Flat-rolled steel sales volumes from Brazilian distributors rose by 18.3% year-on-year in October, outpacing purchases and leading to a decline in stocks, steel distributors' association Inda said on Tuesday November 19.Sales reached 317,700 tonnes, compared with 268,500 tonnes in October 2018. Growth of 9.6% was seen when compared with September's sales volume of 290,000 tonnes.Distributors purch...Read More
Demand for passenger cars in Europe jumped by 8.68% year on year in October 2019, the European Automotive Manufacturers Association (ACEA) said on Tuesday November 19. New car sales in Europe totaled 1,177,746 vehicles in October this year, compared with 1,083,693 units sold in the corresponding month of 2018. The ACEA attributed the annual rise to a lower number of registrations in October 2018 f...Read More
Seasonally weak demand in Russia's Central Federal District around Moscow has pushed prices for hot-rolled and cold-rolled steel sheet lower, sources told Fastmarkets on Monday November 18.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel hot-rolled sheet, domestic, cpt Moscow, Russia, was 39,000-40,000 roubles ($611-627) per tonne on November 18, including 20% VAT. This was down from 39,500-41,000 r...Read More
RAPAPORT... Diamcor Mining returned to profit in the second fiscalquarter, as an efficiency program helped it reduce costs. The miner recorded a net profit of $350,676 for the threemonths ending September 30, versus a loss of $417,368 during the same period ayear ago, it said last week. The company shaved its expenses by reducing its usage of heavyequipment and fuel, it explained. Rough-diamond s...Read More
RAPAPORT... Singapore-based retailer SK Jewellery Group saw a heavy declinein sales for the third quarter amid economic challenges in key markets and theclosure of its gold-trading platform. Revenue fell 46% to SGD 32.6 million ($24 million), whilenet profit slumped 58% to SGD 359,000 ($263,889), the company said in a statement earlier this month. "Continuing tensions between Japan and Korea,...Read More
RAPAPORT... Swiss watch exports rose 1.5% to CHF 2.03 billion ($2.04billion) in October as increased orders from the US, China and Japan outweighed a significant drop in Hong Kong. "Overall growth was hindered by [a] very marked decline inHong Kong, while the rest of the world generally saw an upturn," the Federationof the Swiss Watch Industry said Tuesday. Unrest in the municipality has increasin...Read More
Mexican ferrous scrap prices inched upward during the week ended Friday November 15, with prices for most grades increasing by 150-350 pesos in the steelmaking regions of Bajio and Monterrey.A seller in the Bajio market expects prices to continue to climb due to tighter local scrap supply and increased prices for imported scrap from the United States. While one outlying Bajio mill trimmed pri...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Stephane Fischler, President of the World Diamond Council (WDC), told government representatives at the 2019 Kimberley Process (KP) Plenary Meeting that the future of the process depends on them.During the address at the start of the Plenary Meeting in New Delhi, India, Fischer said that with the end of a three-year reform and review cycle, governments hold the future of the KP in...Read More
RAPAPORT... Tiffany & Co. plans to create a new role of chief brand officer to replace its current head of merchandising. The recruit, who will come from outside the company and will also be an executive vice president, will take over from Pamela Cloud, the jeweler's senior vice presidentand chief merchandising officer. The new role will combine Tiffany's marketing and merchandising effo...Read More
RAPAPORT... Zimbabwe plans to reduce the percentage of sales diamond miners must pay to the state, aiming to encourage companies to invest in the Marange fields.The government proposed a new royalty rate of 10% in theannual budget last week. Diamond producers currently pay 15% of gross revenues,but their overall costs have escalated as they shift toward hard-rock - or"conglomerate" - mining,...Read More
RAPAPORT... Sales and profit slumped at Indian diamond manufacturerAsian Star in the second fiscal quarter as weak rough demand prompted it to reduceits trading activities. The Mumbai-based company supplements its core cuttingbusiness by reselling rough through its subsidiaries, Pranav Kapadia, AsianStar's chief manager for accounts and tax, explained to Rapaport NewsMonday. Revenue from that...Read More
(IDEX Online) - As the U.S. gears up for the biggest shopping weekend of the year, American Express has released data from its Shop Small Consumer Impact survey. According to the survey, 73 percent of people feel that empty storefronts are a national issue and 84 percent agree that the increase in empty storefronts and closing of small, independently owned businesses negatively affects...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Rio Tinto has announced its intention to take a majority ownership in the Star-Orion South diamond exploration site in Saskatchewan, Canada. Saskatoon-based Star Diamond Corporation announced that Rio Tinto Exploration Canada Inc. (RTEC), a fully owned subsidiary of Rio Tinto, has provided notice to exercise its options under a Joint Venture agreement the two entered int...Read More
Import hurdles that emerged in some ports in China last week do not appear to have had much of an effect on the seaborne coking coal market, with a cargo of premium low-vol product fetching $145 per tonne cfr China on Tuesday November 19.Fastmarkets indicesPremium hard coking coal, fob DBCT: $131.91 per tonne, down $1.81 per tonnePremium hard coking coal, cfr Jingtang: $144.14 per tonne, down $3.6...Read More
The mid-grade seaborne iron ore price was rangebound on Tuesday November 19 after market participants reported being wary of growing port inventories and unhealthy pollution levels in the steelmaking hub of Tangshan in north China. Fastmarkets iron ore indices 62% Fe fines, cfr Qingdao: $85.80 per tonne, up $0.03 per tonne. 62% Fe Pilbara Blend fines, cfr Qingdao: $85.83 per tonne, up $0.03 per to...Read More
Diamond miner Trans Hex expects the delisting of its shares on the JSE to be concluded on December 3.It proposed the delisting in July, when it announced a share buyback programme to purchase the issued share capital of shareholders at R1 apiece.AdvertisementAt the time, it said the delisting would enable it to save on the costs of operating in a regulated environment, while its board felt the JSE...Read More
PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Diamond miner Lucapa has recovered two diamonds larger than 100 ct each from its Mothae kimberlite mine, in Lesotho.The ASX-listed company on Monday said that a 22 ct diamond and a 127 ct diamond were recovered from the treatment of recovery tailings, and while neither stone was of high quality, their discovery continued to underline the large-stone nature of the M...Read More
China's hot-rolled coil prices picked up even more upward momentum on Tuesday November 19 amid robust buying activity.DomesticEastern China (Shanghai): 3,650-3,660 yuan ($520-521) per tonne, up 30-40 yuan per tonneNorthern China (Tangshan): 3,610-3,620 yuan per tonne, up 40-50 yuan per tonnePrices rose by bigger margins during the day on strong trading activity in both eastern and northern China.A...Read More
Galena provides a leading lightSPONSOREDgalena miningDrilling aims to expand and infill resources at AntaKori with the latest results providing evidence to support the hypothesis that moving to the north will encounter low-arsenic skarn and porphyry hosted mineralisation."Drilling along the edges of the prominent magnetic high geophysical target to the north of our project continues to provide evi...Read More
China's domestic rebar prices continued to rise on Tuesday November 19 on steady demand amid gains in the futures market.Eastern China (Shanghai): 3,980-4,020 yuan ($567-573) per tonne, up 40-50 yuan per tonne Northern China (Beijing): 3,740-3,770 yuan per tonne, up 20 yuan per tonneEnd-user demand for rebar remained strong, with procurement rates rising in tandem with the futures market that stre...Read More