RAPAPORT... China has arrested 121 people suspected of bringing CNY 3.88 billion (around $570 million) in diamonds into the country through illegal channels since 2015, according to a state-owned newspaper.Officials seized more than 2,520 diamonds, more than 4,000 broken diamonds, and 158 pieces of diamond jewelry during the raid in early September, China Daily reported last week. Authorities...Read More

RAPAPORT... Mountain Province shareholders have approved a refinancing deal that will allow one of its major investors to buy out its current credit facility.Dunebridge Worldwide, which is controlled by Dermot Desmond, who owns just over 32% of Mountain Province's stock, will take ownership of the $25 million secured loan held by the miner's existing lenders, Mountain Province said Wednesday. Dune...Read More

Domestic reinforcing bar prices and demand in the United States were stable week over week, sources told Fastmarkets. Fastmarkets' price assessment for steel reinforcing bar (rebar), fob mill US held at $29.75 per hundredweight ($595 per short ton) on Wednesday September 30, down by 0.8% from $29.50-30.50 per cwt at the beginning of the year.US marketOverall market dynamics held steady heading int...Read More

(IDEX Online) - Diamond factories will remain open in Surat, India, over the Diwali, the Hindu festival of light, to fulfil export orders.Manufacturers in the world's cutting and polishing capital say they can't afford to turn away business and take the traditional two-to-four-week break.An estimated 650,000 artisans will carry on working over the festive period (Diwali is 14 November th...Read More

(IDEX Online) - Jewelry sales in Hong Kong continue to suffer from the pandemic and quarantine restrictions, but August's slide was less dramatic than recent months.Revenue from jewelry, watches, clocks and other valuable gifts was down 38 per cent year-on-year to $317.5m according to figures published yesterday by the Hong Kong Census and Statistics Department (there is no further breakdown...Read More

(IDEX Online) - The global pandemic has seen another month of uncertainty in the diamond world.  Most prices and many of the size categories shown remained virtually unchanged during September. Overall, the gains outweighed the losses, but only just, suggesting the industry is still playing more of a waiting game than returning to "business as usual".HIGHLIGHTSROUNDS0.50-0.69 c...Read More

Hot-rolled coil prices in the United States have climbed to their highest point in more than eight months on a supply squeeze and a wave of mill price increases.Fastmarkets' daily steel hot-rolled coil index, fob mill US was calculated at $30.59 per hundredweight ($611.80 per short ton) on Thursday October 1, up by 1% from $30.29 per cwt on Wednesday September 20 and up by 2.4% from $29.87 per cwt...Read More

RAPAPORT... The International Gemological Institute (IGI) recently graded a 116-carat, black synthetic diamond that ranks as the largest lab-grown diamond of its color.The 115.65-carat, type IIb stone was produced by UK-based Meylor Global using High Pressure-High Temperature (HPHT), and was accompanied by a second black lab-grown diamond weighing 109.58 carats, IGI said Wednesday."The innova...Read More

Prices for imported flat-rolled steel are mixed as the international market appears to show signs of leveling off - or at least is not shooting up as dramatically as domestic flat-rolled steel prices, market participants said.Hot-rolled coilFastmarkets' assessment for steel hot-rolled coil, import, ddp Houston, stands at $540-600 per ton, unchanged from the prior assessment two weeks ago on Septem...Read More

The fast steel market recovery seen in Brazil in the past few months has led the country's steelmaker association, Instituto A??o Brasil, to revise its forecasts for 2020 up significantly from previous expectations set in July.Full-year apparent steel consumption is now expected at 20 million tonnes, a 4.7% drop from 20.98 million tonnes in 2019. The previous estimate was for 17.96 million tonnes,...Read More

A summary of the financial results for Egypt's biggest steelmaking group, Ezz Steel, for the period from January 1 to June 30, 2020.In briefEzz Steel said that its net sales were down because of, "the suspension of new building permits in particular and the drop-in construction activity in general."Egypt imposed a domestic construction ban on May 25, however, the...Read More

Fastmarkets MB is inviting feedback on its audited non-ferrous price assessments and indices, as part of its annual methodology review, in compliance with IOSCO principles for price reporting agencies (PRAs). The consultation, which is open until October 31, seeks to ensure that our audited methodologies and price specifications continue to reflect the physical markets for the alumina, a...Read More

Scoped for growth: Nevada Copper shifts into production modeSPONSOREDnevada copper corp.The world's top ten copper producers posted a collective 3.Read More

Scoped for growth: Nevada Copper shifts into production modeSPONSOREDnevada copper corp.Speaking on a webinar focused on Chile's 2020-2029 portfolio of development projects, he said that of the 49 projects with an aggregate value of $74 billion, 23 had delayed their start-up by one orRead More

Scoped for growth: Nevada Copper shifts into production modeSPONSOREDnevada copper corp.The company launched a 40,000m drilling programme a couple of months ago on the Warintza Central area with a single drill rig.Read More

Turkish deep-sea scrap import prices fell after news of a Baltic Sea cargo being sold into Turkey came to light on Thursday October 1.A steel mill in the Marmara region booked the Baltic Sea cargo, comprising 14,000 tonnes of HMS 1&2 (80:20) at $292 per tonne, 12,000 tonnes of shredded at $297 per tonne and 10,000 tonnes of bonus at $302 per tonne cfr.The date of the transaction, however, was...Read More

Base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange and pre-market western equity index futures were for the most part firmer this morning, Thursday October 1, albeit in quiet conditions with China, Hong Kong and South Korea closed for holidays and technical problems meaning the Tokyo Stock Exchange could not open.* Japan’s manufacturing purchasing managers’ index (PMI) climbed to 47.7 in Se...Read More

The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.Chinese blast furnace (BF) utilization rates have stagnated and iron ore port stock volumes are rising, reaching their highest levels since March, which suggests that iron ore supply is becoming excessive while demand is not growing. Unsurprisingly, prices dropped last week and we expect the trend to continue. The market has...Read More

The spread between the seaborne 62% and 65% Fe fines iron ore prices widened again in September reflecting a decision by Chinese steel mills to use a more cost-efficient blend of high grades with low grades. The average of Fastmarkets' daily 65% Fe Brazil-origin iron ore index rose by 3.8% to $136.50 per tonne cfr Qingdao in September, while the daily 62% Fe index was up by 0.5% to $123....Read More

Rising steel prices over the coming months are likely to prop up prices for ferrous scrap in Japan, the Japan Iron and Steel Recycling Institute (Jisri) said on Thursday October 1."Japan is entering the 'autumn of price increases' in which product prices at both blast furnaces (BFs) and electric-arc furnaces (EAFs) are being raised one after another," Jisri said."The domestic steel scrap market is...Read More