SUNSHINE RecycleFlash Weekly: April 7-11, 2025

April 11, 2025

Gold Bolts Past $3,200 on Dollar Slide, Safe-Haven Flows

Gold prices breached the crucial $3,200/oz level for the first time on Friday, fuelled by a weaker dollar and an escalating trade war that sent investors rushing toward safe-haven assets. Spot gold was up 0.6% at $3,192.79 an ounce, as of 0555 GMT. Bullion scaled an all-time peak of $3,219.84 earlier in the session, and has gained around 5% this week. U.S. gold futures climbed nearly 2% to $3,237.50. (Source: Reuters)

Chile to Cut 2025 Copper Price Forecast, WSJ Reports

The Chilean government will cut the estimated average price to $3.90 to $4 a pound from a current projection for the year of $4.25 a pound, the WSJ said, citing a person familiar with the preliminary calculations. Chile will publish the revised price estimate at the end of April, the newspaper said. In February, Chile’s state copper commission, Cochilco, held its 2025 price forecast steady at $4.25 after raising it from $3.85 in May 2024. The commission also extended the $4.25 forecast for 2026 and said it expected copper prices to remain over $4.00 a pound for the next decade. Commodities prices including oil and other goods fell this week after new US tariffs fueled fears of a global recession. (Source: WSJ)

India Gold Price Today: Gold Keeps Rallying on Increased Haven Demand

The buying interest around Gold price in India remains unabated on Friday as Comex Gold (XAU/USD) price hangs close to record highs of $3,220. Increased concerns over US financial and economic stability continue weighing on the US Dollar (USD), underpinning the USD-denominated Gold price. At the press time (11 Apr 2025 14:09), Gold price stood at 8,835.27 Indian Rupees (INR) per gram, up from Friday’s close INR 8,789.90, according to FXStreet data. When measured in terms of tola, Gold price increased to INR 103,052.80 from INR 102,523.70 closing price on Thursday. (Source: FXStreet)

LIBERTY Proposes New Measures to Drive Demand for UK Steel Production and Stimulate Investment

LIBERTY Steel’s submission to the UK Steel Strategy consultation has proposed decisive Government action in the form of strategic demand side measures, cost competitiveness and co-investments to reverse the long-term decline in UK steel production and set the industry on a sustained upward trajectory. A key LIBERTY proposal is for new measures to drive higher UK steel production by stimulating demand for UK-made steel. LIBERTY believes a template from the renewable power sector, the Renewables Obligation on electricity suppliers, could be adapted to the steel sector in the form of a Steel Obligation. LIBERTY has also identified several strategic capability investments that could be made it its mills if conditions allow. The concepts would enhance LIBERTY’s existing capabilities to meet the demands of the industries of the future and generate value to the UK economy. Future concepts include a new EAF and slab caster at LIBERTY’s Rotherham mill which could increase the site’s production capacity from 1.2Mtpa to 2Mtpa and provide the UK with the capability needed for the next generation of offshore wind towers. (Source: LIBERTY)

Google Joins the Sustainable Steel Buyers Platform

Google has joined the Sustainable Steel Buyers Platform (SSBP), a coalition of various corporations organized by US-based energy and sustainability non-profit organization RMI. SSBP includes major tech firms Meta, Microsoft, and Amazon as members. Including Google, the platform now has eight major backers. The SSBP intends to bring together ambitious corporations in sectors with high steel usage, such as technology, construction, and manufacturing, and facilitate low-emission steel procurement in North America. Dubbed as a “first of its kind” group, SSBP was launched with support from several partners with expertise in the sector, such as the First Mover Coalition, Climate Group, and Responsible Steel. (Source: Data Center Dynamics)

