The New York Daily News (NYDN) reported earlier this week that Joshua Niamehr, the owner of the online jewelry website Enchanted Diamond filed for bankruptcy this month. Just prior to the filing, NYDN had questioned the company about accusations of fraud. NYDN described Niamehr as a Midtown diamond dealer who had allegedly scammed customers out of thousands of dollars in unfulfilled orders,...Read More
RAPAPORT... Rough exports from Belgium dropped 37% year on year to $741.5million in May, reflecting continued weakness in the sector. Rough imports fell16%, according to data from the Antwerp World Diamond Centre. The polishedtrade was more stable, with imports climbing 6% during the month. Polishedexports were flat, as the average price rose to the highest level on record forthe country, offsetti...Read More
Royal Asscher, the Amsterdam, Netherlands-based diamond firm, is celebrating its 165th anniversary with the introduction of two new, patented cuts: the Royal Asscher Oval Cut and the Royal Asscher Cushion Cut.The new cuts are part of the company's long tradition of audacity and innovation in diamond cutting and polishing. In 1908, Joseph Asscher cleaved the famous Cullinan diamond, a story th...Read More
As the 2019 Intersessional Meeting of the Kimberley Process (KP) wrapped up on June 21 in the Indian city of Mumbai, WDC President Stephane Fischler expressed confidence that progress has been made in the effort to reach consensus on the review and reform of the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS). He called on participants to agree on the measures necessary for strengthening the KPCS�...Read More
European steelmakers have called on the European Commission (EC) to "retroactively remove" the 5% quota volume liberalization of its import safeguard measures, among other requests to ease pressure on the domestic steel industry.The current safeguard mechanism will increase the level of tariff-free quotas for each product category by 5% after each year. The first liberalization will take place on...Read More
A 10-week decline in low-grade manganese ore prices stalled on Friday June 21 and Chinese port ore prices have been rebounding dramatically from 2019 lows reached in early June. Fastmarkets' 37% manganese ore index, cif Tianjin held at $5.26 per dry metric tonne unit (dmtu) on Friday. Fastmarkets' China port index for 37% manganese ore increased by 2.30 yuan to 47.50 yuan per dmtu (equiv...Read More
The weekly price for rebar produced and delivered in Northern Europe remained unchanged on Wednesday, June 26,, as mills maintained price levels ahead of the renewal of EU import quotas on July 1, sources told Fastmarkets.Market activity was "a little quiet this week, and we haven't sold much material in Northern Europe," one European producer source said.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment...Read More
Brazilian mining company Vale will spend an additional $450 million on safety and environmental recovery in the city of Brumadinho, in the country's Minas Gerais state, until 2023 after an iron ore tailings dam collapsed in January, the company said on Wednesday June 26.This adds to the $4.5-billion financial impact already disclosed by Vale in its first-quarter earnings report. Fines, compensatio...Read More
Turkish steel producers continued to be quiet in the deep-sea scrap markets with little demand for July shipment cargoes, sources said on Wednesday June 26.Mills in the country stepped away from the deep-sea markets last week after booking several cargoes for July.Some sources believe that domestic steel producers in Turkey still need a few more cargoes, but told Fastmarkets the mills&nb...Read More
Iron ore prices rebounded on Wednesday June 26 amid strong activity on trading platforms.MB 62% Fe Iron Ore Index: $117.63 per tonne cfr Qingdao, up $3.17 per tonne. MB 62% Fe Pilbara Blend Fines Index: $115.67 per tonne cfr Qingdao, up $2.41 per tonne. MB 62% Fe Iron Ore Index-Low Alumina: $117.85 per tonne cfr Qingdao, up $2.14 per tonne. MB 58% Fe Premium Index: $104.52 per tonne cfr Qingdao, d...Read More
Quality emerges at Galan's blue-chip lithium addressSPONSOREDgalan lithiumLegal & General head of commodity research Nick Stansbury said market responses to global anthropogenic climate change and attempts by policy makers and industry to curb any warming should ultimately result in higher demand for the red metal."The world is waking up to the fact that it cannot continue to bear the...Read More
Greenland shines brightly in the rare earth spotlightSPONSOREDgreenland mineralsBlack Rock readies for race to graphite productionSPONSOREDblack rock miningE25 powering towards Butcherbird PFSSPONSOREDelement 25Finally, a changed mining tech M&A landscapeSPONSOREDatricoIvanhoe said the combined proceeds of US$514 million (C$679 million) from the CITIC and Zijin Mining investments positioned it...Read More
Fastmarkets is extending until July 31 the consultation period for its proposal to launch a daily containerized steel scrap cfr Vietnam assessment.Responses to the original consultation could not definitively define the liquidity of a daily spot market and its suitability for a daily price assessment.The proposed specification is as follows:Assessment: Steel scrap HMS 1&2 (80:20) containerized imp...Read More
Seaborne coking coal prices weakened further on Wednesday June 26, and market participants are not expecting them to pick up anytime soon.A cargo of a top Australian brand, scheduled for loading over July 10-24, was sold to a northeastern end user at $200 per tonne cfr China."Two other top Australian brands were offered at $202 per tonne and $203 per tonne cfr China, so evidently this was the best...Read More
Japan's Tokyo Steel has cut its ferrous scrap purchase price for the sixth time in June on the back of squeezed margins and weak demand.The country's largest operator of electric-arc furnaces, and the domestic benchmark price-setter for ferrous scrap, lowered its purchase prices by ?500-1,000 ($4.67-9.34) on Wednesday June 26.The reduction resulted in the mill paying ?27,000 per tonne...Read More
Fastmarkets is standardizing the names of some of its steel price assessments to better reflect incoterms and trading locations. In this standardization process, we will remove from the price names the region from country-specific assessments and specify in clearer detail the pricing location of some domestic China prices. Please see the table below for more details:Although Fastmarkets has amende...Read More
U.S. equity index futures were higher this morning. S&P 500 futures were up 8 points in pre-opening trade. Index futures responded to news that trade negotiation between China and the U.S. are continuing. Tariffs on Chinese goods have been delayed.Index futures were slightly lower following release of the May Durable Goods Orders report at 8:30 AM EDT. Consensus was a drop of 0.1% versus an up...Read More
China's rebar prices were unchanged on Wednesday June 26 amid softer spot demand and a slight rise in the futures market. Domestic Eastern China (Shanghai): 3,900-3,950 yuan ($567-574) per tonne, unchangedNorthern China (Beijing): 3,770-3,800 yuan per tonne, unchangedRebar futures edged up during the day but failed to push up spot prices.Continual rain in eastern China this week dampened end-user...Read More
Base metals on the London Metal Exchange were barely changed during a subdued morning session on Wednesday June 26, with a firmer dollar and sluggish US economic data constraining trading.Market analysts therefore remain cautious while optimism ebbs and flows, broadly capping any gains across the complex."The rebound momentum in the LME base metals earlier this week may all be mere short-covering...Read More
The bullish momentum seen on Tuesday June 25 seems to have run its course because base metals prices were mostly mixed in the early Asian trading session on Wednesday. Markets seem to have already priced in the positivity surrounding an upcoming meeting between US president Donald Trump and China's Xi Jinping at the Group of Twenty (G20) summit in Japan later this week.Both countries are seeking t...Read More