A summary of London Metal Exchange warrant premiums from across the globe for the week to Wednesday December 4.Please click...Read More
An overview of the noble alloys markets and their latest price moves.Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets MB stories you might have missed on Wednesday December 4 that are worth another look.French special steelmaker Ascoval, part of the British Steel group, is to supply 140,000 tonnes per year of semi-finished products, rectangular blooms, to rail manufacturing specialist BSFR (British Steel France Rail) to be processed into rails for the SNCF R?(C)seau national train networ...Read More
The Indian lead premium surged to a two-month high this week while the three-month LME price struggles but global zinc premiums held firm despite softer forward spreads.Indian secondary lead premium hits two-month high US lead premium flat; impact from Belledune smelter shutdown yet to emerge Taiwan 2020 long-term lead supply contract signed; spot premium unchanged European market steady despite s...Read More
A sharp drop in the US Midwest aluminium premium in November was the primary reason market participants turned away from any sort of arbitrage opportunity between London Metal Exchange sheds in Asia and the United States. An ongoing aluminium stock drawdown throughout November in the US and a lingering backwardation on LME spreads pushed the premium to its lowest since March 2018. "Yet further wea...Read More
Year-end destocking continues to prolong a downturn in Shanghai copper cathode premiums but US and European markets are unchanged while annual contracts are being negotiated. Shanghai cif premiums at three month low US annual contracts in focus Large-scale cancellations of European on-warrant stocksShanghai premiums drop to three-month low, bonded premiums stable Copper cathode premiums on a cif...Read More
Taiwanese buyers of zinc ingot have signed 2020 annual supply contracts with major zinc producers at lower premiums compared with this year, sources with knowledge of the matter told Fastmarkets. "Top brands are signed at $145-150 per tonne and normal brands concluded at $130-140," one Tainwan-based source told Fastmarkets. "A number of Southeast Asia traders also signed at $145-150 per tonne," a...Read More
RAPAPORT... The holiday season got off to positive start over the five-day Thanksgiving weekend, with observers seeing record online sales.About 124 million people shopped in stores, while 142.2 million bought online during the Thanksgiving period from November 28 to December 2, the National Retail Federation (NRF) reported. The average spend on holiday items across all platforms rose 16...Read More
RAPAPORT... Synthetic diamonds grown using chemical vapor deposition (CVD) could change color for an extended period following exposure to certain light forms, Gemological Science International (GSI) has warned. When testing a 2-carat CVD diamond,GSI exposed the stone to high-powered ultraviolet (UV) rays, during which it wentfrom near colorless to blue, the organization said Tuesday. This bl...Read More
Hot-rolled coil prices in the United States went up after domestic buyers returned from the Thanksgiving holidays to find that mills were quoting higher prices, sources said.Fastmarkets' daily steel hot-rolled coil index, fob mill US was calculated at $27.93 per hundredweight ($558.60 per short ton) on Wednesday December 4, up by 1.4% from $27.54 per cwt on December 3. The uptick on...Read More
Brazilian flat steel producers have announced price increases to distributors for early January, following a move by Usiminas, sources said.Gerdau said on Wednesday December 4 that it will increase prices by 7-9.5% effective on January 1, while Companhia Sider??rgica Nacional said it intends to raise prices by 10%. ArcelorMittal is also planning to increase prices by around 10%, sources told...Read More
RAPAPORT... The Gemological Institute of America (GIA) will close its Dubai office by the end of the year, ending a decade-long presence in the city. The organization has offered education programs, including its Graduate Diamonds course and distance-education lab classes, in Dubai since 2008, and opened a take-in facility to ship stones for grading in 2010. Both services will close by Decemb...Read More
(IDEX Online) - The GIA (Gemological Institute of America) has announced the closure of its Dubai laboratory take-in facility and education location by the end of the year. The lab, a branch of GIA India Laboratory Pvt. Ltd., is no longer accepting stones for submission.According to an announcement on the GIA website, the decision to close the operation was taken to align its resources with its mi...Read More
(IDEX Online) - An Atlanta man who tried to defraud dealers and wholesalers of nearly $1.2 million in diamonds and other high-end jewelry has been sentenced to almost eight years in federal jail, reports The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.He has also been ordered to pay over $567,000 in restitutionOver the course of almost two years, from November 2016 until September 2018, Cory Smith took advantage...Read More
The price of steel rebar in the Southern Europe domestic market was unchanged this week with buyers and sellers disagreeing on the direction the market should take, sources told Fastmarkets on Wednesday November 4.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel reinforcing bar (rebar), domestic, delivered Southern Europe, was ?,?465-480 ($515-532) per tonne on Wednesday, unchanged week-on-week.Simi...Read More
JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – The Minerals Council South Africa on Wednesday published a report on the South African mining industry’s progress in transforming the industry in terms of the Mining Charter.The report was based on a study by advisory firm Moshe Capital into the council members' transformation and community development performance.AdvertisementMoshe based the study...Read More
The price of steel rebar in the Northern Europe domestic market was unchanged this week amid a stalemate between buyers and sellers over the direction in which prices should move, Fastmarkets heard on Wednesday November 4. Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel reinforcing bar (rebar), domestic, delivered Northern Europe was ?,?475-485 ($526-537) per tonne on Wednesday, unchanged from a we...Read More
RAPAPORT... Sales of jewelry and other luxury items in Hong Kong slid inOctober, marking the second-highest monthly decline on record as protests in the municipality dented consumer sentiment. Revenue from jewelry, watches, clocks and other valuablegifts fell 43% year on year to HKD 3.92 billion ($500.2 million) during themonth, the municipality's Census and Statistics Department reported Mon...Read More
Italy's Marcegaglia Group has acquired 100% of the equity in re-roller Palini & Bertoli, also located in Italy, from Russia's Evraz for ?,?40 million ($44 million), the purchasing company said on Wednesday December 4.Palini & Bertoli has capacity for 400,000 tonnes per year of heavy steel plate.After the acquisition, the capacity of Marcegaglia's steel...Read More
The Iranian export billet market has been rather quiet in the first week of December amid reduced availability of material for shipment in January, Fastmarkets has heard.This was due to successful sales to Africa, the Middle East and Asia in previous weeks as well as increased domestic demand."Local buyers were worried about the fluctuation [in the value] of the Iranian rial after fuel subsidy iss...Read More