IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: 5 key stories from November 18

Here are five Fastmarkets MB stories you might have missed on Monday November 18 that are worth another look.

The outlook for the Asian hot-rolled coil market in the early part of 2020 is bullish, with prices for January-shipment materials already moving higher, an official at a leading Japanese steelmaker has told Fastmarkets.

More than 200,000 tonnes of aluminium have been delivered into London Metal Exchange warehouses in Asia over the past week, pushing LME on-warrant stock levels back above 1 million tonnes.

Weeks of slow spot buying from consumers comfortable working with low stock levels has brought cheaper offers into the spot cobalt market so far in November.

Export prices for ferro-vanadium and vanadium pentoxide (V2O5) in China rebounded last week, bolstered by strength in both the domestic and European vanadium markets; in Europe, tightened availability and a firmer ferro-vanadium market drove the V2O5 price up by around 17%.

Industry figures at the International Ferro-alloys conference in Budapest this week will be discussing future developments in the manganese markets after a dramatic turn in the manganese flake price over the past year; Fastmarkets looks at the key reasons behind the slump.

Rising metals price volatility over past month

Gold stocks surge ahead of equities on metal price gain

Base metals outlook for 2026 opaque after decent rise last year

Gold and silver stocks far outpace the major markets

Bank of Japan boosts rates, continuing an unwinding carry trade