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

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

Fastmarkets looks at the key takeaways from the seventh Fastmarkets Asian Nickel conference in Jakarta, Indonesia, on September 11-12, from who will fill the Asian supply gap from 2020 to emerging demand for nickel from the electric vehicle battery sector.

Import prices for steel slab in Southeast Asia and East Asia continued to decline over the past week because of weakness in the downstream flat steel markets caused by sluggish demand and lower prices, market sources said.

The European ferro-vanadium market continued its downtrend last week amid thin spot buying and prevailing bearish sentiment.

Rising oil prices driven by shutdowns in Saudi Arabia have had a negative effect on outright copper prices, analysts told Fastmarkets on Tuesday September 17.

Low-grade manganese ore cif prices fell over the past week, with some buyers holding back from purchasing in the hope of lower prices.

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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.
Rio Tinto Aluminium is expanding its footprint beyond its historic hydro-powered Canadian base, targeting Europe, Asia and Latin America as part of a deliberate diversification strategy, according to the unit’s chief executive officer.
Fastmarkets has corrected its copper concentrates treatment and refinement charge indices, which were published incorrectly on March 20 2026 due to a technical error.