IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: 5 key stories from August 14

Here are five Fastmarkets MB stories you might have missed on Wednesday August 14 that are worth another look.

A series of press reports relating to the changes in Indonesia’s nickel ore export ban policy amid volatile nickel prices on the London Metal Exchange has left market participants baffled, Fastmarkets understands.

China announced a third round of copper scrap import quotas on August 14, allowing a select list of importers to bring an additional 87,680 tonnes of copper scrap into the country by the end of 2019, according to the Bureau of International Recycling.

The suspension of iron ore exports from SL Mining’s operations at Marampa in Sierra Leone left stockpiles of more than 500,000 tonnes of concentrates at the mine in the Port Loko district, according to the company.

Trading volumes on the London Metal Exchange declined by 6% in the first half of 2019, parent company Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing said in its own half-year results announcement.

The conspicuous absence of Turkish mills from the East Coast ferrous scrap export market has started to take its toll, with Boston docks lowering prices effective from Tuesday August 13 and headwinds in global rebar prices likely to drag scrap prices lower.

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The proposal would align the index more closely with physically traded volumes in the region, and enable it to adjust to evolving market conditions. This proposal follows an observed widening of the spread between trader and smelter purchase components of the index and is aligned with a majority of market feedback. Additionally, Fastmarkets seeks feedback […]
Until now, aluminium has been hard to move, not hard to find. Global aluminium supply had remained technically intact, even as output was curtailed in parts of the Gulf, inventory buffers were drawn down or repositioned, and shipping through the Strait of Hormuz was severely disrupted.
Global aluminium producers face heightened uncertainty over power supplies, with oil and gas prices elevated by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, through which around 20% of global oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG) flows, sources told Fastmarkets.
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.