 27 2026 due to a backend calculation error. Fastmarkets has also corrected the indices' rationale and all related inferred indices.