IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: 5 key stories from January 22

Here are five Fastmarkets MB stories you might have missed on Wednesday January 22 that are worth another look.

China’s export plate prices gained last week as mills raised their offers amid a stronger US dollar, but the market has been quiet this week ahead of the upcoming Lunar New Year holiday.

European aluminium premiums edged up this week despite the backwardation seen in nearby London Metal Exchange spreads, while rates in the United States declined to a near 23-month low amid quiet spot conditions.

Copper premiums were largely flat ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday in the main consumer territory of China. But premiums did make some small gains in Shanghai and a barrage of stocks begun to hit London Metal Exchange warehouses on Tuesday January 21.

South32 sold an indirect stake in fellow manganese producer United Manganese of Kalahari (UMK) for $93 million during the three months to December 31, 2019, both companies have confirmed.

High-carbon ferro-chrome spot import prices in Japan and South Korea largely shrugged off higher offers resulting from fresh strength in the domestic Indian ferro-chrome market.

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Africa’s first transcontinental rail network, known as the Lobito Corridor, which aims to eventually connect almost the entire regional copper-cobalt belt with additional links across sub-Saharan Africa, is on track to break ground early in 2026, a senior official at the US Department of State told Fastmarkets.
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The European steel and aluminium scrap industries urged the European Commission on Wednesday January 15 against taking action to curb scrap exports after domestic industry metals producers backed measures to do just that.
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.