RAPAPORT... The Israel Diamond Exchange (IDE) will reopen its trading floor this Sunday for vaccinated members, recovered Covid-19 patients, and those who can produce a negative virus test result from the previous 48 hours.New bourse president Boaz Moldawsky and the IDE board made the decision on Wednesday following a national drop in infections, the exchange said. People inside the hall will...Read More

RAPAPORT... The sale of previously owned items could boost luxury companies' revenues by up to 20% in the next 10 years and help it reach a broader audience, according to a report by Bain & Company.Resale will also enable the businesses to generate extra demand for new items, Bain said in its "A Vision of Sustainable Luxury" report, which it released Wednesday in partnership with sustainabilit...Read More

Aluminium's futures price on the London Metal Exchange rose $10 after an over 330,000-tonne inflow entered Malaysian warehouses on Thursday March 11, with the rest of the complex finishing higher too with tin closing in on $26,000 per tonne and zinc's price up by 2%.Aluminium's price was at $2,178 per tonne at Thursday's close despite a total of 332,975 tonnes of aluminium being delivered into Por...Read More

RAPAPORT... Gem Diamonds has proposed paying its first dividend since 2016 after annual profit more than doubled on the back of a sales recovery.Net profit jumped to $24.3 million for 2020, compared with $10.6 million in 2019, the miner reported Thursday. The company, which owns the Let??eng deposit in Lesotho, was one of the few major diamond producers to record revenue growth for the year,...Read More

(IDEX Online) - Alrosa sold $372m of rough and polished in February, a modest seven per cent increase on last year.By contrast De Beers, its biggest rival, saw comparative sales rise more than 50 per cent.Alrosa described the current balance between supply and demand as "comfortable" both for miners and rough buyers."The recovery in demand for diamond jewelry in key markets well continued in early...Read More

(IDEX Online) - De Beers reported sustained midstream demand as it sold $550m (provisional) from its latest sight, 52 per cent up on last year ($362m).The figure was down, as expected, on January's $663m - a three-year high buoyed by strong US sales from the US holidays, Valentine's Day and the Chinese New Year. De Beers extended Sight 2 in Gabarone beyond its usual week because of...Read More

(IDEX Online) - Family-owned Gunderson's Jewelers has bought the 135-year-old watch and jewelry retailer JB Hudson, based in Minneapolis, USA. Gunderson's, founded by watchmaker George Gunderson in Sioux City, Iowa, in 1945, now has five stores in the Midwest and is owned and run by his grandson Brian Gunderson.It bought JB Hudson from the Pohlad Companies, a holding company for mor...Read More

Traders and investors are placing more bets on the outright price of copper after being incentivized by greater volatility, metals-focused fund managers said during Fastmarkets Copper Seminar.The London Metal Exchange three-month benchmark copper price contract rose sharply in intraday volatility since the Covid-19 pandemic started in early 2020, after years of narrow daily movement.Quantitative e...Read More

Metal markets are still yet to see the major flows of institutional capital into commodities that characterized past "super-cycles", fund managers told attendees of the virtual Fastmarkets Copper Seminar on Thursday March 11.Commodities from oil to grains and metals have seen prices rise sharply since the start of the year, with bank analysts and executives like Goldman Sachs' Lloyd Blankfein call...Read More

The growth in the adoption of electric and hybrid vehicles will see global refined copper demand rise by 20% per year until 2030, participants at a Fastmarkets Copper Seminar were told on Thursday March 11. "Based on our copper demand projections for all types of [electric] vehicles, we estimate refined copper demand, between 2020 and 2030, will increase on average by 21%," Fastmarkets analyst Bor...Read More

The premium on alumina cargoes in Brazil compared to Australian units is at its highest in more than two years on Thursday March 11 due to continued lack of balance in supply between the Pacific and the Atlantic, sources said.Fastmarkets' alumina index adjustment to fob Australia index, Brazil was at a premium of $7.83 per tonne on Thursday, widening from $0.90 per tonne on February 23."It's no su...Read More

Europe's proposed Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) has been approved by a firm majority in the European Parliament and is expected to help to preserve the region's steel supply chain, industry association Eurofer has said.On Wednesday March 10, the European Parliament voted on the CBAM resolution, prior to a legislative proposal expected to be published by the European Commission (EC) in...Read More

Steel mill shipments in the United States rose by 5.3% to 7.42 million net tons in January 2021 from 7.05 million net tons in December 2020, according to the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI).This follows a 4.4% month-on-month rise in December. The AISI has reported month-on-month increases in shipment volumes since June 2020.The January total, however, is down by 13.1% from 8.54 milli...Read More

Domestic prices for steel hot-rolled coil in Europe substantially increased day on day on Thursday March 11, due to a shortage of material combined with good demand, sources have told Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets calculated its daily steel hot-rolled coil index, domestic, exw Northern Europe, at ?,?791.79 ($940.79) per tonne on Thursday, up by ?,?29.29 per tonne from ?,?762.50 per tonne on March 10.The...Read More

Demand for steel billet and rebar in Egypt has been very weak over the past seven days, with prices unchanged, and with market participants now asking for the country's construction ban to be removed, sources told Fastmarkets on Thursday March 11.Construction permits have been limited in Egypt since May 2020, with a small number of permits issued in September.But the current permits were not enoug...Read More

Turkish steel billet prices have remained largely stable over the past week on limited demand, while sentiment turned negative with the latest downturn in scrap prices, market sources told Fastmarkets on Thursday March 11.Billet producers in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) faced pressure from lower scrap values and rising transportation costs.Turkish steel producers had booked deep-se...Read More

South Africa iShares (EZA) moved above $49.55 extending an intermediate uptrend.Fiserv (FISV), a NASDAQ 100 stock moved above $125.05 to an all-time highOracle dropped $6.57 to $65.55 despite reporting higher than consensus third quarter revenues and earnings. However, cloud revenues were lower than previous guidance.Linamar (LMN) advanced $8.39 to $88.40 after reporting higher than consensus four...Read More

Turkish steelmakers continued to stay back from the deep-sea scrap markets because of falling prices and increasing supply, market sources said on Thursday March 11.Two Turkish steelmakers booked US cargoes last Saturday and late on Monday at $453-456 per tonne cfr on an HMS 1&2 (80:20) basis, sending the daily scrap indices down by $5.79 per tonne on March 9.But booking activity did not continue,...Read More

Momentum has faded in the Japanese steel scrap export market following six straight weeks of increases, with buyers stepping away from closing sales, sources told Fastmarkets this week.Japan scrap export prices fell over the last week in the markets for H2 heavy scrap and Shindachi busheling, while tags for shredded and heavy scrap or plate and structural (P&S) material remained more stable.Fastma...Read More

Iron ore prices were firmer on Thursday March 11, most likely because of lower steel inventories and firmer demand for steel, sources said.Fastmarkets iron ore indices 62% Fe fines, cfr Qingdao: $170.70 per tonne, up $6.03 per tonne62% Fe low-alumina fines, cfr Qingdao: $170.79 per tonne, up $6.04 per tonne58% Fe fines high-grade premium, cfr Qingdao: $156.05 per tonne, up $4.13 per tonne65% Fe Br...Read More