RAPAPORT... WD Lab Grown Diamonds has introduced a new brand it said offered fully traceable, US-grown and guaranteed conflict-free synthetic stones. The company, which has achieved a sustainability rating through SCS Global Services, noted Tuesday individual third-party certifications would accompany each Latitude stone.Latitude's chemical vapor deposition (CVD) diamonds are graded by independent...Read More

(IDEX Online) - US sales of watches and jewelry in April were up by 176 per cent year-on-year, reflecting a robust recovery from the depths of the global pandemic. April 2020 saw total sales halved, as the first lockdowns and travel restrictions were imposed. Year-on-year sales have been steadily increasing since June 2020. In March 2021 there was a rise of almost 90 per cent, the first comparison...Read More

(IDEX Online) - Assets worth a total of $1.3bn seized from diamond fugitives Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi, and businessman Vijay Mallya, have been returned to the banks in India from which they were allegedly defrauded.The Enforcement Directorate (ED), which investigates economic crime in India, said on Tuesday that it had unraveled a web of dummy entities at home and abroad used to rotate and...Read More

(IDEX Online) - A 21.86-carat natural pink diamond from the Kao mine, in Lesotho, is be sold next month in Antwerp.Kao is one of the few sources of pink diamonds following the closure last year of Rio Tinto's iconic Argyle mine, in Australia, which provided 90 per cent of the world's pinks.The rough stone (pictured), discovered on 18 May and named The Pink Palesa, will be offered for sal...Read More

All base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange, except for copper, finished slightly higher on Thursday June 24, with the recovery continuing after last week's decline while the US Dollar Index consolidated on low ground to lend support to the complex.Nickel led the way on the LME, rising by 1.9% at the close of trading on Thursday to $18,407 per tonne, up from its Wednesday closing price of...Read More

Domestic prices for hot-dipped galvanized coil in Europe increased in the week to Wednesday June 23, supported by tight supplies and good demand, sources told Fastmarkets.European producers have full order books, with those in Northern Europe said to be sold out of 2021 rolling HDG, while Italian and Central European mills were still able to offer limited volumes for shipment in the fourth quarter...Read More

Shipbroker Simpson Spence Young (SSY) has launched a new carbon desk and offsetting service, part of a wider strategy to decarbonize its own as well as its clients' businesses, the company announced in a press release on its website on Thursday June 24.The broker will offer its clients compliance and voluntary offsets, as well as futures and options coverage. It also plans to make its global offic...Read More

The US government's Department of Commerce has banned imports of silicon from Hoshine Silicon Industry, the world's largest silicon metal producer, and four other companies in China's Uygur region, which the US accuses of using forced labor.Hoshine, and other banned companies, produce polysilicon which is used in computer chips. These are needed for solar energy panels but are in acutely short sup...Read More

Azure's Andover nickel shapes as a Pilbara NovaSPONSOREDazure mineralsThe FBICRC has just released a report, prepared by consultancy Accenture, that outlines two pathways towards 2030: sticking with a business-as-usual mining focus, or developing a diversified batteryRead More

Russia's economy ministry has proposed that the government impose temporary export duties on ferrous and non-ferrous metals sold outside the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), documents seen by Fastmarkets state.The duty will affect steel products as well as copper, nickel and aluminum.The change is because global metals prices are increasing, pressuring the domestic market, the country's minister of...Read More

The South African government announced the establishment of the Transnet National Ports Authority (TNPA) on June 22.This reform, which enacts measures legislated for in the National Ports Act of 2005, will create the TNPA as an independent subsidy of Transnet, the national logistics organization of South Africa."The creation of a separate subsidiary will allow the ports...Read More

Consolidation has set in across the base metals on the London Metal Exchange this morning, Thursday June 24, while in Shanghai, moves were mixed in response to the combination of yesterday’s strength and this morning’s weakness on the LME.Broader markets are also mixed this morning, suggesting that markets are waiting for direction.Base metalsLME three-month base metals prices were down...Read More

Azure's Andover nickel shapes as a Pilbara NovaSPONSOREDazure mineralsWhile it was a great pick-up, St Barbara has never got close to 500,000oz.Read More

Primary aluminium stocks at the three main Japanese ports (MJP) of Osaka, Nagoya and Yokohama climbed for a second month in a row in May, rising by 4.4%, but were down 15.6% from May 2020, according to data from major Japanese trading house Marubeni Corp.Aluminium stocks at the three ports totaled 285,600 tonnes on May 31, up by 12,000 tonnes from the end of April, according to the figures release...Read More

The price for importing hot-rolled coil steel into the United States reached a record high for the second time in June, with domestic buyers competing with increased global demand for flat-rolled products.The volume of import offers has fallen in an already coil-starved US market, sources said."We have not seen any foreign HRC offers of late," a consumer said. "The Canadian and Mexican steel mills...Read More

Domestic steel reinforcing bar prices in the United States stabilized after last week's spike, while import prices continue to climb.Fastmarkets' weekly assessment for steel reinforcing bar, fob mill US was $48 per hundredweight ($960 per short ton) on Wednesday June 23, unchanged from the previous week, but up 11.63% from $43 the month before.US marketAlthough the cost of rebar stabilized this we...Read More

Hot-rolled coil prices in the United States held above $84 per hundredweight ($1,680 per short ton) for 10 consecutive business days, with buyers scrambling to acquire material at any price, market participants said.Fastmarkets' daily steel hot-rolled coil index, fob mill US was calculated at $84.69 per cwt ($1,693.80 per ton) on Thursday June 24, down by 0.54% from $85.15 per cwt on Wednesday Jun...Read More

U.S. equity index futures were higher this morning. S&P 500 futures were up 20 points in pre-opening trade.U.S. equity index futures were virtually unchanged prior to release of economic news at 8:30 AM EDT. Consensus for May Durable Goods Orders is an increase of 1.9% versus a decline of 1.3% in April. Excluding aircraft orders, consensus for May Durable Orders is an increase of 0.8% versus a...Read More

The Brazilian capital goods association, Abimaq, will meet with China-based Baosteel and local trading house Comexport to pave the way for its members to import more steel amid rising prices and tight supply in the domestic market, the association said on Wednesday June 23."We still don't know details about tonnage or types of products that will be needed," Abimaq's executive president, Jos?(C) Ve...Read More

A group of Ukrainian parliamentarians have proposed a tax on excess profits from the export of commodities including iron ore, non-ferrous metals, ferrous scrap and rebar, Fastmarkets learned on Thursday June 24.A set of draft laws published on June 16 suggests changes to the country's tax, customs and budgetary codes, according to a note published by Verkhovna Rada, the Ukraine parliament. These...Read More