IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: 5 Key Stories From January 13

Here are five Fastmarkets MB stories you might have missed on Monday January 13 that are worth another look.

Sentiment in the global long steel market has become more positive “especially after the announcement that a trade deal between the [United States] and China will be signed,” the International Rebar Producers & Exporters Association (Irepas) said last week.

International auditing and advisory firm EY has stepped in to assist China’s biggest private copper smelter, Dongying Fangyuan, in navigating problems with frozen assets, lawsuits and access to credit, Fastmarkets has learned.

Fastmarkets has relaunched its ores and alloys cuts counter to track widespread production cutbacks amid the current low prices.

The European ferro-vanadium market moved higher in the week to Friday January 10 amid increased spot market activity, with the vanadium pentoxide (V2O5) market price following the uptrend.

Despite uncertainty surrounding downstream demand, the price of cobalt sulfate in China has jumped by more than 12% so far this year, with suppliers either offering the material at aggressively high levels or holding back from sales.