IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: 5 key stories from March 15

Here are five Fastmarkets MB stories you might have missed on Friday March 15 that are worth another look.

Import tariffs on steel products in the United States created under Section 232 are likely to remain in place at least until the end of 2019, the chief executive officer of Gerdau, Gustavo Werneck, said during an event at the New York Stock Exchange on Wednesday March 13.

The Singapore Exchange (SGX) has set its sights on the US marketplace as a growing source of liquidity for its iron ore derivatives contracts.

When the London Metal Exchange amended its policies related to its physical delivery network a few years ago, it overlooked one key thing. The issue centers on LME’s linked load-in/load-out (LILO) rule, which operates by linking the amount of metal a warehouse loads in to the amount it is obligated to load out for warehouses that have queues of over 50 days. What the LME did not think about was LILO in the context of a warehouse that did not have queues.

In China, domestic hot-rolled coil prices fell on Friday March 15 due to inactivity and declining futures following the announcement of cuts to the country’s value-added tax. Meanwhile, participants in the Asian country’s rebar market reacted differently to the impending reduction, resulting in a widening of domestic prices.

Chinese domestic battery-grade lithium carbonate and hydroxide prices edged down this week in a quiet market, while the seaborne lithium carbonate assessment dropped by 3.8% on material offered at lower levels from China and South America.

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