RAPAPORT... Edward Asscher has retired as president of Royal Asscher, marking his 50th anniversary with the family-run jeweler. His daughter, Lita Asscher and son, Mike Asscher, will take his place as copresidents of the company.The fifth generation of his family to work at the company, Asscher joined the business in 1970, apprenticing with his father and uncle. In 1980 he became president, a...Read More

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RAPAPORT... Belgium's polished exports dropped 22% year on year in January, with volumes and average price both falling. Outbound shipments have declined for nine consecutive months, according to Rapaport archives based on data from the Antwerp World Diamond Centre.However, rough imports showed their first monthly increase since December 2018, as post-holiday restocking was stronger than a ye...Read More

RAPAPORT PRESS RELEASE, March 3, 2020, Las Vegas... Diamond trading declined sharply in February due to economic uncertainty surrounding the coronavirus. Manufacturers and dealers are facing a severe liquidity crunch as sales to China and Hong Kong have stopped.Diamond prices dropped as a result of the slowdown, with the RapNet Diamond Index (RAPI?,,?) for 1-carat diamonds down 1.6% in February. R...Read More

RAPAPORT... The Women's Jewelry Association (WJA) has launched a new consumer-marketing campaign aimed at empowering women to buy jewelry for themselves.March is Me Month will coincide with International Women's Day, which takes place on March 8, as well as Women's History Month. The goal of the campaign is to get women to buy themselves a piece of fine jewelry during the month, no matter the...Read More

RAPAPORT... Jewelry was among the best-performing categories at Macy's during the fourth fiscal quarter, even as overall sales declined at the department-store chain.Group revenue dropped 1.4% year on year to $8.34 billion in the three months ending February 1, while comparable-store sales - at owned and licensed shops open for at least a year - fell 0.5%, the retailer reported last week. How...Read More

Access our research platformsSign-in to our platforms to access our extensive research, our latest insight, data and analytics and to connect to our industry experts.On Friday 15th February 2019, Vale announced there was a fire affecting a conveyor belt system at its distribution centre in Malaysia. Vale anticipate this will result in a 10 to 15 day halt in operations and note that a planned 10 da...Read More

The export market for flat steel exporters from the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) was quiet during the week ended Monday March 2 because of the limited volumes that suppliers could offer for exports.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel hot-rolled coil, export, fob Black Sea, CIS, was $465-475 per tonne on Monday, unchanged week on week."MMK [Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works] sa...Read More

Most flat steel import prices in the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia have decreased this week, with the market being slow because buyers wanted to see prices reach a bottom before placing any orders, sources told Fastmarkets on Tuesday March 3.Stock levels were low in the region, but buyers did not want to place orders when prices were falling.UAEOffer prices for hot-rolled coil (HRC) from C...Read More

Access our research platformsSign-in to our platforms to access our extensive research, our latest insight, data and analytics and to connect to our industry experts.What does tight oil have in common with Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix and Alphabet's Google stocks (known as FAANG stocks)? Answer: tight oil is arguably the upstream equivalent of these tech sector leaders. It's the hot investment...Read More

LONDON – After watching diamond sales plunge in 2019 as a crisis engulfed the industry, De Beers is taking action to help its struggling buyers.The middlemen who cut, polish and trade the world’s gems were at the center of a disastrous year for the diamond industry last year, after a glut of both rough and polished stones destroyed profit margins and banks tightened financing. De Beers...Read More

The prices for steel rebar and billet in the United Arab Emirates fell over the past week and demand continues to be weak, market sources said on Tuesday March 3. Local UAE rebar producers announced new monthly domestic prices on February 25. Emirates Steel is offering rebar at 1,897 dirhams ($516) per tonne ex-works, down from the previous 1,951 dirhams per tonne ex-works. Suppliers have red...Read More

Access our research platformsSign-in to our platforms to access our extensive research, our latest insight, data and analytics and to connect to our industry experts.The coronavirus is casting a shadow across commodity markets. It has undermined China’s economic sentiment, putting the country's growth outlook at risk. The full scale and impact of the outbreak remain to be seen, but it is cer...Read More

Access our research platformsSign-in to our platforms to access our extensive research, our latest insight, data and analytics and to connect to our industry experts.2020 will see lead transition into a market surplus after several years of significant deficit, according to Wood Mackenzie.Despite total exchange stocks of refined metal remaining near historical lows, softening demand has damaged se...Read More

Access our research platformsSign-in to our platforms to access our extensive research, our latest insight, data and analytics and to connect to our industry experts.India's renewables target of 175 GW capacity (100 GW of solar and 75 GW of wind) by 2022 is an ambitious endeavour. Even with significant cost declines, Wood Mackenzie expects about 76% of the target to be met by 2022 and this would s...Read More

Access our research platformsSign-in to our platforms to access our extensive research, our latest insight, data and analytics and to connect to our industry experts.All eyes will be on the Indonesian nickel market in 2020.The knives may be out for the country’s nascent stainless industry but the staggering potential for expansion in NPI may reduce the impact of the nickel ore export ban to...Read More

Access our research platformsSign-in to our platforms to access our extensive research, our latest insight, data and analytics and to connect to our industry experts.So this is Christmas, as John Lennon sang: another year over, and a new one just begun. It is the time of year for taking stock and looking to the future, and in that spirit, I have collected a selection of predictions for 2020 from 1...Read More

Turkish steel mills continued to stay away from the deep-sea scrap market on Tuesday March 3, amid firm offer prices (especially from the United States), sources told Fastmarkets.After buying at least 25 cargoes of about 750,000 tonnes in February, the mills halted purchasing activity at the beginning of last week.The most recent deep-sea transactions had put the price of Baltic Sea- and...Read More

Brazil's iron ore exports plunged year on year in February, while heavy rains in the southeastern region adversely affected production and transportation, higher average prices also partly offset the drop, the country's ministry of economy said on Monday March 2.Iron ore shipments from Brazil totaled 22.1 million tonnes over February, falling by 23.6% in comparison with 28.93 million tonnes in Feb...Read More

Seaborne coking coal prices surged on Wednesday March 3, with a premium low-vol cargo fetching a price of over $175 per tonne cfr China. Fastmarkets indices Premium hard coking coal, fob DBCT: $162.39 per tonne, unchanged Premium hard coking coal, cfr Jingtang: $173.42 per tonne, up by $4.88 per tonne Hard coking coal, fob DBCT: $145.01 per tonne, up $0.51 per tonne Hard coking coal...Read More