IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: 5 key stories from December 5

Here are five Fastmarkets MB stories you might have missed on Thursday December 5 that are worth another look.

Chinese stainless steel prices in both the domestic and export markets fell over the past week amid bearish sentiment stemming from the high inventories held at a major mill in eastern China.

More of the world’s copper looks likely to be priced in China from next year, with the Shanghai International Energy Exchange (INE) set to launch a new contract tradable by international market participants.

Elysis, the Alcoa-Rio Tinto joint-venture, has produced its first batch of carbon-free aluminium, which will be shipped to co-investor Apple this month, Apple told Fastmarkets on December 5.

Glencore has cut its production guidance for cobalt in 2020 to 25,000-33,000 tonnes, down by about a third from 2019’s 41,000-45,000 tonnes, the Swiss miner-trader said this week.

The price of alumina in China fell to its lowest since May 2017 this week amid an abundance of material coming in from the seaborne market despite an already oversupplied domestic market.

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Copper market price speculation is driving the base metals narrative, head of research at UK-based services provider Sucden Financial Daria Efanova said during the company’s third-quarter metals webinar on Wednesday July 17.
Chinese mining giant CMOC reported a 178% year-on-year increase in cobalt metal production for the first six months of 2024, according to an announcement by the company on Friday July 12