IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: 5 key stories from March 12

Here are five Fastmarkets MB stories you might have missed on Tuesday March 12 that are worth another look.

The development of the futures market in China has been a “double-edged sword” for the domestic ferro-silicon industry, leading to more flexibility for market participants and wilder price swings than prior to its existence, one speaker said at Fastmarkets’ Asian Ferro-alloys Conference in Hong Kong this week.

The London Metal Exchange is prepared for whatever outcome arises from the planned departure of the UK from the European Union, including a so-called “hard” Brexit, its chief executive officer said on Tuesday March 12.

Consolidation among copper-consuming companies is likely to continue and is being driven by an ever more competitive market for copper products, panelists at Fastmarkets’ International Copper conference in Amsterdam said on March 12.

Iron ore miner Vale has temporarily suspended port activities at its Guaíba Island Terminal in the Brazilian state of Rio de Janeiro on orders of the Mangaratiba city government, it said on Monday March 11.

In the scrap sector, the United States’ aluminium and copper scrap export volumes to China (including Hong Kong) tumbled in 2018, hitting 14-year and 18-year lows respectively although overall exports of non-ferrous scrap rose year on year. Meanwhile, improved broad-based demand from global steelmakers significantly boosted US ferrous scrap exports last year, successfully offsetting lower annual shipments to Turkey.

What to read next
The most recent financial results published by base metals mining companies highlight just how inflation is affecting profit margins, with increasing wages, financing costs and input prices all hitting profits, sources told Fastmarkets in the week to Thursday March 28
Century Aluminum is among those selected to start award negotiations for up to $500 million in Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act funding to build a new aluminium smelter, the company said on Monday March 25
Participants in the copper concentrates market are struggling to comprehend an “unstoppable” decline in treatment and refinement charges (TC/RCs), with every week bringing spot deals at fresh lows and rumors each “crazier” than the last, sources have told Fastmarkets
The US Department of Energy selected five base metals projects to receive more than $900 million in federal investment from its Industrial Demonstration Program (IDP), leading to a reduction of four million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions annually, according to a statement by the Department on Monday March 25
Aluminium producer and recycler Constellium announced on Tuesday March 12 that the company is moving to test hydrogen utilization at an industrial scale as a power source in its casthouses
Fastmarkets has corrected its MB-ALU-0002 alumina index, fob Australia and its MB-ALU-0010 alumina inferred index, fob Brazil, which were published incorrectly on Monday March 18.