IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: 5 key stories from October 2

Here are five Fastmarkets MB stories you might have missed on Wednesday October 2 that are worth another look.

Estimated arbitrage opportunities between Southeast Asian warehouses and the US Midwest were little changed in September, on a steady US aluminium market.

The US copper cathode premium fell to its lowest level since July 2018 due to weakened demand and United States-China trade war concerns in the week to Tuesday October 1, while sufficient stocks kept European market activity – and the premium – subdued.

A judge in the United Kingdom has ruled that broker Marex Spectron must pay up to $32 million in losses to French bank Natixis stemming from a case of forged warehouse receipts more than two years ago.

Spot activity for both zinc and lead remained minimal in the week to October 1, while premiums across other global markets were left unchanged.

Taiwan will defer the imposition of anti-dumping and countervailing duties on five Chinese steel and stainless steel products, the island’s customs administration said last week.

What to read next
The publication of Fastmarkets’ Shanghai copper premiums on Monday December 23 were delayed because of a reporter error. Fastmarkets’ pricing database has been updated.
Fastmarkets proposes to amend the frequency of the publication of several US base metal price assessments to a monthly basis, including MB-PB-0006 lead 99.97% ingot premium, ddp Midwest US; MB-SN-0036 tin 99.85% premium, in-whs Baltimore; MB-SN-0011 tin 99.85% premium, ddp Midwest US; MB-NI-0240 nickel 4x4 cathode premium, delivered Midwest US and MB-NI-0241 nickel briquette premium, delivered Midwest US.
The news that President-elect Donald Trump is considering additional tariffs on goods from China as well as on all products from US trading partners Canada and Mexico has spurred alarm in the US aluminium market at a time that is usually known to be calm.
Unlike most other commodities, cobalt is primarily a by-product – with 60% derived from copper and 38% from nickel – so how will changes in those markets change the picture for cobalt in the coming months following a year of price weakness and oversupply in 2024?
Copper recycling will become increasingly critical as the world transitions to cleaner energy systems, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said in a special report published early this week.
Fastmarkets proposes to lower the frequency of its assessments for MB-AL-0389 aluminium low-carbon differential P1020A, US Midwest and MB-AL-0390 aluminium low-carbon differential value-added product US Midwest. Fastmarkets also proposes to extend the timing window of these same assessments to include any transaction data concluded within up to 18 months.