Tata Steel Gets Notice over Rs 25,000 Crore Tax Waiver, Moves Bombay High Court

Tata Steel said it has received an order for reassessing taxable income for financial year 2018-19 and increasing the taxable amount by over Rs 25,000 crore, and the company has moved the Bombay High Court against the reassessment. Tata steel said in a stock exchange filing that the assessment order came on March 31 this year, following a show cause notice issued on March 13 by the Assessing Officer, Office of the Deputy Commissioner of Income Tax, Circle 2(3)(1), Mumbai. The March 13 notice had sought further documents related to the waiver of Rs 25,185.51 crore in FY19 for the purpose of reassessment of taxable income for AY 2019-20. Meanwhile on March 24, the company has filed a writ petition in the Bombay High Court “challenging technical infirmities in conducting the reassessment proceedings”. (Source: The Economic Times)

Trump Orders Fresh Review of Nippon Steel’s Bid for US Steel

President Donald Trump on Monday directed a powerful US national security panel to take a fresh look at Nippon Steel’s bid for US Steel to help determine if “further action” is appropriate, raising hopes for an elusive greenlight for the deal. “I direct the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States…to conduct a review of the acquisition of US Steel by (Nippon Steel) to assist me in determining whether further action in this matter may be appropriate,” the memo reads. Nippon Steel said it was pleased by the news. “We have been confident from the outset that an objective, fact-based review of our proposed partnership with US Steel will show that it strengthens American economic and national security,” it said. A spokesperson for US Steel said the company looks forward “to continuing to work closely with President Trump and his administration to finalize this significant and important investment.” (Source: Reuters)

Rio Tinto Says Trump’s Copper Zeal Might OK Resolution

Rio Tinto is optimistic that United States President Donald Trump will approve the final permits for its long-delayed Resolution copper project in Arizona. Speaking at the CRU World Copper Conference in Santiago, Rio Tinto’s copper CEO Katie Jackson said growing U.S. interest in strengthening the copper supply chain could help advance the stalled mine, Reuters reported on Tuesday. The mining giant has spent more than a decade navigating a complex permitting process. The Resolution mine, a joint venture with BHP where Rio owns 55% and BHP 45%, could supply over a quarter of the U.S.’ copper demand for decades. However, its progress remains stalled in U.S. courts due to opposition from Native American groups. The Apache Stronghold asserts that Oak Flat, a federally owned property in Arizona containing copper deposits, is sacred to their deities and has been revered by their ancestors for generations. (Source: The Northern Miner)

Tata Steel to Cut Around 20% of Dutch Workforce

Tata Steel on Wednesday said it will cut around 1,600 jobs in the Netherlands, in a drive to increase profitability amidst fierce competition from China and rising U.S. import tariffs. The move will cut Tata’s Dutch workforce by roughly 20%, mainly at the large steel plant at IJmuiden, on the coast west of Amsterdam. Tata said the reorganisation would mainly hit management and support staff in IJmuiden with the aim of centralising its organisation and making it more efficient. (Source: Reuters)

Blastr Green Steel and Vogten Staal Join Forces on Supplying Ultra-Low Co₂ Steel in Europe

Blastr Green Steel (Blastr) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Vogten Staal, for the annual supply of ultra-low CO₂ steel. The agreement with Vogten will make Blastr’s low-carbon steel available to a growing number of end-users seeking more sustainable metals, as well as provide access to Vogten’s steel refinement capabilities including pickling of hot rolled material. Vogten’s production lines are located in Maastricht, the Netherlands, a major hub for river, rail, and truck transport. Vogten Staal recently invested in a second production facility. When all new lines are installed, the annual production capacity of both facilities (in total 72.000 m2) is well over 1 million metric tons. This is the third offtake agreement announced by Blastr in less than four months, supporting a material increase in the supply of decarbonized steel products in Europe. (Source: Blastr)

