Plans for a London Metal Exchange spot trading platform have sparked intense debate within the aluminium industry. But opponents and supporters don't necessarily fall into the camps that one might expect. For starters, a decision by the LME not to change its futures contract, establish a new green aluminium contract or set thresholds to define what constitutes low-carbon metal is proving key in st...Read More

The three-month price of aluminium on the London Metal Exchange failed to breach nearby resistance at the close of trading on Wednesday September 2, despite reaching its highest price since January in the afternoon session, while a sharp decline in lead futures saw the metal lose 1.8% of its underlying price.Aluminium's outright price on the LME closed at $1,786 per tonne, a decline of more than 1...Read More

The spread between copper scrap and refined copper continued to widen in August amid the copper price rally and minimal buying interest from the Chinese due to logistics and customs clearance worries in the coming months.Fastmarkets assessed the price of copper scrap No 2 copper (birch/cliff) imported into China 94-96% LME/Comex discount, cif China basis at 32-36 cents per lb on Friday August 28,...Read More

Iron ore prices gained ground on Wednesday September 2 in line with China's downstream steel futures price performance due to strong demand expectations for September and October, sources said. Fastmarkets iron ore indices 62% Fe fines, cfr Qingdao: $127.31 per tonne, up $2.65 per tonne 62% Fe low-alumina fines, cfr Qingdao: $127.90 per tonne, up $2.80 per tonne 58% Fe fines high-grade premium, cf...Read More

Silver is a "must own" asset in this environment. Using both 1970s inflation and Fibonacci analysis, if inflation surges as gold moves towards...by Stewart Thomson of Graceland UpdatesSep 1, 2020 1. While most of the Corona news is "baked" into the gold price, when the dust settles, $2000-$2500 is likely to be the new floor.2. Please click here now. The $1000 floor for gold took...Read More

The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.US market under pressureUS prices for welded pipe products were under pressure because market participants, especially distributors, have started to take steps to generate cash and were moving material if they were able to do so, even if it meant selling at low prices.We expect more such "fire sales" in the coming months, bu...Read More

The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts is ready to view.August 2020 has seen the prices of most steel products move up in tandem around the world, in contrast to recent months when steel prices have moved in different directions depending on the market.This dynamic has been seen in most coated steel markets as well, with the prices for hot-dipped galvanized coil (HDG), pre-painted...Read More

The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.US market at risk of slidingPrices for pipe products were at a floor in the United States in mid-August, and have been broadly stable at that level since the start of the second quarter, but they are at risk of declining further in the coming months.Drilling rig counts have yet to find a floor and have fallen below most esti...Read More

The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.This month's key North American steel forecast highlights:US domestic prices for hot-rolled coil moved down in line with our expectations, averaging $461 per ton in July versus our forecast price of $460 per ton. Although domestic HRC prices slipped to less than $450 per ton in late July/early August, we maintain the view th...Read More

The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.This month's key ferro-alloy forecast highlights:Prices across most ferro-alloy markets trended stable to lower in August as demand remained subdued in major markets, apart from China where steel output continues to rise at a rapid pace, supporting demand for ferro-alloys. As alloy makers seek to remedy supply/demand imbalan...Read More

The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.In the year 2020 to date in late August, the Fastmarkets 62% Fe iron ore benchmark has powered along and reached six-year highs, supported by Chinese demand, and despite the global economic uncertainty created by the Covid-19 pandemic. Iron ore demand has weakened almost everywhere except in China, where it has continued to...Read More

The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.There has been an increasing bullishness in Chinese steel market sentiment recently, with rising post-Covid-19 optimism about the country's economy for the second half of 2020, especially after the government announced an infrastructure spending boost. Although we believe that high prices are justified, they remain far from...Read More

The price of hollow steel sections in the Northern European domestic market went up this week because of the current price surge in raw materials, market sources told Fastmarkets on Wednesday September 2.Fastmarkets' price assessment for steel sections (medium), domestic, delivered Northern Europe, was ?,?550-570 ($658-681) per tonne on Wednesday, up from ?,?540-565 per tonne one week earlier.The...Read More

The price of steel H-beams in the European domestic market has been largely stable over the past week following modest increases in the previous seven days, with further gains depending on demand in the weeks ahead, sources told Fastmarkets on Wednesday September 2.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel beams, domestic, delivered Northern Europe, was ?,?535-565 ($640-675) per tonne on Wedn...Read More

RAPAPORT... The International Gemological Institute (IGI) recently graded a 10.06-carat, fancy-vivid-pink lab-grown diamond that had previously been submitted as a fancy-intense yellow.The stone, which IGI had already fully assessed and graded in its original state, was returned in July for a second round, the lab said Tuesday. IGI found that the lab-grown diamond's color had been shifted using a...Read More

RAPAPORT... Antwerp-based diamond manufacturer HB has hired Boaz Lev as operations director and one of its managing partners.Lev spent 12 years at Malca-Amit, where he was the managing director of its Belgium division, helping to introduce several of the logistics company's services for the diamond trade.HB, which diamantaire Oded Mansori established, gained prominence this year after partnering w...Read More

The spread between copper scrap and refined copper continued to widen in August amid the copper price rally and minimal buying interest from the Chinese due to logistics and customs clearance worries in the coming months.Fastmarkets assessed the price of copper scrap No 2 copper (birch/cliff) imported into China 94-96% LME/Comex discount, cif China basis at 32-36 cents per lb on Friday August 28,...Read More

Traders who recently left copper merchants Werco are setting up a base metals unit at Vanomet in Zug, Switzerland, Fastmarkets understands. Theresa Nepote, Simon Zahno and Marcel Lustenberger, who made up the bulk of Werco's Swiss trading team, left the company in July. The unit, which is...Read More

A western aluminium producer has concluded a deal for delivery throughout the fourth quarter to main Japanese ports (MJP) at a premium of $88 per tonne on a cif basis, market participants told Fastmarkets on Wednesday September 2. The sale is the first from a producer this quarter and comes after several trader sales were reported. Sources close to the matter also confirmed on Wednesday that a tra...Read More

(IDEX Online) - Sales of jewelry and other luxury goods in Hong Kong fell by more than half in July, according to new figures.It was the worst affected sector of all, with a year-on-year decline of 53.7 per cent to $328m.Sales were hit by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, a two-week quarantine requirement for tourists from mainland China, and continuing anti-government protests.Figures for the fir...Read More