IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: 5 key stories from October 21

Here are five Fastmarkets MB stories you might have missed on Monday October 21 that are worth another look.

Brazilian apparent steel consumption was down by 6.4% in September, compared with the corresponding month in 2018, with demand retreating for both domestic and imported materials, national industry association Instituto Aço Brasil said on Thursday October 17.

Estimated global primary aluminium production fell by 3.2% month on month in September 2019, according to figures published by the International Aluminium Institute (IAI) on October 21

Unionised workers at Escondida, the world’s largest copper mine, have threatened strike action, and have called on miners across Chile to ‘paralyze’ the mining industry, after a state of emergency was declared at the weekend.

The global nickel market remained in the deficit in the first eight months of this year, with apparent demand exceeding production by 77,100 tonnes, according to figures released by the World Bureau of Metal Statistics (WBMS) last week.

Softening demand and ample availability caused manganese ore suppliers to cut their offer prices on Friday October 18.

What to read next
The publication of Fastmarkets’ assessments of Shanghai bonded aluminium, zinc and nickel stocks for April 30 were delayed because of a reporter error. Fastmarkets’ pricing database has been updated. The data effective for April 30 was published on May 7 as a result. The following assessments were affected:Shanghai aluminium bonded stocksShanghai zinc bonded stocksShanghai nickel […]
Global physical copper cathodes premiums were mixed in the week to Tuesday April 15, with US market moving down, Europe rising and Asia holding largely steady.
How much Canadian aluminium is being diverted from the US to Europe, when will it arrive and what impact will it have on premiums? The market appears to be split, but that could all change at the end of June, sources told Fastmarkets in the week to Thursday April 17.
Tariffs are creating a short-term period of volatility, but are not shifting conviction on the long-term fundamentals of the copper market, the chief executive officer of Rio Tinto Copper has said
Producers of copper appear to be adopting the public mantra of “keep calm and carry on” while trade tensions escalate. But this belies an underlying mood of concern that not just they, but the wider industry, has assumed
How tariffs, economic uncertainty and innovation are shaping the future of US copper production