Gold has big year in 2020 and outlook for this year robust. Learn about monetary expansion and gold future prices.Read More
The gold futures price reached US$1,767/ounce this week before retreating, which was the second time it has surpassed US$1,760 in the past two months, marking some of gold's highest levels in several years.Read More
Total primary aluminium stocks at the three main Japanese ports (MJP) of Osaka, Nagoya and Yokohama fell by 10% year on year at the end of February, data from Japanese trading house Marubeni on Thursday April 1 shows.Aluminium stocks at the three ports totaled 268,700 tonnes on February 28, down by 29,700 tonnes from 298,400 tonnes a year earlier, data shows.High freight rates and logistics proble...Read More
Fastmarkets has launched four implied prices based on the weekly published copper concentrates treatment charge/refining charge (TC/RC) index, with data available from April 2021.The derived prices are: MB-CU-0508 copper concentrates TC implied smelters purchaseMB-CU-0509 copper concentrates TC implied traders purchaseMB-CU-0510 copper concentrates RC implied smelters purchaseMB-CU-0511 copper con...Read More
Chilean state-owned copper producer Codelco has reached a 36-month labor agreement with the management and the workers union at its Radomiro Tomic copper complex, the company said this week.There was a consensus on no wage increases and a term bonus of 4.16 million Chilean pesos ($5,729), the company said on Wednesday March 31.The deal also includes incentives for different goals, such as overcomi...Read More
(IDEX Online) - The Lulo mine, in Angola, has yielded three more stones over 100 carats, bringing the total since it opened in five years ago to 22.Lucapa Diamond Company says it recovered a 131-carat is a Type IIa D-color diamond, a 118-carat brown diamond and a lower quality 133-carat grey diamond.All three were found at the highly prolific Mining Block 46 of its alluvial mine downstream of the...Read More
(IDEX Online) - One of the world's rarest and most sought-after watches, a Patek Philippe Reference 2523 with Eurasian Dial, is to be auctioned. It is valued at over $3.7m.The newly-discovered timepiece (pictured) is being offered for sale by Phillips, in association with Bacs & Russo, at the Geneva Watch Auction: XIII on 8-9 May. It was recently discovered in an important European collec...Read More
Zinc producer Trevali has begun trucking ore concentrate at its mothballed Caribou mine in the Canadian province of New Brunswick, the company said on Tuesday March 30.The activity follows the producer reopening the Caribou mine in mid-January. It had been on care and maintenance from March 2020.The Caribou mine's last full year of activity was 2019, when it recorded 34,017 tonnes of zinc producti...Read More
IDEX Online) - The more dominant movement was upwards for both rounds and fancies in March. There was little activity among fancies, but smaller goods reversed many of the losses suffered in February.RoundsThere was mixed activity in goods of most sizes during March, with little movement among smaller stones, notably 0.18-0.29 cts and 0.50-0.69 cts. One carats (1.00-1.24 cts) saw a smattering...Read More
Prices in Turkey for steel hot-rolled coil came close to $1,000 per tonne during the week ending Thursday April 1, with producers fully booked until late July, sources have told Fastmarkets.Demand was strong in the country because of low stock levels, as well as the expectation of more price increases.Most market participants expected further price increases next week, because of globally high pri...Read More
Hot-dipped galvanized (HDG) and pre-painted galvanized iron, or color-coated coil, prices in Turkey increased as expected during the week to Thursday April 1, with demand still strong, sources told Fastmarkets.The price increases were expected due to strong demand and globally high prices, along with continuously rising production costs.Prices for hot-rolled coil (HRC) - the base product for...Read More
Exporters of billet from the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) region remained bullish despite the lack of trading activity in the Black Sea basin this week, sources told Fastmarkets on Thursday April 1.The producers remained positive amid expectations of price rises in China due to the possible removal or reduction in its export tax rebate, along with the recovery in finished long steel pr...Read More
A global shortage of steel slab is a key factor in rocketing flat steel prices, market sources told Fastmarkets this week.Reduced CIS suppliesCustomers from Italy and Turkey have noticed a reduction in the availability of steel slab originating in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) region in the second half of March."Some Italian re-rollers cannot produce much coil and plate due to missi...Read More
Steelmaker JSW has started production on a new 5 million tonnes-per-year hot-strip mill at its Dolvi Works in Maharashtra, India, the company said in a note to the Bombay Stock Exchange on Thursday April 1.Fastmarkets weekly price assessment for steel heavy plate domestic, ex-whse...Read More
Turkish billet prices have strengthened over the past week in line with improving finished steel and scrap values, market sources said on Thursday April 1. Turkish steel mills paid slightly higher prices for scrap in the past week, following increasing rebar export sales into Southeast Asia. Several steel producers were heard selling good tonnages to Southeast Asia at $625-636 per tonne fob o...Read More
Base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange were mainly weaker this morning, Thursday April 1, and those on the Shanghai Futures Exchange were more mixed, while markets contend with cross winds.* United States treasury 10-year yields remain upbeat, as does the dollar* China’s Caixin manufacturing purchasing managers’ index (PMI) at 50.6 showed slower growth in March, compared with 50...Read More
The pig iron import market in the United States was slow during the week to Thursday April 1 due to the large gap between the workable price estimates for buyers and from suppliers in the Commonwealth of Independent States.Consequently, Fastmarkets' price assessment for pig iron, import, cfr Gulf of Mexico, US, was $555-565 per tonne on Thursday, unchanged week on week."The US is the only market w...Read More
The spot price for light iron steel scrap in the United Kingdom went up during the week to Thursday April 1, climbing with domestic dealers competing more keenly for supplies against firmer demand for exports out of Europe to the key overseas buyer, Turkey, sources have told Fastmarkets.The price was up mostly in areas close to UK ports, where domestic steel scrap demand was strongest from major s...Read More
(Corrects paragraph 5 to reflect that the DBS official is awoman, not a man) * DBS, BNP Paribas to lead a consortium of 9 banks * The HPAL project is expected to be the first in Indonesia * Deal includes term loan and working capital facility * Indonesia's progress in producing battery metals in focus HANOI, April 1 (Reuters) - Singapore bank DBS Group said on Thursday it has co-led a group of len...Read More
Offer prices to the key import steel scrap market in Bangladesh have gone up over the past week, but demand for scrap material was low ahead of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, sources told Fastmarkets on Thursday April 1.Import markets across Asia have received higher offers for steel scrap this week, with strong rebar and billet markets giving many steelmakers excellent margins and more room t...Read More
Steel mills around the world are buying ferrous scrap at higher prices, spurred by rebounding downstream steel prices in the rebar and billet markets.Turkey sees price rebound and correction in one weekUS sees sales to Turkey, AsiaVietnamese mills increase bidsChinese buyers also raise bidsTight scrap supplyin TaiwanIndian prices higher on good sentiment.TurkeyA major Turkish steel mill supported...Read More
Turkish deep-sea scrap import prices have made a downward correction with the latest cargo sold from Europe, sources told Fastmarkets on Thursday April 1.A steel mill in the Marmara region booked a European cargo, comprising 20,000 tonnes of HMS 1&2 (80:20), 10,000 tonnes of shredded and 10,000 tonnes of bonus at an average price of $421 per tonne cfr.The previous cargo sold into Turkey from the U...Read More