IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: 5 key stories from July 2

Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Thursday July 2 that are worth another look.

European importers of long steel and hot-rolled coil have claimed that this week’s definitive decision in the EU steel imports safeguard case review ignored the interests of independent buyers and focused protection only on steelmakers, market sources told Fastmarkets on Wednesday July 1.

Chilean copper miner Antofagasta has agreed to supply major Chinese smelters Tongling Nonferrous and Jiangxi Copper with copper concentrates in the first half of 2021, Fastmarkets understands.

An accident interrupted operations at one of the coking coal mines operated in Poland by Jastrzebska Spólka Weglowa (JSW), the company said on July 2.

Hebei Steel, China’s second-largest steel mill, has finalized its purchase price for July-delivery silico-manganese at 6,500 yuan ($920) per tonne, market participants told Fastmarkets on July 2.

China imported more than double the volume of cobalt metal in May compared with the same period last year due to arbitrage opportunities, according to market sources.

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Until now, aluminium has been hard to move, not hard to find. Global aluminium supply had remained technically intact, even as output was curtailed in parts of the Gulf, inventory buffers were drawn down or repositioned, and shipping through the Strait of Hormuz was severely disrupted.
Global aluminium producers face heightened uncertainty over power supplies, with oil and gas prices elevated by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, through which around 20% of global oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG) flows, sources told Fastmarkets.
Fastmarkets is extending the consultation period for the methodology of several of its black mass payables indicators and prices, and is also proposing changes to the names of CIF South Korea and EWX Europe black mass prices.
Rio Tinto Aluminium is expanding its footprint beyond its historic hydro-powered Canadian base, targeting Europe, Asia and Latin America as part of a deliberate diversification strategy, according to the unit’s chief executive officer.
Fastmarkets has corrected its copper concentrates treatment and refinement charge indices, which were published incorrectly on March 20 2026 due to a technical error.
Fastmarkets has corrected its copper concentrates treatment and refinement charge indices, which were published incorrectly on February 27 2026 due to a backend calculation error. Fastmarkets has also corrected the indices' rationale and all related inferred indices.