Copper's three-month price has shown the biggest fall during June among base metals on the London Metal Exchange, rocked by Chinese announcements and rising inventories, while the prices of other base metals such as aluminium and tin were higher than on June 1.Copper's price was $9,374.50 per tonne on Wednesday June 30 at the close of trading, falling from $10,245 per tonne on June 1.Among the fac...Read More

RAPAPORT... Hard-luxury sales in Hong Kong showed only a limited recovery in May as Chinese consumers continued to stay away from the important tourist destination.Revenue from jewelry, watches, clocks and valuable gifts grew 55% year on year to HKD 3.11 billion ($400.3 million), but was still 53% lower than in the same month of 2019, the municipality's Census and Statistics Department report...Read More

RAPAPORT... Pandora has hired Luciano Rodembusch as general manager of its North American operations. He will succeed Sid Keswani, who left the company in April.Rodembusch, who will report to chief commercial officer Martino Pessina, made the leap to Pandora from Tiffany & Co., where he was most recently senior vice president of the Americas, the charm maker said Tuesday. Prior to his nearly 1...Read More

(IDEX Online) - Diamond-producing countries will suffer a consumer backlash unless they can prove their output is responsibly sourced, warned Edward Asscher (pictured), president of the World Diamond Council (WDC).He said some sectors of the industry believed the Kimberley Process restricted trade, rather than enabling it. The result, he said, could soon be a "marketplace with two diamond val...Read More

Premiums for tin ingots in Europe and the United States continued their rise to new highs in the fortnight to June 29, with freight and trucking costs and delays still the main issue pressuring premiums upward, sources told Fastmarkets. Premiums in Asia were stable, with the high London Metal Exchange price diverting participants away from the spot market.  China's Yunnan Tin, the world's lar...Read More

(IDEX Online) - A woman farm laborer found a 4.5-ct diamond, thanks to torrential rains in India.She was planting tomato seeds when she chanced upon the gem in the Kurnool District of Andhra Pradesh state on Sunday, according to local media reports.The first rains of the season wash away a layer of clay, attracting crowds hunting for newly-exposed diamonds that were lying just below the surface.Th...Read More

Antofagasta has agreed to supply four major Chinese smelters with copper concentrates in the first half of 2022, with a treatment charge in the mid-$50s, Fastmarkets understands.The Chilean copper miner and representatives from China Copper, Jiangxi Copper, Tongling Nonferrous and Jinchuan Group held meetings for three days since Monday, sources said, with an agreement finally reached on the eveni...Read More

(IDEX Online) - Plans by the USA to impose a retaliatory tariff of up to 25 per cent would have an "immense impact" on jewelry exports from India, says industry boss Colin Shah.He says jobs would be lost as a result, and business would shift from India to China and Mexico.The United States Trade Representative (USTR) is targeting India and five other countries for taxing foreign internet-based com...Read More

Copper stocks in Shanghai bonded warehouses rose to a 23-month high in the month of June as a result of a closed arbitrage window between London and Shanghai.During the same period, aluminium and zinc stocks in the bonded zone fell, while the stock level for nickel edged slightly higher.Copper inventories at 23-month highThe rise in Shanghai bonded copper stocks came despite a pick-up in spot acti...Read More

Premiums for delivered copper cathodes fell in Europe while those for seaborne cargoes firmed this week, with the market digesting how a tariff on Russian exports would affect the continent's balance of trade. The Russian government has approved temporary export duties on 340 steel and non-ferrous metals sold outside the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), effective from August 1 through December 31....Read More

Zinc premiums continued to increase in Antwerp and Rotterdam on Tuesday June 29 due to low supply but sources expect a downturn in August during the seasonally weaker period, while markets elsewhere were either stable or down during the week.Northern Europe zinc premiums set 40-month high on persisting supply tightnessLead, zinc premiums steady in US despite low availabilityContango, faltering dem...Read More

The United States remains the strongest market for copper cathodes, with the premium remaining at elevated levels in the week to Tuesday June 29, while premiums for imported cathodes in China are showing signs of recovery after sinking steadily for the past few months. US cathode premium holds at eight-year high.  European market digests news of Russia export tax.  China market firms mi...Read More

Los Azules is a porphyry copper project with indicated resources of 962 million tonnes grading 0.48% copper, 1.8 grams per tonne silver and 0.06g/t gold, containing 10.Read More

Hot-rolled coil prices in the United States rose above $86 per hundredweight ($1,720 per short ton) for the first time on Wednesday June 30, surpassing the previous all-time high that was reached just a day before.Fastmarkets' daily steel hot-rolled coil index, fob mill US was calculated at $86.53 per hundredweight ($1,730.60 per short ton) on Wednesday, an increase of 0.64% from $85.98  per...Read More

Turkey imported 829,929 tonnes of flat steel in May 2021, up by 79.67% from 461,928 tonnes in the corresponding month of 2020, the Turkish Statistical Institute (T?oeIK) said on Wednesday June 30.Strong demand for flat steel in Turkey in February and March, when orders were placed for May delivery, was cited as the main reason for the sharp increase.Steel prices jumped in February a...Read More

Prices for steel hollow sections in Europe remained flat on Wednesday June 30, with mills continuing to struggle to obtain feedstock material, sources have told Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets' price assessment for steel sections (medium), domestic, delivered Northern Europe, was ?,?1,370-1,420 ($1,631-1,690) per tonne on June 30, unchanged week on week.Hot rolled coil, the feedstock for hollow sections,...Read More

Steel rebar prices in the north of Europe have remained firm at a high level over the past week, supported by strong demand, low stocks at buyers and limited imports, sources told Fastmarkets on Wednesday June 30.Producers in the region were reported to have no spare volumes for July, sources said.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel reinforcing bar (rebar), domestic, delivered Northern...Read More

European steel H-beam prices remained stable on Wednesday June 30, with mill-led price increases slowing ahead of the summer break, sources told Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel beams, domestic, delivered Northern Europe, was ?,?1,030-1,050 ($1,226-1,250) per tonne on June 30, unchanged week on week.This is the second week of price stability after a period of consistent w...Read More

U.S. equity index futures were slightly lower this morning. S&P 500 futures were down 4 points in pre-opening trade.The Canadian Dollar was virtually unchanged at US80.76 cents following release of Canada's April GDP report at 8:30 AM EDT. Consensus was a drop of 0.8% versus a gain of 1.1% in March. Actual was a drop of 0.3%.Constellation Brands added $0.52 to $231.50 after announcing a $500 m...Read More

A Turkish mill has secured ferrous scrap from the United States for $2 per tonne more than the last-reported US sale, but falling dock prices and a lack of significant upward momentum in US export prices has led some to question what direction domestic prices will take in July's ferrous scrap trade."It is an interesting turn of events. Somehow mills are getting comfortable. My agent told me export...Read More