Pre-Brexit minor metals, ferro-alloys stockpiling triggers road transport disruptions

Uncertainty surrounding Brexit - with no trade deal agreed yet between the United Kingdom and the European Union - has prompted spot activity in some minor metals and ferro-alloys markets, with market participants finding difficulties in moving their material across the borders.

Traders in the UK have increased their orders in the last few weeks ahead of potential import duties that might be coming in from January 2021, market sources told Fastmarkets.
"I have been getting enquiries from traders in the UK every hour in the last week," a ferro-alloys trader in mainland Europe said. "There is a lot of uncertainty [around] what the import duties will be, and traders have been stockpiling against that uncertainty."
"We are seeing UK customers buying/producing at healthy levels in Q4 to supply European customers in advance of Brexit and to get supplies ready and warehoused in advance of Brexit," a ferro-alloy supplier in the UK said.

Similarly, traders in mainland Europe have been shipping more material...

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