IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: 5 key stories from April 26

Here are five Fastmarkets MB stories you might have missed on Friday April 26 that are worth another look.

The United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) is doomed unless President Donald Trump’s administration removes Section 232 tariffs – and the threat of quotas – from steel and aluminium imported from the United States’ neighbors, two trade experts said.

Warrant traders are reporting an uptick in European zinc warrants available on the London Metal Exchange amid fresh inflows of material this month, while a strong backwardation in the metal’s nearby spreads has left participants questioning what is incentivizing buying.

Lead and zinc recycler Recylex reported sales revenue of €75.8 million ($84.76 million) in the first quarter of 2019, a fall of 20% year on year due to major maintenance shutdowns and falling prices for lead and zinc, the company said on Wednesday April 24.

Anglo American’s refined copper production increased by 4% in the first quarter of 2019 due to rising higher-grade ore output at its Los Bronces and El Soldado mines in central Chile.

If the United States places import tariffs on cars produced in Germany it could trigger an economic slowdown in Germany, corporate audit director of Czech steel distributor Ferona, Jan Moravec, said at Eurometal’s Regional Meeting in Central Europe held in Prague on April 25.

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Jeddah in Saudi Arabia and Port of Sohar in Oman are becoming tactical workarounds for base metal exports blocked by the Strait of Hormuz closure, with cargo transiting via land-bridge to other Gulf states, such as Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates – though capacity constraints and elevated logistics costs limit availability, sources with direct visibility of Gulf supply chains told Fastmarkets.
The Mexican aluminium market might be strongly affected by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, with supply constraints and consequently higher premiums, market participants told Fastmarkets on Tuesday March 10.
Lundin Mining and BHP published a preliminary economic assessment on February 16 for their Vicuña joint venture, projecting average annual copper production of 395,000 tonnes over the first 25 years of operation as Argentina’s copper concentrate pipeline continues to build. PSJ Cobre Mendocino separately confirmed on February 14 that its feasibility study was under way.
Chinese lead smelters turned more bearish on the procurement of raw materials in the week to Friday February 13, amid heightened price volatility in silver, which is often contained in lead ores as an important by-product and contributor to smelter profits, sources told Fastmarkets.
Roughly 40,000 tonnes per month of copper cathode that once flowed smoothly into the United Arab Emirates (UAE) through Jebel Ali had few options to reroute after the Strait of Hormuz officially closed on Monday March 2, with the only alternative entry points — Khor Fakkan and Fujairah — already straining under the weight of diverted cargo, market sources told Fastmarkets.
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