Matalco Closing Canton, Ohio Plant, Laying off 71 Workers

Matalco Inc., a company specializing in aluminum billet and slab production using recycled aluminum, has announced plans to shut down its Canton, Ohio, plant this summer as part of its strategy to streamline operations. The Canton plant, one of seven facilities operated by the Brampton, Ontario-based company, will begin its closure process on June 6, as outlined in a letter sent on April 8, 2025, to the Ohio Office of Workforce Development in compliance with the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act. According to Matalco, the closure will impact 71 employees at the Canton facility, with the process expected to unfold over a period of 90 days, starting June 6. (Source: Matalco)

China Deploys Rare Earths as Weapon in Trade War with Trump

China has expanded its use of critical minerals as a trade weapon with curbs on exports of rare earths, threatening to shake-up the global supply of key materials used widely in high-tech manufacturing from electric vehicles to weaponry. As part of its retaliation to President Donald Trump’s so-called reciprocal tariffs on imported Chinese goods, Beijing said it will tighten controls on exports of seven types of rare earths. The country is by far the world’s biggest supplier of the minerals, which comprise 17 elements in the periodic table. (Source: Bloomberg)

Trump Signs Executive Orders to Boost Coal, A Reliable but Polluting Energy Source

President Donald Trump on Tuesday signed a series of executive orders aimed at boosting the struggling coal industry, a reliable but polluting energy source that’s long been in decline. Under the four orders, Trump uses his emergency authority to allow some older coal-fired power plants set for retirement to keep producing electricity to meet rising U.S. power demand amid growth in data centers, artificial intelligence and electric cars. Trump also directed federal agencies to identify coal resources on federal lands, lift barriers to coal mining and prioritize coal leasing on U.S. lands. In a related action, Trump also signed a proclamation offering coal-fired power plants a two-year exemption from federal requirements to reduce emissions of toxic chemicals such as mercury, arsenic and benzene. Trump’s administration had offered power plants and other industrial polluters a chance for exemptions from rules imposed by the Environmental Protection Agency. The EPA, under Trump appointee Lee Zeldin, set up an electronic mailbox to allow regulated companies to request a presidential exemption under the Clean Air Act to a host of Biden-era rules. (Source: AP News)

German Steelmakers Call for Rapid Implementation of the EU Steel Action Plan

Major German steelmakers Thyssenkrupp Steel Europe (TKSE) and Salzgitter have called for the speedy implementation of the European Commission’s Steel and Metals Action Plan to protect the sector from US tariffs. This was reported by Reuters. According to Salzgitter CEO Gunnar Gröbler, Europe should not remain defenseless in the face of growing import pressure. According to him, the EU should act decisively while maintaining an open dialog with the United States. Thyssenkrupp Steel Europe, in turn, said the plan was an important impetus for strengthening the competitiveness of the struggling steel sector and its decarbonization. The current geopolitical situation has made the implementation of these plans even more urgent, said Dennis Grimm, spokesman for the TKSE Executive Board. He also believes that in order to strengthen domestic markets, the introduction of mandatory minimum quotas for European content in private and public procurement should be emphasized. (Source: GMK Center)

EU Steel Industry Urges New Trade Defense Measures, Scrap Retention

Representatives from the steel and metals industry raised strong concerns about the broader ramifications of US tariffs, including impacts on derivative products and the serious risk of trade diversion, during a high-level dialogue hosted by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on April 7. The meeting aimed to discuss the implications of US tariffs on steel, aluminum, and related derivative products, the EC said. The meeting focused on gathering industry views and proposals for the most effective EU response to the US measures. While the representatives welcomed the EC’s Steel and Metals Action Plan and the Clean Industrial Deal, they also suggested implementing a few points. The industry called for new trade defense measures for steel, beyond existing safeguards set to expire in June 2026, to counter potential export deflection from other major steel-producing countries. Participants also expressed concern about diminishing scrap volumes used for recycling in the EU and requested effective measures to retain sufficient volumes within the EU. They also underlined the importance of local content requirements, notably pointing at the huge potential of public procurement in this regard. (Source: S&P Global)