IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: 5 key stories from September 23

Here are five Fastmarkets MB stories from Monday September 23 that are worth another look.

China has announced a fourth round of copper scrap import quotas to allow an extra 31,658 tonnes of copper scrap into the country by the end of 2019, the environmental ministry said on September 23.

Faced with high and increasing emissions costs during a period of challenging market conditions, the steel industry is driving a change toward carbon neutral and fossil-fuel-free steel production in a bid to evolve and stay afloat.

The market for low carbon ferro-chrome (0.10% C) in Europe rose on Friday September 20, indicating that prices had bottomed-out at a historic low level, with demand remaining subdued.

The federal court in Belém, Brazil, has lifted one of the embargoes on Alunorte’s new bauxite residue deposit area, producer Norsk Hydro announced on September 20.

Chinese ferro-silicon smelters held their offer prices, which earlier this month hit a 27-month low, last week in expectation of renewed demand from consumers in the steel sector ahead of a national holiday next week, while in Europe steelmakers seemed in no rush to replenish their ferro-alloys feedstocks.

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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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