Gold and silver bulls attempted to start a rally last week, but prices were capped by astrengthening U.S. Dollar Index. The buck has been advancing strongly against foreigncurrencies over the past month. Currency traders are encouraged by the FederalReserve’s apparent plans to taper asset purchases and begin raising interestrates way out in 2023. Dollar buyers also seem convinced that the re...Read More

Gold, silver, and theirminers’ stocks suffer their weakest seasonals of the year in early summers.  With traders’ attention normally diverted to vacationsand summer fun, interest in and demand for precious metals usually wane.  Without outsized investment demand, goldtends to drift sideways dragging silver and miners’ stocks with it.  Long feared as the summer dold...Read More

China's domestic rebar prices continued their upward trend on Tuesday July 6 on restocking demand, but end user demand soured, sources told Fastmarkets.DomesticEastern China (Shanghai): 4,950-4,980 yuan ($767-771) per tonne, up by 80 yuan per tonneTrading houses raised their procurement rates on Monday to build up inventories in anticipation of lower production in the second half of 2021.The...Read More

China imported 879,965 tonnes of steel billet in May, up by 77% from 497,588 tonnes in May 2020, according to customs data.Indonesia remained the biggest supplier of billet to China in that month at 260,642 tonnes. Slab import volume of 72,480 tonnes was down by 67% year on year. Vietnam accounted for 57% - 41,510 tonnes - of...Read More

Gerald Group's subsidiary SL Mining resumed loading iron ore for export in the Port of Freetown, Sierra Leone, West Africa, on Sunday July 4 2021, the London-based metals trader said this week.The company's first exports since June 2019, the "Marampa Blue" brand iron ore concentrate being shipped is more than 65% iron content and the unspecified volumes being transported will be taken from SL Mini...Read More

Turkish prices for various flat steel products moved both upward and downward during June, with the future for the prices seeming to be unsure because of the broader global market uncertainty, sources told Fastmarkets on Thursday July 1.The main reasons for this were that the traditionally slow summer season has started in most countries, China has not yet announced the rate for its planned export...Read More

Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Tuesday July 6 that are worth another look.Indian suppliers exhausted their third-quarter quota for shipments of hot-rolled coil into Europe on the first day of the new three-month period, according to data released by the European...Read More

Hot-rolled coil import prices into the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia decreased during the week ended Tuesday July 6 because of globally weakening prices, as well as the upcoming Eid al-Adha religious holiday, sources have told Fastmarkets.The Eid al-Adha holiday was expected to start in about two weeks' time, and some buyers were postponing their bookings until after that, sources said.HRC...Read More

Copper prices fell by 2.1% on the London Metal Exchange during trading on Tuesday July 6, on a strengthening of the US dollar and market caution at the start of the new trading month.The three-month copper price fell by almost $200 per tonne on Tuesday to $9,312 per tonne, despite reaching an intra-day high of $9,632.50 per tonne. This was a 2.1% decrease from Monday's 5pm close of $9,511 per tonn...Read More

Steel rebar and billet prices in the United Arab Emirates decreased during the week to Tuesday July 6 due to a global slowdown, sources told Fastmarkets.Global demand for long steel is moderate to weak, and prices are no longer increasing in Turkey, a key exporter of rebar.Emirates Steel, the biggest producer in the UAE, decreased its official rebar price by 55 dirhams ($14.97) per tonne to 3,012...Read More

Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Tuesday July 6 that are worth another look.Indian suppliers exhausted their third-quarter quota for shipments of hot-rolled coil into Europe on the first day of the new three-month period, according to data released by the European...Read More

Copper prices fell by 2.1% on the London Metal Exchange during trading on Tuesday July 6, on a strengthening of the US dollar and market caution at the start of the new trading month.The three-month copper price fell by almost $200 per tonne on Tuesday to $9,312 per tonne, despite reaching an intra-day high of $9,632.50 per tonne. This was a 2.1% decrease from Monday's 5pm close of $9,511 per tonn...Read More

Iron ore prices largely edged up on Tuesday July 6 following the steel price increase, while market chatter on the crude steel production cut and authorities' focus on curbing the commodity price surge weighed on the market, sources told Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets iron ore indices 62% Fe fines, cfr Qingdao: $222.36 per tonne, up $0.54 per tonne62% Fe low-alumina fines, cfr Qingdao: $226.02 per tonne,...Read More

Hot-rolled coil prices increased in China's domestic market on Tuesday July 6, following gains in futures prices, while market participants continued to digest talks of production cuts.DomesticEastern China (Shanghai): 5,580-5,620 yuan ($864-870) per tonne, up by 80 yuan from 5,500-5,540 yuan per tonne. The expectation of production cuts at Chinese steel mills in the second half of the year has be...Read More

The Hunt brothers were taken out of their silver position for controlling around...by Bix Weir of Road to RootaThe Hunt brothers were taken out of their silver position for controlling around 100M oz of Physical silver and 100M oz of COMEX contracts...JP Morgan controls 10X that and yet they are still allowed to the the BIG KAHUNA in the silver market supplying 70% of the COMEX Silver Deliveries f...Read More

Activity in the European hot-rolled coil market has been limited because buyers are refraining from making new deals to assess price trends and mills are holding back from trading on good order books, sources told Fastmarkets on Tuesday July 6.Fastmarkets calculated its daily steel hot-rolled coil index, domestic, exw Northern Europe at ?,?1,146.25 ($1,359.80) per tonne on Tuesday July 6, down by...Read More

The Turkish steel producers continued to hold back from the deep-sea scrap import markets on the second working day of the week due to limited demand for finished long steel products, market participants told Fastmarkets on Tuesday July 6.The mills in the country booked four deep-sea cargoes last week, three of which were booked by a single steel mill.The most recent deal was concluded at $495 per...Read More

RAPAPORT... Alrosa has introduced a provenance program that allows customers to trace diamonds back to their origin using nanotechnology. The Russian miner will place a permanent, noninvasivelaser marking on rough and polished stones, which participants can "read" using a special scanning machine that Alrosa will provide, it said Tuesday. This will enable people along the supply cha...Read More

RAPAPORT... There is a buoyancy about the diamond market that has surprised many at the halfway point of the year. Considering the struggles the industry has endured in the past decade, diamantaires aren't necessarily used to the positive forces shaping the trade in 2021."Coming off a difficult last year, there's no doubt the diamond industry performed better than most [industries]," says Pau...Read More

RAPAPORT PRESS RELEASE, July 6, 2021, Las Vegas... Robust retail sales are driving positive sentiment in the diamond market. Polished prices continue their upward momentum even as inventory levels gradually rise in some sizes. Steady demand, shortages in certain categories and high rough costs are supporting prices. The RapNet Diamond Index (RAPI?,,?) for 1-carat diamonds climbed 2.7% in June...Read More