IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: 5 key stories from June 26

Here are five Fastmarkets MB stories you might have missed on Wednesday June 26 that are worth another look.

The Lusaka High Court in Zambia ruled on Wednesday June 26 that the appointed liquidator of Vedanta-owned Konkola Copper Mines (KCM) could not dispose of the assets, which include the country’s largest copper smelter Nchanga, according to a court document seen by Fastmarkets.

Aluminium alloy producers in the United Kingdom have been forced to close smelters or partially cease production as a confluence of weakening automotive sector demand for material, sluggish regional gross domestic product growth and tariff uncertainty continues to push LM24 ingot prices lower.

10-week decline in low-grade manganese ore prices stalled on June 21 and Chinese port ore prices have been rebounding dramatically from 2019 lows reached in early June.

Continued tin flows onto the London Metal Exchange, which have risen by 50% this month, exerted downward pressure on global tin premiums during the week ended June 25.

In steel, steelmakers in Europe said at European steel association Eurofer’s European Steel Day in Brussels on June 26 that the European Commission must impose a carbon-emissions cost on imported steel similar to the carbon cost it currently imposes on the region’s domestic steelmakers. And in the United States, the Commerce Department has eliminated anti-dumping duties against certain hot-rolled coil imports from Turkey.

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The proposal would align the index more closely with physically traded volumes in the region, and enable it to adjust to evolving market conditions. This proposal follows an observed widening of the spread between trader and smelter purchase components of the index and is aligned with a majority of market feedback. Additionally, Fastmarkets seeks feedback […]
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.