IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: 5 key stories from September 9

Here are five Fastmarkets MB stories you might have missed on Monday September 9 that are worth another look.

European authorities have approved an adjustment to the safeguard quota system, lowering the annual quota increase amount to 3%, as part of a review of the existing safeguard mechanism on September 4, market sources told Fastmarkets on Friday September 6.

Spot copper concentrates treatment and refining charges (TC/RCs) edged up in the first week of September with Chinese smelters adhering to the pricing floor and traders bidding less aggressively due to a cautious fourth-quarter outlook.

Strong gains in nickel prices since the start of the month and the expectation that this strength will persist are likely to slow the pace of nickel-rich battery adoption in the electric vehicle (EV) market in the near term, market participants told Fastmarkets.

European aluminium scrap prices universally dipped on September 6 with the effects of China’s moratorium on non-ferrous scrap imports finally being felt amid a loosening scrap supply picture.

Manganese ore prices continued to soften over the past week, after a reduction in the September prices for silico-manganese further damped sentiment in the market.

What to read next
Fastmarkets will increase the frequency of its two existing CIF China port copper scrap prices and add three new grades on Monday March 16.
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.