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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The European Union’s Industrial Accelerator Act (IAA), published on Wednesday March 4, was a new step in the bloc’s efforts to decarbonize heavy industry and to support strategic supply chains in sectors such as steel, cement and aluminium.
Fastmarkets will increase the frequency of its two existing CIF China port copper scrap prices and add three new grades on Monday March 16.
Jeddah in Saudi Arabia and Port of Sohar in Oman are becoming tactical workarounds for base metal exports blocked by the Strait of Hormuz closure, with cargo transiting via land-bridge to other Gulf states, such as Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates – though capacity constraints and elevated logistics costs limit availability, sources with direct visibility of Gulf supply chains told Fastmarkets.
The Mexican aluminium market might be strongly affected by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, with supply constraints and consequently higher premiums, market participants told Fastmarkets on Tuesday March 10.
Lundin Mining and BHP published a preliminary economic assessment on February 16 for their Vicuña joint venture, projecting average annual copper production of 395,000 tonnes over the first 25 years of operation as Argentina’s copper concentrate pipeline continues to build. PSJ Cobre Mendocino separately confirmed on February 14 that its feasibility study was under way.
Chinese lead smelters turned more bearish on the procurement of raw materials in the week to Friday February 13, amid heightened price volatility in silver, which is often contained in lead ores as an important by-product and contributor to smelter profits, sources told Fastmarkets.