IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: 5 key stories from June 8

Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Monday June 8 that are worth another look.

Workers at Italian flat steel producer ArcelorMittal Italia will go on strike on Tuesday June 9 to protest job cuts, presented as part of new industrial plan, Italian trade unions Fim, Fiom and Uilm said on June 6.

The main workers’ union representing employees of Cobre Panamá, Utramipa, is pressuring Panamanian authorities to reopen the largest copper mine in Central America as soon as possible due to the suspension of labor contracts in late April, Fastmarkets heard.

The market for high-carbon ferro-chrome in Europe ticked up in the week to Friday June 5 with some producers holding out for higher prices in the face of weak demand.

Seaborne prices for both low and high-grade manganese ore in China tumbled to seven-week lows in the week to June 5 after some miners reduced offer prices for July-delivery cargoes significantly amid a bearish sentiment prevailing in the domestic market, sources said.

Spot cobalt hydroxide payables came off their recent highs during the second half of last week with consumers having completed the bulk of their recent restocking drive.

What to read next
Asian spot copper premiums rose in the week ended Tuesday July 23, with premiums imported into China increasing on improved arbitrage terms. In the US market, supply failed to keep up with strong demand while in Europe participants were mostly off for the summer holidays
In the fourth episode of Fastmarkets critical minerals podcast Fast Forward, Freeport-McMoRan CEO and president Kathleen Quirk tells host Andrea Hotter why there's a preference to build and not build new supplies of copper right now
Demand for primary aluminium from the green transition remains a “brighter spot” for consumption amid an otherwise challenging downstream demand outlook, Eivind Kallevik, Norsk Hydro’s chief executive officer and president, told Fastmarkets in an exclusive interview on Tuesday July 23
Acquisition Company Limited (ACG) has agreed to buy the Gediktepe mine in Turkey — the company’s first deal as it works to build a sizeable mid-tier copper producer, its chairman and chief executive officer told Fastmarkets.
Copper market price speculation is driving the base metals narrative, head of research at UK-based services provider Sucden Financial Daria Efanova said during the company’s third-quarter metals webinar on Wednesday July 17.
Chinese mining giant CMOC reported a 178% year-on-year increase in cobalt metal production for the first six months of 2024, according to an announcement by the company on Friday July 12