Representatives from the United States, European Union and Japan have agreed to jointly work toward strengthening existing World Trade Organization (WTO) rules on market-distorting industrial subsidies, a move welcomed by aluminium trade groups that have long sought to tackle Chinese overcapacity.Specifically, trade ministers from the three regions discussed the need to strengthen existi...Read More

A summary of Brazilian multi-base metal producer Nexa Resources' production and sales results in 2019 and production and sales guidance for zinc, copper and lead for 2020-2022. Falling zinc grades in treated ore put pressure on overall mining production in 2019, although 2019 full-year guidance was met for all metals. Zinc metal sales volumes increased on higher contribution from Peru's Caja...Read More

China Nonferrous Mining Corp's (CNMC) Lualaba copper smelter has commenced operations in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) with an estimated output of 100,000 tonnes of copper this year, Fastmarkets has learned. The smelter started production at the start of 2020, a source close to the matter told Fastmarkets. The 120,000 tonne-per-year capacity smelter is the only major copper smelter in the...Read More

The three-month lead price on the London Metal Exchange was higher during morning trading on Thursday January 16, with price action breaking past the $2,000-per-tonne resistance level against strong volumes, while zinc futures followed higher. Lead's outright price on the LME was recently at $2,026.50 per tonne, while morning trading volumes were high with over 2,100 lots exchanged as of 9:30am Lo...Read More

South32 has maintained its production guidance for its Hillside and Mozal aluminium smelters for its 2020 financial year, despite the first half being affected by South African power outages. Aluminium  At Hillside, aluminium saleable production increased by 1% to 362,000 tonnes in the first half of South32's financial year ended December 31, 2019, attributed to the smelter continuing to test...Read More

Copper production at the Deziwa copper-cobalt project in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has officially come online in January 2020, following successful trial operations in December 2019, sources told Fastmarkets this week. And the project is expected to start production of cobalt in late first quarter, they added. Deziwa is operated by Soci?(C)t?(C) Minere de Deziwa (Somdez), a j...Read More

US hot-rolled coil prices have slipped on fears that domestic mills' recent attempts to lift tags might fail as a result of lower scrap prices, increased slab supplies and weaker demand.Fastmarkets' daily steel hot-rolled coil price, fob mill US was calculated at $30.75 per hundredweight ($615 per short ton) on Thursday January 16, down by 0.5% from $30.91 per cwt on Wednesday January 15 but up by...Read More

The European Commission (EC) has backtracked on an end-use monitoring procedure which was applied as part of its safeguard measures on imports of hot-dipped galvanized coil (HDG) destined for the automotive industry, it said on Wednesday January 15.The HDG safeguard was among a raft of such measures that concerned 26 steel product categories, with any imports that exceeded a specific quota becomin...Read More

Polished trading stable with selective demand. Dealers focused on filling US orders as jewelers begin post-holiday inventory replacement. Mixed results from the season, with record e-commerce sales driving growth. Signet Jewelers Nov.-Dec. revenue -1% to $1.8B. Rising expectations for Jan. 25 Chinese New Year as US and China sign trade deal. Chow Tai Fook 3Q China sales +17%, Hong Kong -38%. China...Read More

RAPAPORT... Sales at Signet Jewelers increased during the holiday season, prompting the retailer to raise its full-year outlook.Same-store sales - at branches open for at least a year - increased 1.6% for the nine weeks ending January 4, while total revenue slipped 1% to $1.82 billion. E-commerce revenue grew 14% to $252.3 million, the company said Thursday. "We delivered holiday sa...Read More

Demand for passenger cars in Europe moved up by a remarkable 21.65% year-on-year in December 2019, making it the fourth consecutive month of growth.New car sales in Europe totalled 1,215,076 vehicles in December last year, compared with 998,791 units sold in the corresponding month of 2018, the European Automotive Manufacturers Association (ACEA)...Read More

RAPAPORT... Michael Hill's sales rose 6% in the first half of its fiscal year amid strong growth in holiday purchasing and a successful launch of lab-grown diamond jewelry.Group revenue climbed to AUD 327.3 million ($226.3 million) as higher sales in October and November outweighed weak consumer sentiment at the beginning of December, the jeweler reported Wednesday. Same-store sales - at branches...Read More

RAPAPORT... Belgium's diamond trade declined in 2019 as excess supply led to slower demand for rough and polished, the Antwerp World Diamond Centre said Wednesday.Polished exports fell 13% to $9.93 billion, their lowest level since 2009, Rapaport records showed, while rough imports and exports both slumped 26%. Total trading was also the weakest in a decade, sliding 19% to $37.1 billion."Manu...Read More

RAPAPORT... Lucara Diamond Corp. has sold Botswana's largest diamond to Louis Vuitton in a rare move that will see the fashion house partner with an Antwerp manufacturer to polish the stone.The mining company will receive an up-front payment for the 1,758-carat Sewel?? rough and retain a 50% interest in the final polished, it said in a statement Wednesday. While the diamond is of variable qua...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.Oil demand growth has been weak in 2019, with the OPEC+ group surprisingly extending their cuts by a further 500 kbd through to end of Q1 in 2020. In spite of that, fears of sustained weak demand growth have restricted Brent to mid US...Read More

(IDEX Online) - Lucara Diamond Corp. is collaborating with Louis Vuitton and the Antwerp manufacturing HB Company to transform the 1,758-carat Sewel?? ? diamond into a fine jewelry collection. The record-breaking diamond was recovered from the Karowe Diamond Mine in Botswana in April 2019.Lucara will receive an up front non-material payment for the Sewel?? ? and keep a 50-percent interest in the i...Read More

The Dubai Multi Commodities Centre (DMCC) has inaugurated a state-of-the-art luxury vault and safe deposit facility, the 818 Vault, in the Jumeirah Lakes Towers (JLT), in Dubai.Officially opened on Wednesday, the high-security vault adds to DMCC’s trade and business ecosystem that provides facilities, services and infrastructure to member companies operating in the gold, diamond, precious me...Read More

(IDEX Online) - Diamcor Mining Inc. sold 13,218 carats of rough in the its third fiscal quarter ended December 31, 2019. Gross revenue for the period totaled $1,412,117 or $106.83 per carat. The lower dollar per carat achieved during the period was due to the significantly higher percentage of smaller, lower quality rough diamonds recovered as part of the tailings-retreatment exercises at the...Read More

Domestic prices in Europe are almost unchanged day on day, but the mood in the market has remained positive, sources told Fastmarkets on Thursday January 16.European steelmakers have moved offers up and are reluctant to give discounts, according to market sources. A lack of competitive import offers and some seasonal demand recovery are supporting the positive market sentiment.Fastmarkets' daily s...Read More

Turkish steel billet import prices fell slightly over the past week on the back of weakening scrap costs, and domestic and export billet prices are expected to follow suit soon, sources said on Thursday January 16.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel billet import, cfr main port Turkey, was $410-415 per tonne on Thursday, narrowing down from $410-420 per tonne last week.Steel billet supp...Read More