IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: 5 key stories from September 4

Here are five Fastmarkets MB stories you might have missed on Wednesday September 4 that are worth another look.

A sustained weakness in the United States’ Midwest aluminium premium and increased barge freight rates pushed the estimated arbitrage between Southeast Asian warehouses and the United States to an 18-month low.

Zinc premiums in Northern Europe have risen with falling zinc prices, while spreads on the London Metal Exchange went into backwardation. Meanwhile, lead premiums were broadly flat with many market participants attending an industry conference.

Atlantic Copper, Europe’s third largest copper smelter and refinery, has delayed intake of copper concentrates for up to two weeks, with primary smelting reduced to 40% capacity after an outage at its electric furnace, sources at the company told Fastmarkets.

After a period of correction that lasted for about three weeks, the price for Chinese cobalt metal has been given fresh strength by rising raw materials costs and tightened spot supply.

Flat steel producer ArcelorMittal Italia will “continue operations beyond” September 6 at its plant in Taranto, Italy, despite the country’s adoption of the so-called Crescita Decree law, the company said on September 4.

What to read next
After a consultation, Fastmarkets is increasing the publication frequency of its non-exchange-deliverable equivalent-grade (EQ) copper cathode premium, CIF Shanghai, from once a week to twice a week.
New plans to introduce block trades for bilaterally negotiated transactions on the London Metal Exchange are aimed at enhancing liquidity and transparency without harming the exchange’s core physical user base, chief executive officer Matthew Chamberlain told Fastmarkets.
The London Metal Exchange has unveiled a series of proposals which, if successful, could accomplish what it failed to achieve close to a decade ago: bringing the investment community into the fold.
The primary aluminium premium for duty-unpaid units in Rotterdam edged higher in the week to Tuesday September 3, while the wider European market found continued support from high replacement costs and tight nearby inventories despite slow consumer demand.
Market participants are converging on Bali in Indonesia for the Fastmarkets International Critical Minerals & Metals Summit (ICMMS) on September 5 and 6, so ahead of the event, we capture the main themes facing the global nickel market.
Fastmarkets has amended the MB-NI-0256 nickel low-carbon briquette premium, cif global to include all shapes of exchange deliverable Class 1 nickel metal.