The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.Despite these unprecedented times, US sheet prices moved in line with our expectations over the past month. While we maintain our view on the direction of pricing during 2020 and the length of the pricing downturn, as the Covid-19 crisis deepens we have increased the magnitude of the price declines through the second quarter...Read More

The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.As oil price stumbles, outlook for welded markets weakensIn February, oil prices, already hit by the economic slowdown in Asia, turned lower on the failure of OPEC+ to reach an agreement on production cuts. This was enough to shake oil markets, but the collapse of global demand due to the pandemic has driven Brent below $30/...Read More

The new issue of the Seamless OCTG & Linepipe Market Tracker is now online at metalbulletinresearch.com.In this edition, Fastmarkets' research team delivers analysis of seamless OCTG and linepipe across international markets:Covid-19 underscores pipe outlookUnsurprisingly, the concern in the seamless pipe markets across the regions is the effect of the spread of Covid-19 on public health and econo...Read More

Ferro-alloys prices have generally retreated over the past month, with demand concerns gaining in prominence.The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.Ferro-alloy pricing trends have generally diverged ove the past month, depending on the security of the supply-side position of the market. With most supply concerns fading with the resumption of industrial activity i...Read More

The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.This month's key ferro-alloy forecast highlights:While the ferro-alloy industry's initial response to the Covid-19 outbreak was marked by rising prices primarily in response to supply-side concerns, focus has now shifted somewhat. As Chinese activity slowly returns to more normal levels, for alloys with a strong Chinese prod...Read More

The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.The first quarter continued the trend of 2019 - for China to actively import relatively cheap metallics and semi-finished steel - but can this be sustained? The answer to this question will come down to the price competitiveness of the products, we believe. One additional incentive to continue to import metallics this year -...Read More

The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.The recent decline in Chinese scrap prices - to their lowest in a couple of years - even as demand rises, suggests that Chinese scrap supply is increasingly sufficient. In terms of scrap demand, the question is more about price attractiveness. Mini-mills were reducing demand in February, largely because steel margins on scra...Read More

The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.While downward pressure mounts on the steelmaking raw material markets, premiums for higher-grade iron ores have been sustained despite narrowing operating margins at Chinese steelmakers. Chinese mills are operating with shrinking margins since the end of last year but the premium for high-grade ores remains high. Historical...Read More

The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.This week Fastmarkets' analysts and price reporters shared their views and recent findings in a webinar revealing some distinct fundamental tensions for steel, refining alloys and, of course, steelmaking raw materials such as iron ore.While the outlook for chrome and manganese ores and alloys is balanced, as far as market pa...Read More

The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts is ready to view.Stainless steel prices have fared relatively well over the past couple of months in the face of the threat from the Covid-19 pandemic.In grade-304 material, the most common grade of stainless steel, prices were down by about 5-7% since the turn of the year - not bad, when compared with the falls in prices of other assets so f...Read More

The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.Having first hit Asia during early 2020, the Covid-19 viral outbreak is now having an even bigger impact on European countries and the US. Widespread lockdown measures have been put in place on people and industry, and economic activity has slowed markedly.For now, stainless steel markets in Europe and the US are yet to show...Read More

RAPAPORT... The Young Diamantaires group is planning to become a more structured organization, with regional chapters and an online networking platform for registered members, its founder told Rapaport News. The initiative of the World Federation of Diamond Bourses (WFDB) has expanded since it launched in 2016 as a small club that met at trade shows to discuss the sector's future. With close...Read More

RAPAPORT... Lucara Diamond Corp. has indicated the market could improve in the second half as lower rough supply and a recovery in Asia bode well for prices."Though our near-term outlook on diamond prices remains uncertain, global rough-diamond production curtailments, combined with early indications of polished diamond-demand recovery in Asia, provide some optimism that demand will improve i...Read More

RAPAPORT... De Beers has launched an e-commerce site that enables customers to buy the rough diamonds they want, when they want them, creating an opportunity for sales during the weak market.An initiative of De Beers' auctions unit, the new Buy platform gives registered buyers an extra way of purchasing rough in addition to the company's existing limited-time auctions, the miner said Thursday...Read More

(IDEX Online) - Baselworld boss Michel Loris-Melikoff says it's too early to talk about a return in 2022, after the 2020 show was postponed and the replacement 2021 show was then canceled.He also said coronavirus had accelerated a major re-think that was already under way on the format of the premier watch and jewelry event, held annually in Switzerland. In an exclusive interview with Au...Read More

RAPAPORT... Alrosa has shut all operations at its polishing units until further notice, as it waits for demand and health conditions to improve.The closure affects the miner's three manufacturing centers: its original two in Moscow and Barnaul, and the Kristall cutting division in Smolensk, which it purchased from the Russian government last year for $29 million. It does not plan to reopen th...Read More

(IDEX Online) - Banks in Belgium have been accused of refusing vital loans to help diamond firms survive coronavirus.The Antwerp World Diamond Centre (AWDC), representing 1,600 companies, claims banks are turning down applicants who clearly qualify for a financial lifeline.The banks agreed a $55bn emergency loans policy with the Belgian government early on in the COVID-19 crisis.But AWDC spokeswom...Read More

(IDEX Online) - India's Bharat Diamond Bourse has donated $159,000 to help workers hit by COVID-19. It has also been helping to feed up to poor residents living near the Bandra Kurla Complex where it's based, in Mumbai. And it has made one-off subsistence payments of $66 each to 800 daily-wage sorters and traders and plans to make more. The $159,000 donation was made to the chief ministe...Read More

Artemis all set thanks to unique approachSPONSOREDartemis resourcesSpencer has had senior roles with Western Mining Corporation, Placer Dome, Barrick Gold, Kagara, Gold Fields and Aditya Birla Minerals, and also oversaw the ramp-up and production of the Ban Phuc nickel mine."[Spencer's] substantial experience of transitioning projects from ramp-up to commercial production and driving ongoing...Read More

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