The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.In the iron ore market, supply issues including heavy rains at the start of the year, followed by staffing problems during the Covid-19 pandemic, have affected exports from Brazil. This has helped Australia gain a larger market share, but since June, Brazilian export volumes have returned to levels last seen before the...Read More

The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.Chinese blast furnace (BF) utilization rates have stagnated and iron ore port stock volumes are rising, reaching their highest levels since March, which suggests that iron ore supply is becoming excessive while demand is not growing. Unsurprisingly, prices dropped last week and we expect the trend to continue. The market has...Read More

The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts is ready to view.Prices of stainless steel are generally set to reach highs for the year as 2020 comes to a close. For the most common nickel-containing grades of stainless steel, this upward trend is being driven above all by rising nickel prices, which themselves are hitting relatively high levels into the end of 2020.The price increases si...Read More

The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts is ready to view.While much commentary has been written about Asian economies performing far better than those elsewhere this year during the global Covid-19 pandemic, it is stainless steel markets in Europe and the United States that are ending the year in better shape than their Asian counterparts.We do not talk of demand levels or demand g...Read More

The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts is ready to view.While a world leader in many areas, the United States is a relatively small player when it comes to stainless steel. It produces a small amount of material, both in absolute and relative terms (i.e. compared to the size of its population), while a large share of its industry is in the hands of bigger European companies. Never...Read More

The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts is ready to view.Having found it easier to increase prices than their counterparts in Europe and the United States during the past few months, Asian stainless steelmakers now face a number of concerns.In the short term, Asian prices have moved down in recent weeks while those in Europe and the US are on the up. This is mostly a reflection of...Read More

RAPAPORT... Gold-jewelry demand plummeted in 2020 due to the pandemic and high prices, according to the World Gold Council (WGC).The global total dropped 34% to 1,412 tonnes for the year, the lowest since the organization began collating annual data in 1995, it reported Thursday.Demand plunged in the first half and fell less heavily in the third quarter, with an economic recovery in key marke...Read More

Access our research platformsSign-in to our platforms to access our extensive research, our latest insight, data and analytics and to connect to our industry experts.Genscape is now part of Wood Mackenzie. As we combine their commodity intelligence and proprietary short-term data sets with Wood Mackenzie’s world-class long-term analysis, we will be able to offer you unparalleled depth and br...Read More

(IDEX Online) - Surat's long-awaited bourse - a vast $355m building with 4,400 offices  - is  finally due to open in September. The Surat Diamond Bourse (SDB) says it will become the world's biggest diamond trading hub, with an estimated annual turnover in excess of $25bn. It was supposed to open in January 2020, according to its own website.Surat has long been the capital...Read More

RAPAPORT... The Diamond Council of America (DCA) has elected Chuck Kuba to a two-year term as chairman of its board of directors.Kuba, the owner of Iowa Diamond in Des Moines, Iowa, is also on the board of directors of Jewelers of America (JA), and was previously the president of the Iowa Jewelers Association, the DCA said last week.David Bonaparte, CEO of JA, and Bill Luth, executive vice preside...Read More

(IDEX Online) - Debswana, which controls most of Botswana's diamond production, saw rough exports down 30 per cent in 2020 as a result of the global pandemic.Foreign sales were down from $3.05bn in 2019 to $2.02bn in 2020, according to the Bank of Botswana.The country is the world's second largest producer of diamonds after Russia, and relies on them for 30 per cent of its revenue nation...Read More

RAPAPORT... US consumer spending on gifts is expected to decrease 20% this Valentine's Day, with the number of people planning to purchase jewelry also slipping, according to the National Retail Federation (NRF).Consumers intend to lay out $21.8 billion on their loved ones over the holiday, the NRF noted last week following a survey. That's a sharp drop from the record $27.4 billion it predicted a...Read More

Access our research platformsSign-in to our platforms to access our extensive research, our latest insight, data and analytics and to connect to our industry experts.Wood Mackenzie’s latest analysis reveals that China’s crude stock (including strategic and commercial petroleum reserves) could reach 1.15 billion barrels in 2020, equivalent to 83 days of oil demand.Wood Mackenzie senior...Read More

(IDEX Online) - A million rough diamonds seized in raids by the Indian tax authorities on the scanning firm Diyora & Bhanderi are to be returned to their owners. The company is being investigated over claims of tax evasion and the illegal sale of diamond scanning machines. Its premises in Surat were raided 10 days ago. Gems belonging to over 800 diamond firms, which had been sent to...Read More

RAPAPORT... US polished-diamond imports fell 1% year on year to $1.37 billion in November, data from the US Commerce Department showed. The decline was the 20th consecutive monthly drop, according to Rapaport records. The November slowdown reflected a sharp slide in the average price per carat (see graph below), which outweighed higher volumes.US Trade Data for November 2020  Read More

That is a bullish omen for gold, as its subsequent upleg can accelerate after differential gold-ETF-share selling pressure ends.Read full newsRead More

High gold prices are boosting Ethiopia's mining revenue and attracting more investor interest in a sector that is largely dominated by artisanal and smaller players. Coronavirus-linked border closures...Read full newsRead More

Last week, the investing world was enamoured with the GameStop stock craze. The spike in GameStop stock was fueled by frenzied retail investors on the subreddit r/WallStreetBets. Reddit users also targeted stocks like AMC Entertainment, Nokia, and BlackBerry. Today, Reddit has taken aim at silver. Should Fool investors be eager to jump on another retail investor powered rally?The S&P/TSX Compo...Read More

It’s time for dividend-growth investors to consider rebalancing their portfolios for 2021. The S&P/TSX Canadian Dividend Aristocrats Index is making constituent changes, which became effective on February 1. Nine freshly minted Dividend Aristocrats have made their way into the index for 2021. The index dropped three unfortunate names this year.Generally, Dividend Aristocrats are companie...Read More

The year 2020 was a great one for gold. The annual change in price for the year was 24.4%, and even though it was a continuation of the price spike that started in 2019, it accelerated in 2020 because of the market crash. Investors flocked to the safe haven material, the price rose, and many gold companies saw their stock price rise quite substantially in the year.Gold and most gold-related busine...Read More