It was another busy week for the Metal Bulletin journalists, with the LME, market movements and banks’ positions in commodity markets catching our attention.

Seaborne iron ore market experienced a slight downward correction on Friday July 29 after going above the $60-per-tonne level a day earlier.

A hike in August iron ore exports from Brazil and Australia has prompted a boom in freight rates, with average capesize earnings more than doubling in the past month.

BHP Billiton’s ceo Andrew Mackenzie said an inquiry into Australia’s iron ore industry was “unnecessary” as it sends the “wrong signal” to international customers about the country’s commitment to free trade.

The news that Glencore and Xstrata are in merger talks would only come as a surprise to someone living under a rock, and only then if said rock did not contain any valuable minerals. But now that talks of a tie-up of the world’s largest metals trader and its fourth largest miner have finally moved into the boardroom, hypothetical questions have become real, and the answers are far from certain.

The refined tin market, worth around $7.5 billion per year, could be in a position to benefit from a glut of technological applications over the next decade.

The seaborne iron ore market was quiet at the start of the week, although news of output cuts at mills in a key steel production region in north China, shook market confidence.

Prices for commonly available mainstream brands of Australian hard coking coal into China remained under pressure on Tuesday January 20.

Lithium producer share price weakness is a reflection of the supply response that started in 2018, head of base metals and battery materials research William Adams said.

The US aluminium premium rose to its highest level since May 2015 on Tuesday January 23, and was the main catalyst for another week of bullish sentiment in aluminium globally.