IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: 5 key stories from July 25

Here are five Fastmarkets MB stories you might have missed on Thursday July 25 that are worth another look.

The United States’ non-ferrous scrap export market was mixed through May, with year-to-date shipments of aluminium scrap rising while those of copper scrap fell versus the same period last year.

Even after US President Donald Trump reduced the Section 232 tariff applied to US imports of Turkish steel back to 25%, rebar shipments from that country are unlikely to make a splash in the US market, given declining domestic prices and ongoing geopolitical tensions, Fastmarkets understands.

Protests against the building of Southern Peru Copper Corp’s Tia Maria project are having a knock-on adverse effect on other copper miners in the region, which generates 9% of the world’s mined copper.

Eramet produced record half-year volumes of manganese ore and alloy in the first six months of 2019, the mining and metallurgical group said on Thursday July 25, adding that it was negatively affected by lower prices for manganese and nickel.

The London Metal Exchange has launched a consultation process on warehousing reforms that aims to attract higher stock levels, Matthew Chamberlain, the exchange’s chief executive officer, announced on July 25.

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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.
Roughly 40,000 tonnes per month of copper cathode that once flowed smoothly into the United Arab Emirates (UAE) through Jebel Ali had few options to reroute after the Strait of Hormuz officially closed on Monday March 2, with the only alternative entry points — Khor Fakkan and Fujairah — already straining under the weight of diverted cargo, market sources told Fastmarkets.
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