IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: 5 key stories from July 7

Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Tuesday July 7 that are worth another look.

Protests on July 7 halted road freight transportation in South Africa.

Steel plate prices in the United States weakened after the segment was hit by persistently slow end markets, and some mills were willing to capitulate in deal-making to book tonnage in the final days of the second quarter.

China has issued its ninth round of scrap metal import quotas for 2020, approving considerably larger volumes than in previous rounds at a time of persisting uncertainty surrounding the country’s move to rename certain non-ferrous scrap metal as renewable materials.

First Quantum Minerals is to resume production at its Cobre Panama copper project after Panama’s government lifted its Covid-19 suspension of operations at the site.

Demand for ammonium paratungstate (APT) in Europe and the United States is still struggling to recover from the effects of Covid-19 but prices might be approaching a floor, market sources told Fastmarkets.

What to read next
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.