IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: 5 key stories from February 19

Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Wednesday February 19 that are worth another look.

Chinese wire rod producers are keeping export offers stable on expectations of improved demand in April, market sources told Fastmarkets, which kept prices flat in the past week amid sparse trading.

Primary aluminium stocks at the three main Japanese ports (MJP) of Osaka, Nagoya and Yokohama fell 2.8% month on month at the end of January 2020, according to data released by major Japanese trading house Marubeni Corp.

One of China’s largest copper smelters has locked in a major deal for supply at a time of reduced demand due to a virus-led logistics lockdown in the country.

The cobalt sulfate price in China has continued to rise because of spot tight availability while refineries that suspended operations during the Chinese New Year holiday (January 24-February 2) have gradually resumed operations.

Prices for tungsten concentrate and ammonium paratungstate (APT) in China will stay firm in the short term amid persistent supply tightness while the country’s producers gradually resume operations following the extended lunar new year break, market sources said on February 19.

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Century Aluminum is among those selected to start award negotiations for up to $500 million in Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act funding to build a new aluminium smelter, the company said on Monday March 25
Participants in the copper concentrates market are struggling to comprehend an “unstoppable” decline in treatment and refinement charges (TC/RCs), with every week bringing spot deals at fresh lows and rumors each “crazier” than the last, sources have told Fastmarkets
The US Department of Energy selected five base metals projects to receive more than $900 million in federal investment from its Industrial Demonstration Program (IDP), leading to a reduction of four million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions annually, according to a statement by the Department on Monday March 25
Aluminium producer and recycler Constellium announced on Tuesday March 12 that the company is moving to test hydrogen utilization at an industrial scale as a power source in its casthouses
Fastmarkets has corrected its MB-ALU-0002 alumina index, fob Australia and its MB-ALU-0010 alumina inferred index, fob Brazil, which were published incorrectly on Monday March 18.
The publication of Fastmarkets’ US base metals prices were published early during the week of March 11-15 following the daylight saving time change in the US on March 10.