SUNSHINE RecycleFlash Weekly: April 21-25, 2025

April 25, 2025

JP Morgan Sees Gold Prices Crossing $4,000/Oz by Q2 2026

JP Morgan sees gold prices crossing the $4,000 per ounce milestone next year, following increased recession probabilities amid boosted U.S. tariffs and an ongoing U.S.-China trade war, the bank said in a note on Tuesday. The bank now expects gold prices to reach an average of $3,675/oz by 4Q25, on the way towards above $4,000/oz by 2Q26, with risks skewed towards an earlier overshoot of these forecasts if demand surpasses its expectations. (Source: Reuters)

India Gold Price Falls, According to FXStreet Data

Gold prices fell in India on Friday, according to data compiled by FXStreet. The price for Gold stood at 9,103.13 Indian Rupees (INR) per gram, down compared with the INR 9,178.61 it cost on Thursday. The price for Gold decreased to INR 106,177.10 per tola from INR 107,057.50 per tola a day earlier. (Source: FXStreet)

Copper Prices Hit a Two-Week High, and the Market Is Confident About the Rise in Copper Prices

On Tuesday (April 22), copper prices on the London Metal Exchange (LME) rose to a two-week high, mainly supported by the recent weakness of the US dollar. The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell to a 15-month low on Monday, and the weak dollar made it more attractive for buyers denominated in other currencies to buy commodities such as copper. As of 9:54 a.m. local time, copper prices on the London Metal Exchange (LME) rose as much as 1.6% to $9,305 per ton during the session; while copper futures for May delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange (COMEX) also climbed to $4.834 per pound (about $10,634 per ton). The metal market faced turbulence in April as U.S. President Donald Trump’s comprehensive import tariffs triggered global trade uncertainty. Although trade tensions threaten economic growth and, in turn, metal demand, the weaker dollar also provided some support. In a report in March, JPMorgan Chase predicted that starting next year, there will be a supply-demand gap in the global copper market. It is expected that by 2030, the supply-demand gap in the global copper market will expand to about 3 million tons per year, a figure that undoubtedly provides strong support for the long-term rise in copper prices. The widening supply-demand gap will drive copper prices to continue to rise. JPMorgan Chase predicts that copper prices are likely to rise to $11,500 per ton. (Source: NAI 500)

Tenova and Coolbrook Join Forces to Drive Carbon-Free Steel Production

Italy-based Tenova, a Techint Group company specialized in innovative solutions for the metals and mining industries, has announced that it has signed a strategic partnership agreement with Finland-based transformational engineering and technology company Coolbrook to develop joint solutions that integrate both companies’ technologies to drive carbon-free production of iron, steel and other metals. Initially, the companies aim to develop Coolbrook’s proprietary RotoDynamic Heater™ (RDH) technology, resulting in the replacement of the burning of fossil fuels with clean electricity in high-temperature heating processes in the iron, steel and broader metals industries. Once completed, Tenova and Coolbrook plan to expand the collaboration to other applications across the metals industry. (Source: Eurometal)

Celsa Completes Sale of Subsidiaries to Czech Sev.en Global Investments

Spanish steel company Celsa Group has announced that it has closed a deal to sell 100% of its subsidiaries in the UK and Northern Europe to Czech investment group Sev.en Global Investments. The sale of the assets was announced in November 2024, and the deal was ratified on April 11 this year. The proceeds will be fully used to reduce the group’s debt. As noted, with this major sale, in addition to the recent share capital increase and the launch of an ambitious efficiency plan, Celsa Group continues to implement its industrial plan and financial reorganization. Sev.en, in turn, reported that the acquisition of Celsa Nordic and Celsa Steel UK marks the company’s entry into a new industry and a new region, expanding its global portfolio and strengthening its commitment to environmental industrial practices. Celsa Nordic will be renamed 7 Steel Nordic and Celsa Steel UK will become 7 Steel UK. Both companies will now operate under the unified 7 Steel brand. The combined production capacity of the acquired steel companies is 2 million tons of structural steel per year, including bars, profiles, mesh and wire. In addition, their steel products are used in shipbuilding, railways and wind energy production. (Source: GMK Center)

South Korea’s Hyundai, Posco Agree to Cooperate on US Steel Plant

South Korea’s Hyundai Motor Group said on Monday that it has signed a memorandum of understanding with Posco Holdings for cooperation on its planned U.S. steel plant. Posco will make an equity investment in Hyundai Motor Group’s steel factory project in Louisiana, the group said in a press release. The steelmaker was also considering selling some of the steel to be produced from the factory. Production is slated to begin in 2029. The South Korean automaker announced plans to invest $21 billion in the United States with President Donald Trump at the White House last month. In a regulatory filing, Hyundai Steel said it would invest $5.8 billion along with Hyundai Motor Group to build a steel plant in Louisiana with an annual capacity of 2.7 million tonnes. (Source: Reuters)

