RAPAPORT... The quarterly Diamond Trends Webinar that took place on October 22 outlined the key developments the trade should look out for during the holiday season and 2021.Rapaport Senior Analyst Avi Krawitz provides context regarding how Covid-19 has impacted the market during the first 10 months of the year, along with an overview of polished prices and the supply-demand dynamic that determine...Read More
RAPAPORT... Firestone Diamonds plans to sell a portion of its inventory next month to assess the prices it can secure for its rough stones as the market begins to recover.The miner is holding 64,700 carats of rough from its Liqhobong mine in Lesotho, which has been on care and maintenance since April due to the coronavirus pandemic. It will separate those into at least two parcels and place them o...Read More
RAPAPORT... The Women's Jewelry Association (WJA) has awarded the 2020 Cindy Edelstein scholarship to California-based jewelry designer Olivia Shih.The $5,000 grant - named for the jewelry consultant and author, who died in 2016 - is given to emerging fine-jewelry designers or artisans, WJA said last week. It can be used to pursue jewelry-design, metalsmith, or business courses that focus on impro...Read More
RAPAPORT... Christie's will offer a brooch by Graff containing a 107.46-carat, fancy-yellow diamond at its Geneva Magnificent Jewels auction.The piece, which features the brilliant-cut stone surrounded by white diamonds, is estimated to fetch up to CHF 3.3 million ($3.6 million) at the November 10 sale, Christie's said last week.A pair of earrings, each containing a pear-shaped white diamond as we...Read More
Aurubis, Europe's largest copper producer, sees its multi-metal strategy as a competitive advantage against a backdrop of precarious market conditions, with executive chairman to the board Roland Harings highlighting the company's acquisition and integration of Belgian-Spanish recycler Metallo as a step change in optimizing production. Despite pandemic-related setbacks, the German-based producer o...Read More
(IDEX Online) - A ring set with a pear-shaped 12.38-carat VVS2 fancy pink diamond was sold to an online bidder for $4.6m by Sotheby's. The pink gem was flanked by by two pear-shaped white diamonds, both D color and IF, weighing 0.52 and 0.51 carats. The estimate was $4m to $5m. It was the star lot in a hybrid live/online auction in New York, Sotheby's first sale with bidders in attendanc...Read More
Fastmarkets' research team took the number one spot on the base metals predictions leaderboard for the third quarter of 2020 with a 98.83% accuracy score while ED&F Man Capital Markets' Edward Meir clinched the top spot for precious metals predictions over the period with a 93.31% accuracy rating. For steel raw materials, ABN Amro's Casper Burgering was number one with an accuracy score of 89.47%....Read More
RAPAPORT... Kering's jewelry brands performed well in the third quarter of 2020 amid a recovery in the luxury-goods market in the Asia-Pacific region."Despite their significant exposure to Western Europe and Japan, the jewelry houses held up well," the luxury group said last week.Sales were bolstered by the growth of the group's Boucheron brand in Asia Pacific as demand in the region began to rebo...Read More
There was a surge in buying activity in the Chinese copper scrap market in the second half of October after the release of a long-awaited announcement that the purchase of high-purity scrap will be permitted as a recyclable copper material from next month. "Everyone has returned to the market to buy [non-ferrous scrap] since the announcement," a trader source said. With overseas copper scrap more...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Alrosa is streamlining its manufacturing operations, which are currently run as three separate entities.The Russian state-owned miner says the creation of a single production framework will allocate diamond output more efficiently between three sites, and allow them to provide mutual back-up if the pandemic forces further closures.Between them they currently account for half of the...Read More
(IDEX Online) - The future of Canada's Diavik mine is in doubt after a deal to rescue Dominion, its troubled minority-owner, fell through.Dominion stopped making payments to DDMI, the Rio Tinto subsidiary that operates the deposit, when it filed for insolvency protection in April. It currently owes over US$90m.DDMI says it can't afford to make preparations for the harsh winter, jus...Read More
Three-month base metals prices on the LME were lower in morning trading on Monday October 26, with tin suffering the most after doubts emerged over the US coronavirus stimulus package and with a steady uptick in the US dollar index. Tin's outright price on the London Metal Exchange was recently trading at $17,865 per tonne on Monday morning, down by just under 3% from Friday's closing price o...Read More
Uncertainty about next year's aluminium fundamentals and consumer hesitance to commit to long-term, large-tonnage contracts has Alvance chief operating officer Guillaume De Goys expecting an active spot market in 2021. In a normal year for the global aluminium market, negotiations for annual supply of the light metal begin in mid-September and conclude between late October and November. But with u...Read More
RAPAPORT... Sotheby's garnered nearly $18 million from its Important Jewels sale in New York, with a pink-diamond ring taking the top spot.The pear-shaped, 12.38-carat, fancy-pink, VVS2-clarity diamond ring fetched $4.6 million, or $373,337 per carat, falling within the price range the auctioneer had estimated. It led the auction house's first live jewelry sale in the state since the coronavi...Read More
The price of nickel ore in China was unchanged in the week to Friday October 23, supported by an already tight market and concerns of disrupted supply from the Philippines due to the latter's upcoming rainy season, market sources told Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets assessed the price of laterite ore with 1.5% Ni content, cif China, at $73-75 per tonne on Friday, unchanged from a week earlier and at its h...Read More
Prices in the Commonwealth of Independent States export slab market continued softening in the week to Monday October 26, with several bookings reported done at lower prices in the main traditional outlets.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel slab, export, fob Black Sea, CIS was $435-440 per tonne on October 26, down from $445-455 per tonne fob a week ago.Market sources from Italy report...Read More
Domestic prices for hot-rolled coil in Northern Europe inched up day on day on Monday October 26, with market sources expecting steelmakers to push prices up further due to reduced availability of the material, sources told Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets calculated its daily steel hot-rolled coil index, domestic, exw Northern Europe at ?,?497.92 ($590.29) per tonne on Monday October 26, up by ?,?1.25 per...Read More
Domestic steel rebar prices in Russia's Central Federal District around Moscow remained broadly stable this week, despite producer attempts to raise prices for November deliveries, sources told Fastmarkets on Monday, October 26.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel reinforcing bar (rebar), domestic, cpt Moscow, Russia was 40,000-41,000 roubles ($526-539) per tonne on October 26, incl...Read More
Prices for flat steel imported into South America have remained mostly stable over the week to Friday October 23 while hot-rolled coil (HRC) prices increased amid strong offers from Chinese exporters, sources told Fastmarkets.Steelmakers from China have been more insistent on sustaining price increases after their return from the country's Golden Week holiday (October 1-8) and, therefore, have bee...Read More
Turkish steel mills have returned to the market to book as many as six cargoes, sources told Fastmarkets on Monday October 26. News of several cargoes came to light late on Friday after the Fastmarkets' index calculation had closed for the day, and additional cargoes were sold on Saturday. Two UK deals came to light over the weekend, with one confirmed to have been sold Saturday. Both comprised HM...Read More