RAPAPORT... The Gemological Institute of America (GIA) will scale back its Antwerp operations from January, but has decided not to shut the laboratory entirely, the organization confirmed Monday."Today, we notified clients of the GIA laboratory in Antwerp that, as of January, the laboratory will offer consolidated services with reduced staff," a spokesperson told Rapaport News. It will contin...Read More

(IDEX Online) - Customs officers in the USA seized two shipments of fake brand-name watches and jewlery, with a "genuine" vale of $9.6m.One of the intercepted packages came from Shenzen, China, and included 171 items, labeled as Versace, Michael Kors, Cartier, Salvatore Ferragamo, Dior, Tiffany, Bulgari, Armani, Hugo Boss, Burberry, Hublot, Patek Phillippe, Audemars Piguet, Louis Vuitton, Fossil,...Read More

(IDEX Online) - The World Diamond Council says 200 companies are currently trying out its newly-updated rules on responsible sourcing.It hopes to roll out its new System of Warranties (SoW) - pictured - early next year, requiring sellers at every point in the supply chain - polished as well as rough - to include a statement on B2B invoices and memos guaranteeing that the diamonds are Kimberley Pro...Read More

RAPAPORT... Mumbai's Bharat Diamond Bourse (BDB) is on the verge of allowing lab-grown trading, with members due to vote on the matter next week.The board of the world's largest diamond hub has recommended the move, arguing that better detection and increased awareness have made it easier to segregate synthetic stones from natural ones. The poll will take place at the annual general meeting (...Read More

Brazilian aluminium producer Companhia Brasileira de Alum?-nio (CBA) will begin 2021 with new extrusion billet capacity after two years of investments to increase it by 50%, the company said on Monday December 21.CBA announced in December 2018 that it would raise billet production capacity to 270,000 tonnes per year from 180,000 tpy. Capital expenditures totaled 30 million Reais ($7.7 million).CBA...Read More

Daily PDFs will be downloadable until Friday December 25. After that, because of the Christmas and New Year holidays, the next daily PDF will be downloadable on Tuesday January 5.Read More

Brazil's duty-free import quota for unalloyed aluminium for 2021 will be 262,000 tonnes, as decided by the executive management committee (Gecex) of the foreign trade chamber (Camex) on Monday December 21. The quota will be in effect from January 1, 2021 and expire on December 31. The country permits a limited volume of aluminium imports exempt from 6% duties due to insufficient domestic ingot pro...Read More

Scoped for growth: Nevada Copper shifts into production modeSPONSOREDnevada copper corp.Citadel comprises the Calibre and Magnum deposits, which are both about 45km east of Rio Tinto's 503 million tonne Winu copper-gold discovery.Read More

The base price for hot-rolled special bar quality (SBQ) steel in the United States edged up this month while that for cold-finished SBQ remained flat, but market participants expect higher surcharges to push up prices for all SBQ products starting January 1, 2021.On the hot-rolled side of the market, Fastmarkets' monthly price assessment for steel bar hot-rolled special bar quality 1-inch round 10...Read More

Hot-rolled coil prices in the United States have achieved their highest level since September 2008 after a limited release of spot tonnage - offered at $50-51 per hundredweight ($1,000-1,020 per short ton) - provided a glimpse of things to come when order books eventually open again. Fastmarkets' daily steel hot-rolled coil index, fob mill US rose to $49.74 per hundredweight on Tuesday December 22...Read More

Steel rebar producers in the United Arab Emirates increased their prices on Tuesday December 22, but not by as much as expected due to the limited availability of imports, sources told Fastmarkets.Domestic rebarThe country's steel producers were offering rebar at 2,259-2,295.5 dirhams ($615-625) per tonne ex-works for orders to be produced in January, rising from 1,984,1,985 dirhams ($540) per ton...Read More

Flat steel import prices in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Saudi Arabia continued to increase over the past week because of globally strong demand and reduced availability of some products, sources said on Tuesday December 22.Demand was not strong in the UAE and Saudi Arabia because stock levels were sufficient to meet limited end-user demand.Buyers were also reluctant to accept ...Read More

Feralpi Group has suspended operations at its Riesa works in Germany for planned maintenance, which will last for about four weeks, it said earlier this week.The company will idle steelmaking operations at Riesa in the Free State of Saxony, Germany, from December 21 to January 25, while the rolling mill will be idled from December 24 until January 18, the company said in a...Read More

The price of steel billet from the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) exported via the Black Sea continued to move up this week on the back of a new deal for wire-rod grade material to Turkey on Tuesday, December 22.Billet offers from Russian and Ukrainian suppliers were heard at $580-605 per tonne fob Black Sea on Tuesday, little changed from Monday.Turkey remained the major consumer o...Read More

The domestic hot-rolled coil price increased day on day in Northern Europe on Tuesday December 22 due to limited supply of the material across the EU.Fastmarkets calculated its daily steel hot-rolled coil index, domestic, exw Northern Europe at ?,?665.00 ($811.68) per tonne on Tuesday December 22, up by ?,?4.60 per tonne day on day from ?,?660.40 per tonne on Monday.The index was also up by ?,?28....Read More

Base metals prices on the Shanghai Futures Exchange were down across the board this morning, Tuesday December 22, as were most of the metals on the London Metal Exchange, with the exception of tin.Despite the United States Congress finally passing another Covid-19 recovery package, the metals were under pressure after the emergence of a new variant of the virus takes hold, which could increase the...Read More

Mexican ferrous scrap prices continued to rise in the week ended Friday December 18 amid supply constraints and rising global prices.Most market participants reported price increases of 200 pesos ($10) per tonne in both regions assessed by Fastmarkets, but there were reports of price increases varying between 50 and 450 pesos per tonne, depending on buyer and grade. A few buyers kept prices stable...Read More

Intuitive Surgical (ISRG), a NASDAQ 100 stock moved above $713.07 to an all-time high extending an intermediate uptrend. Workday (WDAY), a NASDAQ 100 stock moved above $248.75 to an all-time high extending an intermediate uptrend. Pre-opening Comments for Tuesday December 22ndU.S. equity index futures were higher this morning. S&P 500 futures were up 7 points following news that U.S Congr...Read More

Russia is set to impose early next year a temporary increase to its export duty on ferrous scrap exports to combat the threat of a shortage of steelmaking raw materials in the domestic market.On Friday December 18, Russia's Ministry of Economic Development approved an amendment to its export duty on ferrous steel scrap exports to 5% with a minimum level at ?,?45 per tonne, according to a statement...Read More

The premium hard coking coal in the fob market continued to be active while the seaborne premium hard coking coal cfr price began to lose its price advantage over its Chinese domestic counterpart on Tuesday December 22. Fastmarkets indices Premium hard coking coal, fob DBCT: $102.68 per tonne, up $0.29 per tonne Premium hard coking coal, cfr Jingtang: $190.20 per tonne, unchanged Hard coking coal,...Read More