The US-China trade dispute has dampened selling appetite among copper scrap dealers in the United States, though China granting restricted quotas has spurred exports once again.Market participants were cautiously optimistic regarding renewing exports to China, as the ongoing tariff spat has altered the flow of material conspicuously. A seller source told Fastmarkets he is finding it "harder to sel...Read More
Monthly European alloy surcharges for July deliveries of stainless steel products will be lower than the June surcharge after the price of nickel continued to fall.Fastmarkets' alloy surcharge for July deliveries of grade-304 cold-rolled stainless sheet is set to fall to ?,?1,318-1,362 ($1,498-1,548) per tonne, down ?,?18-21 per tonne from June's surcharge levels, according to calcu...Read More
Gold futures settled lower on Wednesday, down from the nearly six-year high scored a day earlier, following comments from Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell on Tuesday that analysts interpreted as less dovish than expected, along with fresh hopes for progress on U.S.-China trade talks. "Pullback in gold is following through" after Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell's comments Tuesday afternoo...Read More
Nickel's three-month price on the London Metal Exchange continued its uptrend during morning trading on Thursday June 27, with short-covering activity pushing the metal's outright price higher while trade optimism supports commodity investment. Building on Wednesday's gains, nickel futures are now trading 1.3% higher than Wednesday's closing price of $12,490 per tonne, reaching an intra-morning hi...Read More
While US officials have given the impression that they will attempt to defuse the ongoing trade dispute with China at the upcoming Group of 20 (G20) summit on Friday June 28, their Chinese counterparts were less upbeat.Despite the optimistic view shared by US treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin that a trade deal with China is "90% completed", market sources in the Asian nation say that Chinese offic...Read More
Base metals prices on the Shanghai Exchange broadly weakened during Asian morning trading on Thursday June 27, dragged down by a firm dollar and persisting uncertainty surrounding US-China trade relations.The firmer dollar of late coupled with macroeconomic uncertainty has spooked investors, limiting trading activity this morning and causing the SHFE base metals complex to give back some of Wednes...Read More
The flat-rolled steel import market in the United States has shown little activity, with most foreign products largely uncompetitive versus their domestic counterparts, which are readily available at a low cost."It's virtually impossible to present any foreign offer to make sense," one Gulf Coast trader source said."A lot of people didn't believe the foreigners were going to stay out of the market...Read More
The price of steel billet imported into Turkey dipped slightly over the past week in line with the recent downturn in the ferrous scrap import values, sources said on Thursday June 27.The offers from the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) were $430-435 per tonne cfr Turkey, down from $435-440 per tonne last week, however, customers were still looking for $420 per tonne and below.Therefore, F...Read More
The price of domestic rebar and wire rod in Turkey declined over the past week to Thursday June 27 amid falling imported scrap values, sources said.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for domestic rebar in Turkey was TRY3,100-3,160 ($537-547) per tonne ex-works on June 27, down from TRY3,160-3,190 per tonne, including 18% VAT, last week.The domestic rebar price in the Izmir region was TRY3,140-3,...Read More
The global uranium mining market in the 2010s took a hit from the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan in 2011 - which cut global uranium demand some 10% for many years - and the simultaneous ramping up of low-cost uranium production out of Kazakhstan that has transformed the country into the world's largest uranium producer.Thanks to the massive devaluation of the Kazakhstan tenge currency in 2014...Read More
The Turkish long steel export markets remained sluggish amid limited demand over the week ending on Thursday June 27, while prices remained stable, sources told Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for rebar exports out of Turkey was $445-460 per tonne fob on actual weight basis on June 27, unchanged week on week.Steel mills in Turkey were generally offering rebar for export at around...Read More
The price of steel billet imported into Egypt continued to fall in the week to June 27 on lower offers, driven by poor domestic demand."Prices may fall further because demand is weak all over the region. Scrap prices are also falling," a local market source told Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets' daily index for Northern Europe-origin HMS 1&2 (80:20) scrap was calculated at $273.88 per tonne cfr on Jun...Read More
Sentiment weak amid ongoingliquidity concerns. Polished production reduced by estimated 30% in 2019 due tohigh inventory, sluggish demand and tight manufacturing profits. Recent rough-pricecuts not enough to reboot the market. De Beers June sales slump 33% to $390M,1H sales -18% to $2.4B. Quiet Hong Kong fair highlights show fatigue and cautiousFar East demand as geopolitical tensions fuel economi...Read More
Sluggish activity and weaksentiment amid persistent bankruptcy rumors. Buyers looking for bargains andsense suppliers are under pressure. Cutters despondent due to low profitability,even after rough-price cuts. Manufacturers reducing production or shifting tolow-cost items to keep workers occupied. Polished inventory levels high, butshortages emerging in popular categories such as top-make SIs (3X...Read More
RAPAPORT... The World Federation of Diamond Bourses (WFDB) has hiredPeter Meeus as an external adviser. He will be responsible for helping theorganization fine-tune its position on lab-grown diamonds and other industrymatters. Synthetic diamonds are a huge concern in the industry, and manytrade organizations created in the past 20 years are not geared toward defendingthe natural-diamond sector, WF...Read More
RAPAPORT... Gemfields has sold its 50% stake in a Zambian amethyst mine to enable it to focus on its core assets, it said Wednesday. The sale of the Kariba Minerals deposit to ZCCM InvestmentsHoldings for $2.5 million will allow Gemfields to concentrate on its emerald,ruby and sapphire operations, it explained. Meanwhile, the miner has also established a joint venturewith Mwiriti, its partne...Read More
VicenzaOro, the Italian trade show for gold and jewelry, will again present T.Evolution, its hub for technological innovation at the show that will take place in Vicenza from September 7-11, 2019. Vicenzaoro is organized by IEG - the Italian Exhibition Group. T.Evolution focuses on the technologies and digital methodologies that are play an increasingly central role in jewelry creation proce...Read More
The shareholders elected the following members to the Supervisory Board of Alrosa: Maria Vladimirovna Gordon (Independent Director) - Member of the Supervisory Board of the Moscow Exchange, Member of the Supervisory Board of Polyus; Evgenia Vasilievna Grigorieva - Minister of Property and Land Affairs of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia); Kirill Alexandrovich Dmitriev - CEO, JSC Russian Direct Inves...Read More
RAPAPORT... The Responsible Jewellery Council (RJC) is planning a strategy to help retailers assure consumers their jewelry has been ethically sourced and that they follow the required sustainability standards. The group, whose mandate is to set standards for the jewelry trade, will mark its 15th anniversary in 2020 and is mulling its next stage of development, newly appointed executive director I...Read More
Turkish steel mills stayed away from the deep-sea markets on Thursday June 27, with few signs of demand for further July scrap cargoes, sources told Fastmarkets.Producers booked a number of deep-sea cargoes for July last week before stepping away from the market.And while a few more cargoes were expected to be booked for July shipment, firm...Read More