German consumers of refined copper have been unloading inventory on the spot market over the past two weeks, adding downward pressure to premiums.German copper end-users selling inventory amid low industrial demand, backwardationGerman consumers of refined copper have been unloading some of their inventory on the spot market to weigh on premium over the past two weeks.Fastmarkets' Copper grad...Read More

RAPAPORT... A US court has approved Tiffany & Co.'s request to fast-track its lawsuit against LVMH, scheduling a four-day trial starting January 5, 2021.The timeline means a ruling would come after the final deadline for LVMH's takeover of Tiffany, but before antitrust approvals for the deal begin to expire. The US jeweler had asked for the trial to take place even sooner, before the deal...Read More

Major aluminium producers operating in some of the countries most affected by Covid-19 took decisive actions early on to protect workers and maintain operations, top executives said during a panel at Fastmarkets International Aluminium Conference on Tuesday September 22.Top executives from Alcoa Corp, Aluminium Bahrain (Alba), Hindalco, Norsk Hydro and China Hongqiao participated in the panel, sha...Read More

The London Metal Exchange will add to its aluminium pricing offering with a new cash-settled European duty-paid aluminium premium contract settled against Fastmarkets' benchmark Rotterdam premium. Speaking at the Fastmarkets International Aluminium Conference on Tuesday September 22, Alex Shaw, head of product development and research at the LME, said the exchange will launch the contract in 2021....Read More

(IDEX Online) - Canadian miner Mountain Province Diamonds has held its first traditional sale February.Prices per carat were in line those achieved by comparable stones at the equivalent sale in 2019, the company said.Mountain Province operates the Gahcho Kue mine (pictured) in Canada's Northwest Territories, in a joint venture with De Beers Canada Inc.The sale, in Antwerp on Saturday, realiz...Read More

(IDEX Online) - Tiffany & Co yesterday secured a January court date for its legal battle against the French luxury conglomerate LVMH.The expedited four-day hearing would still make it technically possible for the $16.2bn acquisition to go ahead before antitrust approvals expire.LVMH pulled out of its delayed purchase of the New York-based jeweler two weeks ago, citing pressure from the French...Read More

Demand for value-added aluminium is returning, supported by a recovery in demand from the automobile and industrial sectors, according to Hindalco's managing director and aluminium division chief executive Satish Pai.Speaking at the Fastmarkets International Aluminium Conference on Tuesday September 22, Pai said the recovery in the auto and industrial sectors has spurred d...Read More

(IDEX Online) - Sixteen diamond workers have taken their lives during the Covid crisis in Surat, according to media reports in India.Many despaired after losing their jobs during lockdown. Some returned to their villages in Gujurat, only to find that agricultural work couldn't sustain their families.Last month the body of Jaysukh Gajera, president of Surat Diamond Polishers' Association,...Read More

The now-lifted US tariff on Canadian aluminium and the effect of Covid-19 on the market as a whole made an already challenging 2020 for the aluminium industry even tougher, according to Alf Barrios, chief executive officer of Rio Tinto Aluminium.The Section 232 tariff applied to US aluminium imports from Canada, where Rio Tinto has a large aluminium smelting presence, was removed just 40 days afte...Read More

Voestalpine has started up a new bloom continuous caster in Donawitz, Austria, to manufacture highly-advanced end products, the Austrian steelmaker said on Tuesday September 22.The new bloom continuous machine, CC4 at Voestalpine Stahl Donawitz, will have capacity of 1 million tonnes per year and will replace the existing CC2 machine, which has capacity of 750,000 tpy and has been in service for 4...Read More

Sales volumes from Brazilian flat steel distributors rose by 33.5% in August 2020 compared with the corresponding month in 2019, with lower availability from mills leading customers to seek more material from the distribution sector, national distributors' association Inda said on Tuesday September 22.Distributors sold 373,800 tonnes in August, up from 279,900 tonnes a year before. Volumes were al...Read More

Reduced domestic output and limited import offers are keeping sentiment upbeat in the European hot-rolled coil market, sources told Fastmarkets on Tuesday September 22.Fastmarkets calculated the daily steel hot-rolled coil index, domestic, exw Northern Europe, at ?,?485.35 ($572.59) per tonne on Tuesday September 22, up by just ?,?0.40 per tonne from ?,?484.95 per tonne on Monday.The index was up...Read More

Base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange have rebounded this morning, Tuesday September 22, after weakness in equities on Monday dragged them lower.At the time of our Morning View report on Monday, the LME metals were up by an average of 0.2%, but they ended the day down by an average of 1.6% after concerns escalated about second waves of Covid-19 spreading across Europe.But an across-the-b...Read More

Scoped for growth: Nevada Copper shifts into production modeSPONSOREDnevada copper corp.The first hole of a four-hole program hit 74m at 1.1% copper (plus gold, silver and molybdenum) from 219m, including 41m at 1.9% copper.Read More

Mexican scrap prices increased further in the week to Tuesday September 22 as supply remained scarce and demand for the raw material continued to improve.Market participants reported that some companies applied price increases of around 100-300 pesos ($5-14) per tonne during the week to Friday September 18, mainly because of low inventories and increased demand for certain materials, especially bu...Read More

CDW Corp (CDW), a NASDAQ 100 stock moved below $108.27 setting an intermediate downtrend.Pre-opening Comments for Tuesday September 22ndU.S. equity index futures were lower this morning. S&P 500 futures were down 4 points in pre-opening trade.Amazon added $59.53 to $3,020.00 after Bernstein upgraded the stock from Market Perform to Outperform. Target was raised to $3,400.00AutoZone advanced $5...Read More

Steel producers in Turkey extended their absence from the deep-sea scrap markets again amid weak finished steel demand, sources said on Tuesday September 22.The country's steel mills have been holding back from the deep-sea trade since September 9, when the most recent cargoes were booked at prices around $301 per tonne cfr on an HMS 1&2 (80:20) basis.Offer levels for similar material then rose to...Read More

Seaborne cfr coking coal prices climbed by more than 2% day on day on Tuesday September 22 and, despite some doubts about Chinese steel mill import quotas and the idea that prices were too high already, most market participants expected to see an uptrend. Fastmarkets indicesPremium hard coking coal, fob DBCT: $129.01 per tonne, up $0.22 per tonne Premium hard coking coal, cfr Jingtang: $...Read More

Iron ore prices dropped again on Tuesday September 22, which market participants attributed to weak demand for steel and expectations for steel inventory to increase further after the Chinese national holiday (October 1-8). Fastmarkets iron ore indices 62% Fe fines, cfr Qingdao: $117.30 per tonne, down $2.52 per tonne 62% Fe low-alumina fines, cfr Qingdao: $117.74 per tonne, down $2.31 per tonne 5...Read More

China's hot-rolled coil prices were stable on Tuesday September 22 amid a pick-up in trading activity, though market participants remained bearish amid weakening financial markets.DomesticEastern China (Shanghai): 3,840-3,860 yuan ($566-569) per tonne, unchangedSeveral Shanghai-based traders said that trading activity was higher during the day than on Monday.This was due to rising HRC futures in t...Read More