Metal Inside

Google, BMW, Volvo, and Samsung SDI sign up to WWF call for temporary ban on deepsea miningGoogle, BMW, Volvo and Samsung SDI are the first global companies to have signed up to a World Wildlife Fund (WWF) call for a moratoriumon deep-sea mining, the WWF said on Wednesday. In backing the call, the companies commit not to source any minerals from the seabed, to exclude such minerals from their supply chains, and not to finance deep seabed mining activities, the WWF said in a statement.Higher Chinese imports herald coming copper scrap surge: Andy HomeChina's imports of copper scrap surged over the first two months of 2021, jumping by 60% year-on-year to 191,720 tonnes. A new import regime reclassifying scrap as a "resource" came into effect last November, removing high-grade copper recyclables from the list of "solid wastes" that are now banned. Japan buyers agree to pay Q2 aluminium premiums of $148-149/T -sourcesThe premiums for aluminium shipments to Japanese buyers for April to June were set at $148-$149 a tonne, up 14-15% from this quarter, on a tight container market and recovery in demand from a pandemic-induced slump, four sources directly involved in pricing talks said. The April-June premiums are the highest since the same quarter in 2015. In January to March, the premium was $130 per tonne. This is a third consecutive quarterly rise in premiums.EU imposes tariffs on Chinese aluminium producersThe European Union has imposed duties on aluminium products imported from China after an investigation showed that they were being sold at unfairly low prices, the EU official journal said on Tuesday. The European Commission, which oversees trade policy for the 27-nation European Union, has set anti-dumping duties of between 21.2% and 31.2% on Chinese producers of aluminium extrusions in the form of bars, rods, profiles or tubes.MARKET NEWSGold inched higher in choppy trade, but the metal was still headed for its worst quarterly fall since December 2016, as a surge in U.S. Treasury yields and the dollar dented safe-haven bullion's appeal. London copper prices were set for their first monthly decline in a year as a firm U.S. dollar and a global surge in coronavirus infections stoked caution among traders.