Solar Recycling Secures $7M for Florida Facility Focused on PV Circularity

OnePlanet Solar Recycling officials say the company secured $7 million in funding after a recent seed financing round was closed. The money will help develop a $90 million industrial-scale recycling facility in Green Cove Springs, Florida. The facility will recycle used solar panels to extract silicon, glass, aluminum and copper for industrial reuse. “The River City Project is purpose-built infrastructure for a new era of clean energy maturity,” says CEO André Pujadas. “Solar as an industry is now at an inflection point in its lifecycle, where we can’t simply install megawatts—we must also build the industrial capacity to recover and reintegrate the very materials that enable it. This facility will be a cornerstone of that effort.” The initial phase of capital will support final engineering, permitting and pre-construction activities for the facility. Upon its commission in 2027, it will process more than two million end-of-life photovoltaic modules annually, with planned expansions for additional phases totaling six million modules by 2030. (Source: USGlass)

LME Explores Establishing Price Premia for Sustainable Metals

The London Metal Exchange (LME) has started to explore the potential for producing sustainable metal premia for LME-approved brands. It is currently engaging closely with physical market stakeholders on its proposals for four key LME metals. By making a sustainability price differential public, the value attached to sustainable metals will be transparent and could support the development of the market for sustainable metals. Matthew Chamberlain, LME CEO, said: “Our conversations with stakeholders have shown that there is support for establishing a way to reflect an LME brand’s sustainability in its price. There is a growing sophistication in industry sustainability standards and accreditation programmes that cover broad criteria for different metals markets. Taken together with the disclosure and comparability of these credentials through LMEpassport and our work with Metalshub, these developments provide the opportunity to establish credible sustainability pricing premia for LME-listed metals. (Source: LME)

Cyclic Materials to Invest Over USD $20M in Its First Commercial Facility in the United States

Cyclic Materials, a recycling company creating a circular supply chain for rare earth elements (REEs) and other critical materials, announced it has invested over USD $20M in its first commercial facility, located in Mesa, Arizona. The new state-of-the-art facility will be the company’s first global REE recycling operation focused on the separation of permanent magnets from end-of-life products previously not recovered, using its proprietary MagCycle℠ process. As part of the company’s commitment to building a sustainable ecosystem, Cyclic Materials is establishing a feedstock supply network that will serve the entire U.S. While the company has already secured partnerships in the Southwest—a key region with an estimated 155,000 tonnes per year of end-of-life components from automotive and e-scrap metals—it is actively expanding its reach nationwide to develop a more robust and scalable supply chain. (Source: Cyclic Materials)

Clariant & Midrex Fortify Partnership in DRI, Helping to Decarbonize the Steel Industry

Clariant, a sustainability-focused specialty chemical company, announced that it has renewed its successful cooperation with Midrex and will intensify collaboration in direct reduced iron (DRI) technology for steel production. A low-carbon alternative to conventional coal-based ironmaking, natural gas-based DRI converts natural gas with recycled CO2 and H2O to generate reducing gas for the production process. The technology combines MIDREX® Reformers with Clariant-manufactured REFORMEX® Catalysts, which offer superior activity and stability to increase productivity, reduce energy consumption, and minimize carbon emissions. MIDREX DRI technology avoids around one ton of CO2 per ton of crude steel. (Source: Clariant)

Jindal Stainless and AB Energia Set New Benchmark with Odisha’s Largest Captive Industrial Solar Plant

India’s largest stainless steel manufacturer, Jindal Stainless, and one of India’s leading clean energy solution providers, AB Energia Solutions Pvt. Ltd., announced the successful installation and commissioning of a pioneering solar energy project at Jindal Stainless’ manufacturing unit in Jajpur, Odisha. This ground-breaking initiative boasts a cumulative capacity of over 30 MWp, making it the largest captive solar energy plant within a single industrial campus in Odisha. The solar energy plant installed by Jindal Stainless at its Jajpur unit in partnership with AB Energia comprises a 7.324 MWp floating solar plant and a 23.02 MWp rooftop solar system. The state-of-the-art plant is capable of generating approximately 44.3 million units (MU) of green energy annually, significantly reducing the Jajpur unit’s dependence on conventional grid electricity. This is equivalent to powering 12,000-15,000 households or cutting CO2 emissions by 32,208 metric tonnes annually. (Source: Jindal Stainless)

