Some Chinese ferro-alloys and minor metals prices wavered in a week when the United States raised the import tariff on a number of commodities from China on Friday May 10.The US raised import tariffs on $200 billion-worth of Chinese products to 25% from 10% at noon Asia time on Friday. This followed a threat on Sunday by US President Donald Trump to raise tariffs ahead of a new round of trade talk...Read More
A decision by some silicon metal producers in southern China not to resume operations immediately after the start of the region's rainy season could signal the development of a wider trend across the south country, Fastmarkets MB understands.Increasing costs arising from China's anti-pollution drive and a persistently weak market has caused some silicon metal producers in the southern Chinese prov...Read More
Base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange were mostly higher at the close of trading on Friday May 10, with nickel futures climbing 1.6% while the three-month lead price failed to recover from a three-year low. Despite the US government's decision to hike tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods, potentially escalating trade tensions between the two countries, base metals prices remain...Read More
The Comex copper price was dragged lower in US morning trading on Friday May 10 by an escalation in the US-China trade war, which market participants had previously expected to be nearing a peaceful conclusion. The copper price for July settlement on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange dipped 0.60 cents to $2.7655 per lb. The contract is now on a four-day losing streak and is tr...Read More
The alumina price on the Chinese spot market is likely to break through this year's peak and move up even further in response to the local authorities' investigation into Xinfa Group regarding the chemical leakage in its alumina smelters in Xiaoyi city, Shanxi province in China, sources told Fastmarkets on May 10."The sentiment has become totally different compared with two days ago and we have se...Read More
The price of copper managed to trade higher, despite simmering trade tensions between the world's two largest economies erupting into all-out war.In afternoon trading, copper for delivery in July touched $2.797 a pound ($6,165 a tonne), up nearly 1% from Thursday's settlement. While well down from its 2019 highs, copper is still holding onto 4.5% gains year-to-date.The US hiked tariffs on $200B of...Read More
Gold futures ended higher on Tuesday, posting their third straight session decline, as U.S. benchmark stock indexes freshly retreated amid apparent challenges for U.S.-China trade talks this week - negotiations that markets had generally believed to be all but signed on the dotted line. "The poor seasonal time for gold is over as we move into May and June and...increasing volatility and risk-off s...Read More
Zambia's Mopani Copper Mines Plc plans to close two shafts and focus on essential capital projects, the Glencore-owned company said on Friday.Mopani said in a statement it would cease operations at Mindola North Shaft and Central Shaft and instead focus on the Synclinorium Concentrator, Mindola Deeps shaft and Henderson shaft.(Reporting by Chris Mfula, editing by Louise Heavens)Read More
Managing the world's largest rainforest is a Brazilian affair and foreigners should stop meddling in the Amazon, President Jair Bolsonaro's top security adviser said in an interview."I don't accept this idea that the Amazon is world heritage, this is nonsense," General Augusto Heleno Pereira said in an interview in Brasilia. "The Amazon is Brazilian, the heritage of Brazil and should be dealt with...Read More
Access our research platformsSign-in to our platforms to access our extensive research, our latest insight, data and analytics and to connect to our industry experts.The U.S has increased tariffs on $200bn of Chinese goods to 25%, from 10%, impacting a number of metals. Commentary below comes from the Wood Mackenzie metals team:Copper By Wood Mackenzie Senior Consultant, Yanting Zhou"Previous...Read More
Access our research platformsSign-in to our platforms to access our extensive research, our latest insight, data and analytics and to connect to our industry experts.Read More
Access our research platformsSign-in to our platforms to access our extensive research, our latest insight, data and analytics and to connect to our industry experts.On Friday 15th February 2019, Vale announced there was a fire affecting a conveyor belt system at its distribution centre in Malaysia. Vale anticipate this will result in a 10 to 15 day halt in operations and note that a planned 10 da...Read More
Talison Lithium, a partnership between China's Tianqi and U.S. group Albemarle, secured approval this week from the Western Australian Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) to expand the Greenbushes lithium mine in the southwest of the state.The decision came with a series of conditions, including the protection of the threatened black cockatoos, which are unique to Australia's south-west regio...Read More
Access our research platformsSign-in to our platforms to access our extensive research, our latest insight, data and analytics and to connect to our industry experts.India's renewables target of 175 GW capacity (100 GW of solar and 75 GW of wind) by 2022 is an ambitious endeavour. Even with significant cost declines, Wood Mackenzie expects about 76% of the target to be met by 2022 and this would s...Read More
Indian domestic secondary billet prices fell by 700 rupees ($10) per tonne in the week ended Friday May 10 with demand for semi-finished steel products slumping alongside finished products such as rebar.Indian domestic secondary billet prices were assessed by Fastmarkets at 31,200-31,400 rupees ($445-448) per tonne ex-mill on May 10, down by 700 rupees per tonne from last week's assessment of 31,9...Read More
The Swiss Gemmological Institute SSEF has successfully age-dated the historic "Ana Maria Pearl" using carbon-14. This is the first time such a procedure has been conducted on a historic natural pearl, to provide valuable and new information on the age of a gem. The Ana Maria pearl will be up for auction at Christie's Magnificent Jewels auction on May 15, in Geneva. The jewel will be on publi...Read More
The price of some steel coil products in Turkey increased over the seven days to Friday May 10, but buying activity remained subdued, sources told Fastmarkets this week.With demand remaining weak in the local market, producers did not want to reduce prices because that would lead to a further reduction in demand as buyers would hold out for even lower prices, sources said.However, demand...Read More
The Antwerp World Diamond Centre (AWDC) and Ars Nobilis, Belgium's - only - umbrella organization for the country's jewelry manufacturing and retail sectors, announced they will "join forces." AWDC explained in an email that "the members of Ars Nobilis will be able to call upon the services of the AWDC regarding legal advice, training, communication and security," and that the two organi...Read More
The organizers of the Fifth Mediterranean Gemmological and Jewellery Conference (MGJC) that will be held next week in Limassol, Cyprus, will hold a one-day seminar called "Diamond Day in Israel," at the Israel Diamond Exchange. The one-day event will include lectures about fancy colored diamonds and lab-grown diamond identification as well as the presentation of identification technology and instr...Read More
Access our research platformsSign-in to our platforms to access our extensive research, our latest insight, data and analytics and to connect to our industry experts.As Indonesia heads for the polls on 17 April, Wood Mackenzie's research director Andrew Harwood provides the following commentary:"We predict that President Jokowi will once again defeat his 2014 opponent, Prabowo Subianto, and secure...Read More