IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: 5 key stories from May 17

Here are five Fastmarkets MB stories you might have missed on Friday May 17 that are worth another look.

The United States will give a 180-day window to its auto trading partners to reduce imports of automobiles and certain automobile parts, essentially delaying potential Section 232 tariffs on these products, the White House said on Friday May 17. On the same day, US President Donald Trump announced an agreement had been reached to remove Section 232 tariffs from Canada and Mexico

Copper concentrate treatment and refining charges edged lower in the second week of May, with traders snapping up tender tonnages at low numbers while smelters hesitated on spot purchases.

The European Commission has initiated a review of its steel import safeguard measures, it said in a notice published in the Official Journal of the European Union on May 17.

Rumors that around 1,000 tonnes of bismuth held in Fanya warehouses might be auctioned dampened buying interest in China, causing the domestic Chinese bismuth price to plunge by 4% week on week on Friday.

The Chinese import price for bauxite will continue to rise gradually over the next 5-10 years on stronger domestic demand, Metro Mining chief executive officer Simon Finnis told Fastmarkets at the Alumina & Bauxite Conference held in Zhengzhou on May 16-17.

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Jeddah in Saudi Arabia and Port of Sohar in Oman are becoming tactical workarounds for base metal exports blocked by the Strait of Hormuz closure, with cargo transiting via land-bridge to other Gulf states, such as Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates – though capacity constraints and elevated logistics costs limit availability, sources with direct visibility of Gulf supply chains told Fastmarkets.
The Mexican aluminium market might be strongly affected by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, with supply constraints and consequently higher premiums, market participants told Fastmarkets on Tuesday March 10.
Lundin Mining and BHP published a preliminary economic assessment on February 16 for their Vicuña joint venture, projecting average annual copper production of 395,000 tonnes over the first 25 years of operation as Argentina’s copper concentrate pipeline continues to build. PSJ Cobre Mendocino separately confirmed on February 14 that its feasibility study was under way.
Chinese lead smelters turned more bearish on the procurement of raw materials in the week to Friday February 13, amid heightened price volatility in silver, which is often contained in lead ores as an important by-product and contributor to smelter profits, sources told Fastmarkets.
Roughly 40,000 tonnes per month of copper cathode that once flowed smoothly into the United Arab Emirates (UAE) through Jebel Ali had few options to reroute after the Strait of Hormuz officially closed on Monday March 2, with the only alternative entry points — Khor Fakkan and Fujairah — already straining under the weight of diverted cargo, market sources told Fastmarkets.
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