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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Renewed US-China trade tensions with Donald Trump’s second presidential term could bolster Southeast Asia’s aluminium scrap industry in 2025, particularly amid still-growing Chinese demand, sources told Fastmarkets by Tuesday, January 14.
European steel and aluminium producers have urged the European Commission to take immediate and effective action to tackle "scrap leakage" so that the European Union can meet its sustainable development aims and secure industrial competitiveness.
There has been a freefall in copper concentrates treatment and refining charges (TC/RCs) this year amid tighter supply in the market. In 2025, supply tightness is projected to keep copper concentrates TC/RCs low on average for the whole year, sources told Fastmarkets.
The publication of Fastmarkets’ Shanghai copper premiums on Monday December 23 were delayed because of a reporter error. Fastmarkets’ pricing database has been updated.
Fastmarkets proposes to amend the frequency of the publication of several US base metal price assessments to a monthly basis, including MB-PB-0006 lead 99.97% ingot premium, ddp Midwest US; MB-SN-0036 tin 99.85% premium, in-whs Baltimore; MB-SN-0011 tin 99.85% premium, ddp Midwest US; MB-NI-0240 nickel 4x4 cathode premium, delivered Midwest US and MB-NI-0241 nickel briquette premium, delivered Midwest US.
The news that President-elect Donald Trump is considering additional tariffs on goods from China as well as on all products from US trading partners Canada and Mexico has spurred alarm in the US aluminium market at a time that is usually known to be calm.