IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: 5 key stories from October 29

Here are five Fastmarkets MB stories you might have missed on Tuesday October 29 that are worth another look.

The decline in Asian hot-rolled coil prices has continued to apply downward pressure on slab prices in the region, sources told Fastmarkets.

The copper market is largely shrugging off the positive price effects of supply constraints and is focusing its attention on the negative consequences on growth of the trade wars, the chief executive officer of Freeport-McMoRan has said.

The London Metal Exchange announced this week that industry members will form a committee to represent the views and interests of lithium stakeholders while the exchange plans the launch of a lithium futures contract.

Indonesian officials said on October 29 that their country’s ban on the export of nickel ore will begin in January 2020, as previously scheduled, once a review of irregular ore exporting practices is concluded.

The European ferro-silicon market backtracked over the past week, erasing recent gains as demand in the region tailed off, while US and Chinese prices both held amid lackluster trading activity.

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Africa’s first transcontinental rail network, known as the Lobito Corridor, which aims to eventually connect almost the entire regional copper-cobalt belt with additional links across sub-Saharan Africa, is on track to break ground early in 2026, a senior official at the US Department of State told Fastmarkets.
The availability of relatively untapped resources, a huge influx of Chinese investment and a rapid licensing system have helped the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to become one of the world’s three key producers of copper.
The European steel and aluminium scrap industries urged the European Commission on Wednesday January 15 against taking action to curb scrap exports after domestic industry metals producers backed measures to do just that.
Renewed US-China trade tensions with Donald Trump’s second presidential term could bolster Southeast Asia’s aluminium scrap industry in 2025, particularly amid still-growing Chinese demand, sources told Fastmarkets by Tuesday, January 14.
European steel and aluminium producers have urged the European Commission to take immediate and effective action to tackle "scrap leakage" so that the European Union can meet its sustainable development aims and secure industrial competitiveness.