An overview of the minor metals markets and the reasons for any price moves.Read More

Here are five Fastmarkets that you might have missed on Wednesday September 16 that are worth another look.JSW Steel Italia, part of Indian steelmaker JSW Steel, plans to resume liquid steel production at the former Aferpi mill in Italy by 2025 via construction an electric-arc furnace (EAF) with financial support from the Italian government,...Read More

China will be able to absorb the large volumes of ore and ferro-alloys supply it imported in the first half of this year, but supply concerns loom, Fastmarkets head of research Alistair Ramsay said during a recent Fastmarkets webinar on Covid-19 and what it means for trade flow and demand for key ferro-alloys and ores."It is been an extraordinary period with record levels of ores and ferro-alloys...Read More

A summary of London Metal Exchange warrant premiums from across the globe for the week to Wednesday September 16.Please click...Read More

Three-month base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange were mixed at the close of trading on Wednesday September 16, with lower than expected US retail data doing little to slow the upward momentum in LME zinc futures.Despite the US Federal Reserve's continued efforts to bolster the US economy, projections for a continued low-interest rate strategy failed to stop a slip below $1,900 per tonne...Read More

Iron ore prices slumped further on Wednesday September 16, on weaker-than-expected demand for steel, raising concerns that the market could start to move into bearish territory as it did in 2019.Fastmarkets iron ore indices 62% Fe fines, cfr Qingdao: $124.20 per tonne, down $4.32 per tonne62% Fe low-alumina fines, cfr Qingdao: $124.40 per tonne, down $4.50 per tonne58% Fe fines high-grad...Read More

The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.Prices for hot-rolled coil have performed in line with our expectations over the past month, with US domestic HRC prices finding a floor in July in line with the forecast, before improving in August. US HRC prices averaged $473 per short ton in August, compared with our forecast price of $470 per ton.Our prediction that an i...Read More

A summary of London Metal Exchange warrant premiums from across the globe for the week to Wednesday September 16.Please click...Read More

European heavy steel plate prices were fairly stable in the week to Wednesday September 16, with steelmakers insisting on higher offers due to high costs for raw materials and semi-finished products, sources have told Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel domestic plate, 8-40mm, exw Southern Europe, was ?,?480-500 ($570-593) per tonne on September 16, compared with ?,?485-500...Read More

RAPAPORT... Sarine Technologies has partnered with China's National Gemstone Testing Center (NGTC) to offer light-performance reports for a leading jewelry supplier in the region.The co-branded reports for high-end Chinese jewelry designer, manufacturer and wholesaler Yuanyumei (Y&M) follow Sarine's launch of a collaboration with the NGTC in September last year. Y&M will implement the...Read More

RAPAPORT... Petra Diamonds has unearthed five high-quality, blue, type IIb diamonds from its Cullinan mine in South Africa in the span of one week, it said Wednesday.The stones, which weigh 25.75, 21.25, 17.57, 11.42 and 9.61 carats, have been assessed by the company and determined to be individual diamonds, rather than part of a larger whole. The last significant blue diamond Petra recovered was...Read More

RAPAPORT... US retail sales are forecast to increase by up to 1.5% this holiday season, despite uncertain consumer sentiment and a jump in the unemployment rate, Deloitte said Tuesday.The consulting firm expects overall holiday retail sales to rise 1% to 1.5% for the November-to-January period, to about $1.15 trillion, it said. That growth is a slowdown from the same time last year, when holiday s...Read More

RAPAPORT... The Natural Diamond Council (NDC) has unveiled actress Ana de Armas as the star of its first celebrity campaign, which will debut at next week's Emmy Awards.De Armas recently received a Golden Globe nomination for her role in Knives Out, and will soon appear in the upcoming James Bond movie No Time to Die. The NDC approached the rising star as she "radiates with poise and modernit...Read More

(IDEX Online) - Alrosa says it will again offer buyers zero buyouts and extra flexibility at its rough trading session later this month.It says it is aiming to "nurture the green shoots of market recovery," after August sales leapt to $217m, from a monthly average of just $30m during the depths of the pandemic.The Russian miner acknowledged that the market has yet to reach a balance and there was...Read More

The surprise removal of the Section 232 tariff on US aluminium imports from Canada caught aluminium traders in North America and Europe off guard, injecting enormous uncertainty into the market and into aluminium premium outlooks.Muted impact?Most US traders were hesitant to offer predictions about the action's impact on the market.Some traders anticipated little impact to the US Midwest alum...Read More

(IDEX Online) - British miner Petra has recovered five extremely rare blue diamonds at Cullinan, in South Africa.The gems are Type IIb, of high-quality color and clarity, sized between 9.61 and 25.75 carats.Blue diamonds are reckoned to be the second rarest of all fancy color diamonds after reds. Petra says the last significant blue diamond it recovered at Cullinan was a year ago, so to find...Read More

(IDEX Online) - Rising Hollywood star Ana de Armas is to front the Natural Diamond Council's first celebrity campaign.The 30-second video will debut during the first-ever virtual Emmy Awards on Sunday (20 September).The Natural Diamond Council represents the world's biggest diamond miners - Alrosa, De Beers Group, Dominion Diamond Mines, Lucara Diamond, Petra Diamonds, RZM Murowa, and Ri...Read More

Three-month base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange were mixed at the close of trading on Wednesday September 16, with lower than expected US retail data doing little to slow the upward momentum in LME zinc futures.Despite the US Federal Reserve's continued efforts to bolster the US economy, projections for a continued low-interest rate strategy failed to stop a slip below $1,900 per tonne...Read More

The world's top producing copper mine is still in the midst of a grade problem and Covid-19 is making that harder to counteract.Output at Chile's Escondida, which contributes almost 6% of global copper supply annually, will fall for the coming two years, primarily due to lower grades of ore being processed there, majority owner and operator BHP said in its annual results this week.The mine will pr...Read More

South Korea's Public Procurement Service (PPS) has now closed a tender to procure 500 tonnes of primary aluminium from a western origin, according to a notice published by the state agency on Tuesday September 15.The tender was issued on September 2 and sought high-grade aluminium of a London Metal Exchange-registered brand, for shipment to the port of Incheon. Material from China, India, Russia a...Read More