Costa Rica has decided not to impose a safeguard duty on imports of bars of steel for the reinforcement of concrete, the country’s Ministry of Economy, Industry and Commerce said. A ministry investigation was analyzing a possible duty of 15% over the imported products. The investigation started on March 19 and applied to material under

Chinese domestic monoethylene glycol was assessed at Yuan 5,650/mt on Tuesday, amid a supply glut and sluggish demand, hitting a 19-month low since May 11, 2017, when it was assessed at Yuan 5,620/mt, S&P Global Platts data showed. The domestic parity value was calculated to be $657/mt on Tuesday, after deducting tankage storage cost and

Taiwan’s Formosa Petrochemical Corp. is expected to start its latest 330,000 mt/year methyl tert-butyl ether plant in Mailiao in Yunlin County by the second quarter of 2019. “The plant should be up and running by Q2 of 2019 as of now” a source close to the company said. Formosa had recently concluded its discussions for

China imported around 2.02 million mt of LPG in October, the highest in the past 17 months, the latest data from the General Administration of Customs showed. October LPG imports were up 38.6% from September and 27.2% from a year ago, the data showed. LPG demand from household users typically rises from October, which was

The World Trade Organization’s dispute settlement body on Wednesday agreed to establish panels to rule on whether the US Section 232 tariffs on steel and aluminum imports comply with WTO rules, according to a Geneva trade official. The dispute settlement body approved the establishment of the panels at the second request of six WTO members:

The global refined zinc market was in a 305,000 mt deficit of metal for the first nine months of 2018, while total inventories fell by 64,000 mt over the period, according to preliminary data compiled by the International Lead and Zinc Study Group released Wednesday. ILZSG noted that Chinese trade data for the months through

Malaysia has slapped provisional antidumping duties of 3.33% to 16.13% on galvanized iron imports from China and Vietnam, effective November 8 for about 120 days, the Ministry of International Trade and Industry said Thursday. The Malaysian government “…found that there are sufficient evidences to continue further with the investigation on the importation of galvanized iron

The global primary aluminum market “is moving towards a deficit in 2018, and larger than earlier forecast, driven by slower-than-expected supply growth,” Norwegian producer Hydro said Wednesday in its third-quarter results statement. Production outside China is expected to increase by 1%-2% in 2018, the company said, adding that while production of primary aluminum in China

Singapore — Seaborn medium and high grade iron ore prices on CFR North Asia basis reached new highs Tuesday on strong demand from Chinese steel mills, who were restocking ahead of the winter season, market sources said. S&P Global Platts assessed the 62% Fe Iron Ore Index at $70.55/dry mt CFR North China Tuesday, up

Houston — US September propylene contract prices showing a 1-cent decrease compared with August were accepted by a marketwide majority, sources said Friday. The decline is in line with most initial settlements from a week earlier. The 1-cent decline took the September polymer-grade propylene contract price down to 60 cents/lb ($1,323/mt) and the September chemical-grade