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.

What to read next
Navigating market volatility with data-driven strategies for resilient mining operations
The publication of several of Fastmarkets' copper concentrates indices was delayed on Friday February 27 because of a technical error. Fastmarkets' pricing database has been updated.
Discover how fear, deglobalization and AI are transforming the copper market. Insights from the Fast Forward podcast's interview with David Lilley of Drakewood Capital.
Fastmarkets has corrected its MB-BX-0016 Bauxite, cif China, price assessment, which was published incorrectly on Friday February 20.
Fastmarkets invited feedback from the industry on the pricing methodology for its non-ferrous materials and industrial minerals prices, via an open consultation process between January 6 and February 6. This consultation was done as part of our published annual methodology review process.
The Democratic Republic of Congo's (DRC) state-controlled Entreprise Générale du Cobalt (EGC) announced its first copper and cobalt shipments to Swiss traders Trafigura and Mercuria on Monday February 9, with Trafigura using the Lobito Corridor to transport commodities.