Summary of the Week: Boeing-Airbus Conflict, Copper Price Trends, and Stainless Steel Demand

Before we head into the weekend, let’s take a look back at the week that was and the metals storylines here on MetalMiner:
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Week of June 14-18 (Boeing-Airbus dispute, copper prices and much more)

• What will Britain’s trade strategy be after Brexit — free trade or protectionism?
• U.S. steel prices continued to gain last month, as Chinese prices plunged in late May before recovering slowly.
• The U.S. and E.U. announced a five-year deal that will see a tariff pause that could signal a new phase in the long-running Boeing–Airbus dispute.
• Auto sales in China dropped in May by 3.1% year over year, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers reported.
• Cobalt prices have declined in the second quarter of this year.
• German flats producer Salzgitter-Flachstahl warned of delays after a lightning strike impacted its operations.
• Is the oil price rise nearing an end? Not yet, MetalMiner’s Stuart Burns explained.
• The U.S. consumed a record amount of renewable energy in 2020, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported.
• Burns weighed in on the news regarding the Boeing–Airbus dispute and what it really means.
• Volvo announced plans to expand electric vehicle production at its Ridgeville, South Carolina plant.
• Burns on the potential for the Chinese government to release some state metals reserves in an effort to further dampen price rises.
• Copper prices cooled a bit after surging to an all-time high earlier in May.
• Stainless steel demand is forecast to continue growing.
• Construction inputs jumped by 24.2% from May 2020 to May 2021, the Associated General Contractors of America said.
• MetalMiner contributor Sohrab Darabshaw on a wind farm project in Kazakhstan that China views as another feather in the cap of its Belt and Road initiative.

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