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

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

The United States’ anti-dumping duties on imports of oil country tubular goods (OCTG) from Ukraine will remain in place, the Commerce Department said in the final result of its first five-year sunset review of the product.

Rio Tinto is partnering on a project to develop a zero-emission bus made of aluminium, which will be tested in the Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean region of Quebec, Canada, next year.

Concerns about Brazilian iron ore supply resurfaced among market participants this past week due to expectations that exports of the product would be impeded by Covid-19-related lockdowns in the South American country and the rising number of infections.

Chile saw a 4.5% year-on-year increase in copper production during March despite some difficulties faced by the industry due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Chilean copper commission Cochilco said on Thursday May 7.

Prices in Southeast Asia’s steel billet market climbed over the past week due to surging demand from Chinese importers, sources told Fastmarkets.

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Copper in concentrate production from Ivanhoe Mines' Kamoa-Kakula complex in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) fell to 61,906 tonnes in the first quarter, down by 54% from 133,120 tonnes a year earlier, with the company now evaluating local third-party concentrate purchases to advance the ramp-up of its on-site smelter, according to an April 13 production release as the market focused its attention on the impact of global sulfuric acid shortages during CESCO Week in Chile from April 13-17.
China's planned sulfuric acid export ban from May 1, historic lows for copper concentrates treatment and refining charges (TC/RCs) and a fragmenting 2026 benchmark system dominated CESCO Week 2026 in Santiago from April 13-17.
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.