Domestic rebar producers in Egypt have reduced their prices over the past week, however, steel billet import prices have remained stable week on week, sources said on Thursday December 27.Fastmarkets MB's weekly price assessment for steel billet imported into Egypt was at $440-445 per tonne cfr on Thursday, unchanged from the previous assessment.Billet producers in the Commonwealth of Independent...Read More
RAPAPORT... Alrosa will sell about $88 million worth of non-coreoperations during 2019 so it can focus on its diamond business. The miner will auction off more than 80 assets, includingland, construction sites, heating and electricity services, vacation resorts, andhousing projects, the company said Thursday. Alrosa's supervisory boardapproved the plan at a meeting on December 14. It will hol...Read More
RAPAPORT... As the year comes to a close, Rapaport News takes alook back at the largest rough stones miners unearthed in 2018, and thediamonds that fetched the highest prices at auction.Colossal findsThe 910-carat Lesotho Legend, which Gem Diamonds recoveredin January, claimsthe top spot this year. The D-color, type IIa stone - whichthe miner says is the fifth-largest gem-quality diamond ever foun...Read More
RAPAPORT... De Beers shocked the industry in May by announcing it would launcha line of fashion jewelry featuring laboratory-grown diamonds. Lightbox Jewelrystarted selling the products online in September, and it's now looking atexpansion options. The main opportunity to develop the business will come oncethe miner has finished building a $94 million synthetic-diamond facility inOregon in 2020. T...Read More
Most flat steel import prices in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) decreased over the past week due to lower offers, sources said on Thursday December 27.Demand was subdued because stock levels in the UAE are already high and the market wants to see how the steel market will be in 2019, sources told Fastmarkets MB. UAE Chinese offers for hot-rolled coil (HRC) into the UAE were around...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Holiday sales increased 5.1% to more than $850 billion this year - the strongest growth in the last six years with a robust shopping season from before Thanksgiving through Christmas, according to Mastercard SpendingPulse. Online shopping also saw large gains of 19.1% compared to 2017. "From shopping aisles to online carts, consumer confidence translated into holiday...Read More
RAPAPORT... US retailers enjoyed their strongest growth in six years this holiday season, although jewelry was slightly off pace, a report by Mastercard SpendingPulse revealed. Jewelry sales increased 3.7% year on year for the period from November 1 to December 24, a company spokesperson confirmed with Rapaport News, marking a slowdown from the 6% growth reported for the category during the 2...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Antwerp Belgian sightholder Pluczenik said he is appealing to the UK Supreme Court regarding a dispute between the firm and veteran diamantaire Willie Nagel who is based in the UK. The England and Wales Court of Appeal recently ruled in favor of Nagel, saying the firm must pay $3.3 million to its former broker W Nagel Ltd. after the court agreed with a ruling of a lower cour...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Two organizers of important watch industry tradeshows - the Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie (SIHH) and Baselworld - have agreed to coordinate their dates from 2020 to 2024. The SIHH will be staged from April 26 to 29 in Geneva in 2020, with Baselworld taking place from April 30 to May 5. Next year, SIHH will be held from January 14 to 17, while Baselworld w...Read More
The latest news and price moves to start the Asian day on Friday December 28.Base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange were predominantly lower at the close of trading on Thursday, capped by a sharp downturn in global stock indices while quiet trading continues to keep volumes low. Read more here in our live futures report.Here is how prices looked at the most-recent close of trading on Thur...Read More
Feeding and trial production at Zhuzhou Smelter's new zinc project located in Shuikoushan, Hunan province started on December 26, Fastmarkets MB learned. The project has a 300,000-tonne-per-year zinc capacity smelter, which is replacing the company's closed 450,000-tpy capacity facility in Zhuzhou, also located in Hunan province."We started feeding on December 26, and plan to ramp-up the productio...Read More
Fastmarkets proposes to discontinue its aluminium premium assessments for Antwerp duty-paid and unpaid and Vlissingen duty-paid and unpaid.The proposal is based on market feedback that these premiums are no longer a reference price in the market, with the majority of the market now basing its business on an in-warehouse Rotterdam basis.The in-warehouse premiums are currently published on a weekly...Read More
Base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange were predominantly higher during morning trading on Thursday December 27, buoyed by broad strength in global stock indices and a softer US dollar index. Climbing the furthest, the three-month copper price appreciated 0.7% over the morning and continues to trade close to the $6,000-per-tonne support level. Volumes traded for the red metal continu...Read More
Arbitrage for copper, aluminium, zinc and nickel imported into China on Monday December 27*Copper -$97.83 (-675.7 yuan) Aluminium -$394.48 (-2,724.54 yuan) Zinc $37.18 (256.79 yuan) Nickel $60.93 (420.82 yuan) *Fastmarkets calculates the physical arbitrage for import into China daily by using SHFE front-month and LME three-month...Read More
Russia's state-owned nuclear power company Rosatom has offered Chile's government technology it says can boost output of lithium, a key ingredient in electric vehicle batteries, according to lobbyist transparency filings reviewed by Reuters.In separate meetings in late November, lobbyists for the Uranium One Group, a wholly owned subsidiary of Rosatom, told officials at two Chilean agencies they c...Read More
Good morning from Fastmarkets MB's offices in Asia as we bring you the latest news and pricing stories on Thursday December 27.Base metals prices on the Shanghai Futures Exchange were mostly up during Asian morning trading on Thursday, with the complex buoyed by improved risk sentiment following a rally in US equities. Check Fastmarket MB's live futures report here.Chinese battery materials produc...Read More
The Turkish rebar and wire rod export markets remained weak over the past week due to the year-end holidays and limited demand, with no recovery expected in the coming weeks, sources said on Thursday December 27.Turkish steel mills continued to offer rebar for export at $450-460 per tonne fob on an actual weight basis, yet there were no takers for those offers.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment...Read More
The latest bids, offers and deals in the global markets for hot-rolled coil, cold-rolled coil, hot-dipped galvanized coil, pre-painted galvanized iron, steel plate, steel sheet and other flat steel products. Latest transaction: hot-rolled coilHot-rolled coilTaiwan, export, hot-rolled coil (1.2 mm),...Read More
The latest bids, offers and deals in the global markets for steel billet, slab and bloom. Latest transactions: billet Billet CIS export, billet, offered at $440-445...Read More
The latest bids, offers and deals in the global markets for rebar, wire rod, steel beams and other long steel products. Latest transactions: rebarRebar Oman, export, rebar, traded at $500-502 per tonne cfr on...Read More