IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: 5 key stories from April 28

Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Tuesday April 28 that are worth another look.

Swedish special steel producer Ovako has used hydrogen to heat steel before rolling for the first time, the company announced on April 28.

Over the past month, Chinese importers have been keen to buy overseas copper scrap at more competitive prices, with scrap production shrunk by the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, as well as disruptions in the supply of substitute copper products from Africa.

Rwanda has allowed some mines and exporters in the country to resume operations starting from April 28, sources told Fastmarkets.

The Indian silico-manganese export price and European domestic high-carbon ferro-manganese price rose in the past week amid tight alloy availability and hefty increases in the cost of ore.

China’s Taiyuan Iron & Steel (Tisco) has raised its ferro-chrome tender price for May delivery due to higher chrome ore prices caused by supply disruptions amid South Africa’s Covid-19 lockdown.

What to read next
Fastmarkets consulted the market on the proposed change between April 3 and May 11, 2026. Some feedback was received regarding the publication times of nickel pig iron and laterite ore prices. Fastmarkets will adjust the initially proposed publication times accordingly and proceed with the changes. This decision was first proposed in a methodology note published […]
The price assessments were not affected by the incorrect publication and the correct prices are showing on Dashboard. The price was published at 12.33pm London time instead of the scheduled time of 3-4pm. The following prices were published early:MB-CU-0405 Copper grade A cathode premium, in-whs Shanghai, $ per tonneMB-CU-0383 Copper grade A cathode ER premium, bonded in-whs […]
On Wednesday May 6, a critical minerals panel at Commodities Trading Week in London said metals markets are shifting from an energy transition-led narrative toward security of supply, leaving Europe particularly exposed because of its reliance on imports.
The Canadian government announced on Tuesday May 4 a new financing program worth C$1.5 billion ($1.1 billion) to help mitigate the effect of US metals tariffs and support several of Canada’s tariffed industries.
Fastmarkets wishes to clarify that it accepts data submissions in outright price and as a differential to the Mineral Benchmark Price (HPM)-plus-premium for its Indonesian domestic trade nickel ore price assessments. Fastmarkets is also seeking market feedback on recent changes to the Indonesian government’s HPM specifications.
Own-sourced copper output from Glencore’s African copper assets — KCC and Mutanda in the Democratic Republic of Congo — surged by 68% year on year to 67,900 tonnes over the same period, while Glencore’s cobalt production fell by 39% year on year amid the DRC’s export quota system.