IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: 5 key stories from June 20

Here are five Fastmarkets MB stories you might have missed on Thursday June 20 that are worth another look.

The London Metal Exchange has just finished its trial to calculate nickel prices using a volume-weighted average price method on the exchange’s electronic trading platform.

China will only permit 240,429 tonnes of copper scrap imports in the entire third quarter of 2019, sending panic across the local scrap industry, according to an official list of Chinese importers granted import quotas, seen by Fastmarkets on Thursday June 20.

Metals trader Trafigura has refuted claims from Iceberg Research, the analytics outfit that launched an explosive campaign against Noble Group, that it has overvalued “hundreds of millions [of dollars] in debt securities issued by an associate.”

United States-based iron ore producer Cleveland-Cliffs is prepared to export part of its iron ore output in the event that more furnaces are shut down in the country, its chairman and chief executive officer Lourenço Gonçalves said on Wednesday. 
 
Pilbara Minerals will restrict its lithium production in June and July due to reduced demand in the second quarter of 2019 caused by delays in the commissioning of chemical conversion capacity by the company’s key offtake partners in China.

What to read next
Aluminium market participants in the US anticipate stable business supported by continued tariffs and potential interest rate cuts, while industry sources in Europe and Latin America are watchful of potential new trade restrictions.
Chinese authorities officially announced that they will be expanding the range of permitted recycled copper and aluminium imports from mid-November, but market participants Fastmarkets spoke to at a conference this week are not convinced that this will mean more material will be imported into the country in the short run.
Li-Cycle announced on Thursday October 31 that it had entered an agreement with Glencore to sell 100% of the premium nickel-cobalt mixed hydroxide precipitate (MHP) production at its stalled hub in Rochester, New York – a step that could support Li-Cycle’s efforts to finalize a loan with the US Department of Energy (DOE).
Unprecedented supply tightness and record low treatment and refining charges (TC/RCs) are likely to challenge copper smelters in 2025 – even more than in 2024, sources told Fastmarkets.
The publication of Fastmarkets’ MB-PB-0086 lead 99.99% ingot premium, cif India and MB-PB-0087 lead 99.97% ingot premium, cif India assessments for Tuesday November 5 were delayed due to a reporter error.
Quarterly figures released by global miner Glencore on Wednesday October 30 showed that zinc concentrate output was dropping in a tight market while overall nickel output was down despite an increase in briquettes.