Negative oil prices isanother corona consequences that no one saw coming. A 30% drop in world oil demand due to the corona lockdown's resulting in demand falling to 70m barrels per day, whilst the producers are pumping out over 90mbd meant that storage faculties had become saturated, thus nowhere to transport new supply to. What actually triggered the collapse was the expiry of May NYMEX oil futur...Read More

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 latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.The Covid-19 pandemic and the associated impacts on steel production, mining and manufacturing activity, end-use consumption, and trade and transportation continue to dominate ferro-alloy markets. US steel mills are operating at around 50% of capacity, with similarly low operating rates evident in Europe as well. Chinese ste...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.Activity in China has picked up, and although the impact from the Covid-19 did not spare the country with its gross domestic product contracting at its largest rate since recording began in the 1990s, the latest crude steel output figures for April from China's National Bureau of Statistics show a strong recovery, albeit sti...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 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

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

RAPAPORT... India's diamond shipments declined heavily in March as the coronavirus crisis hit the US market. Polished exports slumped 48% to $960 million, while rough imports fell 65% to $293 million as Indian manufacturers demonstrated less demand. The country's total rough and polished trade fell 48% to $1.57 billion - the lowest monthly total since Rapaport records began in 2009.Exports of...Read More

RAPAPORT... The Israel Diamond Exchange (IDE) has reopened its trading floor following a two-month nationwide lockdown due to the pandemic.The hall will operate under a new format to comply with government health-and-safety rules, the IDE said Sunday. The measures include a divided floor, with one area for polished trading and another for rough. The bourse has also put a limit on the number o...Read More

(IDEX Online) - Alrosa has followed De Beers' example by announcing a significant cut to expected production this year, in response to COVID-19.The Russian state-owned miner's has revised down its 2020 forecast by as much as 17.6 per cent, from 34m carats to between 28m and 31m.Last month De Beers said it would reduce production this year from between 32m and 34m carats to between 25m an...Read More

(IDEX Online) - Billionaire Robert Kraft has auctioned off a ring containing 283 diamonds  - to mark his NFL team's Super Bowl astonishing comeback victory - for $1.025m.Proceeds will go to the All In Challenge charity, to feed the hungry during the COVID-19 pandemic.Kraft, 78, made his fortune in paper and packaging, and bought the New England Patriots American football club in 1994.He...Read More

(IDEX Online) - The Israel Diamond Exchange (IDE) yesterday re-opened for "new normal" activity after 11 weeks of closure due to COVID-19.   The huge trading floor (pictured) has been divided into separate rough and polished areas, the number of traders has been cut, and tables have been divided by transparent partitions.   Anyone on the floor is required to wear a mask, keep a two-metre...Read More

Artemis all set thanks to unique approachSPONSOREDartemis resourcesChairman and CEO Dr Keith Barron said Aurania had recognised in March that a competitor had discovered a similar style of mineralisation to what Aurania found in the Cutucu Cordillera, 300km to theRead More

NEW TOOLS IN ITS LATEST MICROMINE UPGRADESPONSOREDmicromineCardinal heading down familiar gold roadSPONSOREDcardinal resourcesSarama right in the middle of big exploration, corporate build-upSPONSOREDsarama resources Exore excels in Cote d'IvoireSPONSOREDexore resourcesFortescue has agreed to make a C$1.38 million (US$986,000) investment to increase its Candente stake to 19.92% via subsidiary...Read More