IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: 5 key stories from July 30

Here are five Fastmarkets MB stories you might have missed on Tuesday July 30 that are worth another look.

Charge chrome prices have held at a 25-month low throughout July, highlighting the challenges South African producers are facing with rising production costs.

A slump in global automotive sales in the first half of the year continues to put pressure on tungsten prices, with ammonium paratungstate and ferro-tungsten prices in Europe now falling to their lowest levels since 2017.

Intense buying from Chinese speculators and foreign traders over the past two weeks is unlikely to cause China’s cobalt metal market to slip into a significant supply deficit in the near term, market participants told Fastmarkets.

The accelerated ramp-up of the new Cobre Panama copper mine in the central American country has brought the start of its commercial production forward by several months to before the end of the third quarter, according to owner First Quantum Minerals.

Seaborne iron ore prices rose on Tuesday July 30 on news that production restrictions on steelmakers in northern China over August are likely to be relaxed.

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The price assessments were not affected by the incorrect publication and the correct prices are showing on Dashboard. The price was published at 12.33pm London time instead of the scheduled time of 3-4pm. The following prices were published early:MB-CU-0405 Copper grade A cathode premium, in-whs Shanghai, $ per tonneMB-CU-0383 Copper grade A cathode ER premium, bonded in-whs […]
On Wednesday May 6, a critical minerals panel at Commodities Trading Week in London said metals markets are shifting from an energy transition-led narrative toward security of supply, leaving Europe particularly exposed because of its reliance on imports.
The Canadian government announced on Tuesday May 4 a new financing program worth C$1.5 billion ($1.1 billion) to help mitigate the effect of US metals tariffs and support several of Canada’s tariffed industries.
Fastmarkets wishes to clarify that it accepts data submissions in outright price and as a differential to the Mineral Benchmark Price (HPM)-plus-premium for its Indonesian domestic trade nickel ore price assessments. Fastmarkets is also seeking market feedback on recent changes to the Indonesian government’s HPM specifications.
Own-sourced copper output from Glencore’s African copper assets — KCC and Mutanda in the Democratic Republic of Congo — surged by 68% year on year to 67,900 tonnes over the same period, while Glencore’s cobalt production fell by 39% year on year amid the DRC’s export quota system.
Copper’s long-term outlook is constrained by the industry’s limited ability to bring new supply online fast enough to meet rising demand, with permitting delays, higher capital costs and policy risks slowing project development, industry executives said at the FT Commodities Global Summit on Wednesday April 22.