IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: 5 key stories from April 3

Here are five Fastmarkets MB stories you might have missed on Wednesday April 3 that are worth another look.

The United States’ non-ferrous scrap export market was mixed in January, with shipments of aluminium scrap rising while those of copper scrap fell slightly compared with the same month last year.

In base metals, the estimated arbitrage for shipping aluminium from warehouses in Asia to the United States narrowed in March following a large rise in US river barge prices and slightly softer aluminium premiums in the region. In copper, the Comex price rebounded during midweek trading on Wednesday April 3 with optimism of a resolution to the US-China trade conflict boosting the base metals complex.

Russian steelmaker Evraz has added 130mm billet to the product range of its West Siberian Iron & Steel Works (ZSMK) following the modernization of the latter’s continuous casting machine in March this year.

The European domestic price of mesh-quality wire rod remained flat week on week, with European import prices also steady amid concerns regarding tariff-quota monitoring, market participants told Fastmarkets on April 3.

The American Institute for International Steel has appealed its case seeking to tear down President Donald Trump’s Section 232 tariffs and quotas on imported steel.

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The most recent financial results published by base metals mining companies highlight just how inflation is affecting profit margins, with increasing wages, financing costs and input prices all hitting profits, sources told Fastmarkets in the week to Thursday March 28
Century Aluminum is among those selected to start award negotiations for up to $500 million in Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act funding to build a new aluminium smelter, the company said on Monday March 25
Participants in the copper concentrates market are struggling to comprehend an “unstoppable” decline in treatment and refinement charges (TC/RCs), with every week bringing spot deals at fresh lows and rumors each “crazier” than the last, sources have told Fastmarkets
The US Department of Energy selected five base metals projects to receive more than $900 million in federal investment from its Industrial Demonstration Program (IDP), leading to a reduction of four million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions annually, according to a statement by the Department on Monday March 25
Aluminium producer and recycler Constellium announced on Tuesday March 12 that the company is moving to test hydrogen utilization at an industrial scale as a power source in its casthouses
Fastmarkets has corrected its MB-ALU-0002 alumina index, fob Australia and its MB-ALU-0010 alumina inferred index, fob Brazil, which were published incorrectly on Monday March 18.