Shifting London Metal Exchange zinc and lead prices have dictated premiums this past week, overriding fundamental shortages from key suppliers. The LME zinc contract's backwardated forward curve has led to lowball offers from merchants in Italy, while a declining lead price has prompted buyers to come into the market in Southeast Asia for lead in the week to Tuesday November 26. Italy zinc pr...Read More

The London Metal Exchange's cash-settled alumina futures contract, which is settled against a basket of prices that includes Fastmarkets' index, has seen a flurry of activity on the January 2020 prompt date.Four trades had taken place as of 11am London time on Wednesday November 27. Three separate trades of 10 lots on the January 2020 date at $290 per tonne, while another 10 lots traded for May 20...Read More

Zinc and lead smelter Nyrstar has finalized repayment of a $262,125,000 loan it had taken from the South Australian state government to aid the redevelopment of its Port Pirie smelter.The repayment means Australian taxpayers are no longer liable for any risk related to the lead smelter, located near Adelaide.Nyrstar...Read More

Base metals traded lower in the morning session on the London Metal Exchange on Wednesday November 27, shrugging off any residual positive sentiment from the renewed US-Sino trade-talk optimism that led the Dow Jones index to fresh highs yesterday."Wall Street closed at fresh highs yesterday, as both the United States and China spoke positively that a phase one limited trade deal is imminent. Chin...Read More

The United States' steel mill product imports jumped month on month in October due in part to a resurgence in the arrival of slab from Brazil, which offset steep declines in inflows of line pipe, oil country goods, reinforcing bar and cold-rolled sheet products. Shipments from abroad totaled nearly 1.98 million tonnes in October, up by 14.6% from 1.72 million tonnes in September but off...Read More

The price of rebar in the Southern European domestic market increased this week on improved demand in Italy and Spain and higher scrap costs, sources told Fastmarkets on Wednesday November 27.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel reinforcing bar (rebar), domestic, delivered Southern Europe, was ?,?465-480 ($512-529) per tonne on Wednesday, up by ?,?10-15 per tonne week on week.Following m...Read More

The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) has announced estimated margins of dumping on certain corrosion-resistant steel sheet from Turkey, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Vietnam, as part of an anti-dumping investigation initiated on November 8, 2019.The estimated margin of dumping for Turkey is 7% of the export price, 22% for the UAE and 20% for Vietnam, according to the agency.CBSA also esti...Read More

Domestic prices for hot-rolled coil in Northern Europe were expected to rise due to restocking activity and lower availability in the spot market, sources told Fastmarkets on Wednesday November 27.Fastmarkets' latest weekly price assessment for steel HRC, domestic, exw Northern Europe, was ?,?420-425 ($463-468) per tonne on November 27, unchanged over the week.The assessment was based on the lates...Read More

Prices of hollow steel sections in Northern and Southern Europe rose this week following increases in feedstock material costs, market sources told Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment of steel sections (medium), domestic, delivered Northern Europe, was ?,?580-590 ($639-649) per tonne on Wednesday November 27, up from ?,?560-580 per tonne a week earlier.The price of hot-rolled coil (HR...Read More

RAPAPORT... Sotheby's brought in GBP 5.3 million ($6.8 million) from itsFine Jewels sale in London on Tuesday, with many items going for well above theirhigh estimates. The top lot, a necklace by Van Cleef & Arpels featuringa detachable rectangular cushion-shaped, 18.22-carat emerald center stone,surrounded by pear-shaped and brilliant-cut diamonds, sold for $402,375,beating its high esti...Read More

RAPAPORT... Albert Bensoussan has stepped down as CEO of Kering's luxurywatches and jewelry division, the French retail group said Wednesday.Bensoussan joined the owner of Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent in 2014, taking responsibility for its jewelry brands Boucheron, Pomellato, DoDo and Qeelin, and its watch collections Girard-Perregaux and Ulysse Nardin. He previously headed jewelry andwa...Read More

RAPAPORT... A jadeite bead and spinel necklace was the top lot atChristie's Hong Kong sale Tuesday, fetching HKD 73.6 million ($9.4 million). The necklace is named the Heavenly Harmony because its 68jadeite beads are perfectly matched from two different roughstones. It was estimated at $7 million to $11 million at the Magnificent Jewelsauction. The entire sale brought in HKD 396.5 million ($5...Read More

(IDEX Online) - Robert Weldon, director of the RTL Gemological Library & Information Center at GIA, has been awarded the Antonio C. Bonanno Award for Excellence in Gemology for 2020.The award is given by the Accredited Gemologists Association (AGA).Before joining the GIA, Weldon worked as a journalist at both JCK and Professional Jeweler, which he helped found. He has photographed some of the...Read More

(IDEX Online) - An auction of polished diamonds manufactured by Alrosa and held in New York has generated revenue of $4.8 million. The auction was organized by Diamonds of ALROSA, the company's cutting and polishing division.The company sold 255 polished diamonds with a total weight of 435 carats, or 80 percent of all the stones on offer. This included 73 fancy colored diamonds and nine...Read More

HARARE – Zimbabwe’s mining industry has appealed to the government for help, saying output is slumping as the state-owned power company fails to honour electricity-supply contracts.Zesa Holdings has broken its promise to “ring-fence” supplies to miners, Zimbabwe’s Chamber of Mines wrote in a letter last week to Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube. With some companies lackin...Read More

The stainless steel scrap market in the United States remained largely quiet this week, with few signs that improvement is near."The molybdenum price [has been] down since August 2019, the nickel price continues to fluctuate and the demand side of the market remains quiet. The confusion of this market continues," one major processor source said.Fastmarkets last assessed the molybdenum canned...Read More

RAPAPORT... Gemfields raised $27.2 million at its November sale of emeralds, capping offthe miner's second-highest annual results in 10 years. The miner sold 320,000 carats of rough emeralds at anaverage price of $85 per carat, the highest at any Gemfields emerald auction.Some 87% of lots found buyers. The Singapore sale also set a company record for the highest number of bidders, at 48. Man...Read More

The United States' ferrous scrap export market remained quiet ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday, although the expectation was that Turkey will be forced to pay higher prices once it returns to the US market. Turkey has been absent from the US market since Wednesday November 13, when it booked a US cargo containing 25,000 tonnes of an 80:20 mix of No1 and No2 heavy melting scrap (HMS) at...Read More

Turkish steel mills have started booking deep-sea scrap for January shipment at higher prices, sources said on Wednesday November 27.A steel mill in the Marmara region booked a European cargo, comprising 25,000 tonnes of HMS 1&2 (75:25), 5,000 tonnes of shredded and 5,000 tonnes of a mixture of HMS 1, and plate and structural scrap (P&S) at an average price of $262.50 per tonne cfr late on Tuesday...Read More

Physical iron ore prices generally weakened on Wednesday November 27 amid further losses in futures and steel markets.Fastmarkets iron ore indices62% Fe fines, cfr Qingdao: $87.56 per tonne, down $1.74 per tonne.62% Fe Pilbara Blend fines, cfr Qingdao: $87.59 per tonne, down $1.74 per tonne.62% Fe low-alumina fines, cfr Qingdao: $87.03 per tonne, down $1.68 per tonne.58% Fe fines hi...Read More