This morning in metals news, U.S. imports of steel through the first eight months of the year are down 13.6%, Rio Tinto (LON:RIO) signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with China’s largest steel producer and LME copper prices fell Thursday.
Steel Imports Down 14%
U.S. imports of steel for the year through August are down 14% compared with the same period last year, the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) reported.
Imports through the first eight months of the year totaled 20.67 million tons. Finished steel import market share for August checked in at 19%, just below the 20% mark for the year to date.
Rio Signs MOU with Baowu
Rio Tinto (LON:RIO) has signed an MOU with China Baowu Steel Group and Tsinghua University through which the parties will partner to “develop and implement new methods” to reduce carbon emissions across the steel value chain.
“This pioneering partnership across the steel value chain will bring together solutions to help address the steel industry’s carbon footprint and improve its environmental performance,” Rio Tinto (LON:RIO) CEO J-S Jacques said.
“The materials we produce have an important role to play in the transition to a low carbon future and we are committed to partnering with our customers and others to find the most sustainable ways to produce, process and market them. We are already doing this in aluminium and now, through this partnership, we will be doing it in the steel industry.”
LME Copper Falls
The LME copper three-month price bounced back from MetalMiner’s short-term support level earlier this month, rising 1.13% over the last month, according to MetalMiner IndX data.
However, the price dropped Thursday, falling 0.7% to $5,750/mt.
As noted earlier this week, global copper mine production dropped 1.4% in the first half of the year, while refined copper production fell 1%, according to the International Copper Study Group.
by Fouad Egbaria