Ghana backs Chifeng Gold’s acquisition of Wassa mine

Iron ore prices in China reached a record high on Tuesday as market participants wrestled two dilemmas, namely the weather-related disruptions from Australia and the safety outages in Brazil.

Commodities had their best quarter in almost three years, but demand outlook is running into troubling signs in the U.S. and China, the two biggest consumers.

Profits are being squeezed by rising raw material prices, largely caused by production disruptions at Vale SA after the Brumardinho disaster.

The Nanchang-based company posted net income of 2.45 billion yuan for last year, up from 1.61 billion yuan in 2017.

China added 194 million tonnes of coal mining capacity in 2018 despite vows to eliminate excess capacity in the sector and to reduce fossil fuel consumption.

Australian imports were at 1.16 million tonnes last month, compared to 1.47 million tonnes in February 2018.

U.S. imports of steel wheels from China were valued at $388 million in 2017.

China's steel sector is currently locked in a struggle between largely bearish longer-term structural factors and short-term cyclical influences, some of which are bullish.

New report shows in January 2019, the Chinese market saw 253% more nickel deployed in passenger EV batteries compared to a year ago.