Turkey’s Crude Steel Production Drops to 3.1 Million Tons in March

According to the latest figures released by the World Steel Association (Worldsteel), Turkey’s crude steel production saw a year-on-year decrease of 2.8% in March 2025, totaling 3.1 million tons. Over the first four months of 2025, the country’s output declined by 3.4% to 9.3 million tons, placing Turkey seventh among the world’s top steel producers. Globally, crude steel production among 69 reporting countries reached 166.1 million tons in March, reflecting a 2.9% increase compared to the same month in 2024. China led the surge with a 4.6% rise in output, reaching 92.8 million tons. India followed with a notable 7% increase, producing 13.8 million tons. Japan recorded a modest uptick of 0.2%, with production hitting 7.2 million tons, while the United States saw a slight decline of 1.5%, generating 6.7 million tons of crude steel. Russia’s estimated output fell by 3.2% to 6.2 million tons. Despite the March gains, total global crude steel output for the first quarter of 2025 edged down by 0.4% year-on-year, amounting to 486.6 million tons. (Source: Worldsteel)

India to Put 12% Temporary Tariff on Steel to Curb Cheap China Imports, Source Says

India is set to impose a new temporary tariff of 12% on steel imports, locally called the safeguard duties, intending to control the increase in cheap imports from China and elsewhere. One of the sources told Reuters on Monday that the government is set to enact the tax as soon as possible. Last month, as a part of their efforts to mobilise cheap imports, the Directorate General of Trade Remedies (DGTR) under the federal trade ministry, proposed the 12% tariffs on selected steel products for 200 days. However, the recommendation was followed by an investigation from last December to monitor if the unconstrained imports of steel have harmed India’s domestic steel industry. “There is clarity that the duty would be 12% and a decision is expected at the earliest,” the source said, according to reports. However, the Minister of Finance did not comment immediately. (Source: The Economic Times)

China Asks Korea Not to Supply Products Using Rare Earths to US Defence Firms, Paper Reports

Beijing recently asked South Korean companies not to ship products containing China’s rare earth minerals to U.S. defence firms, the Korea Economic Daily reported on Tuesday, citing government and company sources. The report had initially said China’s Ministry of Commerce warned Korean companies they could face sanctions if they violated the export restrictions. The ministry delivered the message in letters to Korean companies which make power transformers, batteries, displays, electric vehicles, aerospace and medical equipment, the report said. (Source: Reuters)

Trump Signs Executive Order Boosting Deep-Sea Mining Industry

President Donald Trump on Thursday signed an executive order aimed at boosting the deep-sea mining industry, marking his latest attempt to boost U.S. access to nickel, copper and other critical minerals used widely across the economy. The order, which Trump signed in private, seeks to jumpstart the mining of both U.S. and international waters as part of a push to offset China’s sweeping control of the critical minerals industry. Reuters first reported last month that the order was under deliberation. Parts of the Pacific Ocean and elsewhere are estimated to contain large amounts of potato-shaped rocks known as polymetallic nodules filled with the building blocks for electric vehicles and electronics. More than 1 billion metric tons of those nodules are estimated to be in US waters and filled with manganese, nickel, copper and other critical minerals, according to an administration official. (Source: Reuters)

Lagos Promises Collaboration with FG to Boost Steel Companies’ Operations

In a deliberate move to boost the operation of the steel companies in Nigeria, the Lagos State Government has reiterated its commitment to collaborate with the Federal Government to ensure that the Steel industries in Nigeria are revitalised. Towards this end, the Governor of Lagos State, Mr. Babajide Olusola Sanwo-Olu having realised the negative roles which inadequate power sector is having on the industry, has promised to assist the Ministry of Steel Development in every way possible to ensure that things turn around for better. Speaking in Lagos through his Deputy, Dr. Kadri Obafemi Hamzat, who hosted the Minister and his entourage who were on a courtesy call at his official residence in Osborne Road, Ikoyi, noted that these companies are power guzzlers and that everyone knows that their operations require a lot of power. According to Sanwo-Olu, “Lagos is grateful to Mr. President for signing the Fifth Amendment Bill No.33, Devolution of Powers which now expands the scope of State legislative powers to include generation, transmission, and distribution of electricity in areas covered by the national grid system, and that sort of decentralized power is the only way that this thing can be done”. The Governor stated that the Lagos has set up different commissions, such as the Lagos State Electricity Regulation Commission, the independent market operators, and the rural fund to assist, adding that the state government has also done the Request for Proposal Form (RPF) for people to come and build five power plants across Lagos, and the process has started. (Source: Lagos State Government)