IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: 5 key stories from August 21

Here are five Fastmarkets MB stories you might have missed on Wednesday August 21 that are worth another look.

Swiss trading house Trafigura has begun blending copper concentrates in Malaysia, with small batches of output being offered to the market, Fastmarkets has learned.

Zinc premiums in the United States widened upward in the week to Tuesday August 20 despite dampened consumption from steel mills, while lead premiums dropped in India and Southeast Asia, unaffected by Nystar’s Port Pirie outage.

The offtake agreement that sees Glencore market the vanadium pentoxide (V2O5) produced by Largo Resources in Brazil will not be renewed when it expires on April 30, 2020, the latter said late on August 20.

Turkey’s steel end-product consumption totaled 12.3 million tonnes in January-June 2019, down by 32.3% compared with the same period 2018, according to the Turkish Steel Producers’ Association (TÇÜD).

Nickel premiums in China fell due to a widened arbitrage loss in the week to August 20, while nickel premiums in Europe and the United States held steady during the quiet summer period despite a tightening forward curve and London Metal Exchange price volatility.

What to read next
Freeport-McMoRan is in the process of ramping up its new copper smelter in Gresik, Indonesia, in a move that has seen the company switch away from being a marketer of concentrates as it becomes a fully integrated producer in the country, the company's chief executive officer Kathleen Quirk told Fastmarkets in an interview during the London Metal Exchange (LME) Week 2024.
Long-term demand trends in the copper sector may reduce cyclical price moves driven by short term factors impacting sentiment, Freeport-McMoRan's chief executive officer Kathleen Quirk told Fastmarkets in an interview during the London Metal Exchange (LME) Week 2024.
The publication of Fastmarkets’ price assessments of calcined alumina on Thursday October 3 were delayed due to a reporter error. Fastmarkets’ pricing database has been updated.
The publication of Fastmarkets’ India import aluminium scrap price assessments for Wednesday October 2 were delayed because of the Gandhi Jayanti public holiday in India. Fastmarkets’ pricing database has been updated.
Chilean copper producer Codelco has not yet concluded negotiations for its 2025 premium offer to European customers but remains optimistic that the recent stimulus in China will provide a further boost to demand, the company’s chairman told Fastmarkets.
The copper concentrates market was suffering from a dislocation that would probably lead to smelting cuts, the chairman of Chilean state-owned producer Codelco has said.