Turkey imported 602,707 tonnes of flat steel in September 2019, down by 5.07% from the corresponding month in 2018, when 634,898 tonnes arrived in the country, the Turkish Statistical Institute (TUIK) said last week.Turkey's domestic market has been in the doldrums since September 2018, when trade relations with the United States soured after US President Donald Trump doubled the import tariff on...Read More
CIS export wire rod prices have softened at the beginning of November on limited demand in the major sales outlets, according to market sources.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel wire rod (mesh quality), export, fob Black Sea, CIS, was $420-430 per tonne on Monday November 4, down by $10 on the lower end.Recent offers for Russian wire rod were heard at $430 per tonne fob last week. No...Read More
AM Investco, the consortium led by ArcelorMittal that was put together to purchase Italian steelmaker Ilva, is pulling out of the deal, ArcelorMittal said on Monday November 4.The consortium has sent a notice to the Ilva commissioners indicating that it intends to withdraw from the agreement for the lease and subsequent conditional purchase of the Ilva business and certain subsidiaries.ArcelorMitt...Read More
With competition in the global steel markets still fierce, Fastmarkets provides an update on the new, progressing and closed trade cases from around the world in October 2019.The case list below includes only updates. For other continuing cases,...Read More
RAPAPORT... De Beers has restated its estimation of global diamond-jewelry sales following a new study valuing the diamond content in jewelry purchases since the 2008 recession. The group also revised its production data to reflect lower output than previously believed, stemming from an overestimation of the artisanal mining sector. Global diamond jewelry demand rose 2.4% to $76 billion in 2018, d...Read More
A summary of the financial results of German metals distributor Kl??ckner & Co for the third quarter of 2019.Kl??ckner & Co attributed a significant year-on-year decrease in operating income to low steel prices and weak demand,Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (Ebitda) ?,?26 million, down from ?,?59 million in...Read More
RAPAPORT... Revenue from the retail division of Berkshire Hathawayincreased 5% to $4.04 billion in the third quarter, the company reportedSaturday. The improvement in the division, which includes jewelrychains Borsheims, Helzberg Diamonds and Ben Bridge Jeweler, was buoyed in largepart by the company's car business, including sales of pre-owned vehicles,automotive financing, and repair work....Read More
RAPAPORT... Two gem labs have joined forces to identify a method for determining whether a pink diamond came from the Argyle mine in Australia, and are issuing lab reports confirming their provenance.Beginning in 2014, the team, led by Branko Deljanin,director and colored-diamond specialist at Canadian Gemlab (CGL), begancollecting natural pink diamonds from the mine in Western Australia...Read More
RAPAPORT... The diamond industry has much riding on this holiday season, having endured tough market conditions in 2019. While the trade reduced inventory levels in the third quarter, a large quantity of less popular items remain available. Meanwhile, US jewelry retailers are growing more conservative about buying inventory, taking more goods on memo and increasingly using technology to boost sale...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Christie's New York has become embroiled in a dispute over the sale of a $40 million pink diamond known as The Princie Diamond. The diamond was sold by a member of the Qatari royal family in 2013.A lawsuit by Amedeo Angiolillo claims that the auction house sold the diamond despite his objections. As reported by The Telegraph, Christie's said that not only does Angiol...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Platinum Guild International (PGI) will host an e-commerce platform to create a destination for consumers looking to buy platinum jewelry. "The intent of this platform is to give designers an opportunity to share their platinum pieces directly with consumers, whom we know are interested in purchasing online," said Jenny Luker, PGI-USA's president. "By creating a dest...Read More
Production at Aim-listed Firestone Diamonds' Liqhobong mine, in Lesotho, has resumed, after the company successfully installed rented diesel generators to power the mine's processing plant.The diamond miner last month reported that the mine was struggling amid insufficient power supply from the Lesotho grid, as a result of a two-month maintenance shutdown of the Lesotho Highlands Water Pro...Read More
Participants in the seaborne coking coal market are maintaining a bearish outlook amid quiet trading, with many divided on the price gap between premium low-vol and mid-vol cargoes.Fastmarkets indicesPremium hard coking coal, fob DBCT: $134.16 per tonne, up by $1.78 per tonnePremium hard coking coal, cfr Jingtang: $146.36 per tonne, up by $1.28 per tonneHard coking coal, fob DBCT: $123.21 per tonn...Read More
Turkish steel mills returned to the deep-sea markets on Monday November 4, booking several cargoes from different origins and pushing prices up further, sources told Fastmarkets.The three newly booked cargoes end a week-long quiet period since the previous booking, all with a very similar composition and pricing. Two of the cargoes were of US origin. The first, booked by a steel mill in...Read More
Turkish domestic auto bundle scrap prices have increased again over the past week, in line with rises in imported scrap values, sources said on Monday November 4.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel scrap, auto bundle scrap, domestic, delivered Turkey, was TRY1,400-1,555 ($243-269) per tonne on Monday, narrowing upward from TRY1,385-1,555 per tonne last week.Four steel mills have raised...Read More
Polymetal building with good momentumSPONSOREDpolymetal internationalDrilling in Q3 revealed two mineral finds: a gold-copper occurrence comprising three targets, known as Avshancli, and a gold-hosting quartz vein named Gilar.Read More
Poster South Africa mine regeneration on trackSPONSOREDorion mineralsThe company is aiming to start copper production this quarter at its Gunnison in-situ recovery project in Arizona, which is permitted to produce 125 million pounds annually of copper cathode.Read More
Prices for mid-grade seaborne iron ore slid below $85 per tonne cfr China on Monday November 4, the first time since August 30.Fastmarkets iron ore indices62% Fe fines, cfr Qingdao: $83.27 per tonne, down $2.29 per tonne.62% Fe Pilbara Blend fines, cfr Qingdao: $83.09 per tonne, down $2.29 per tonne.62% Fe low-alumina fines, cfr Qingdao: $82.71 per tonne, down $2.23 per tonne.58% Fe fines high-pre...Read More
Seaborne iron ore concentrate of some origins continued to trade at premiums compared with discounts for other cargoes last week, while the pellet market stayed tepid. Concentrates Fastmarkets' weekly index for iron ore 66% Fe concentrate, cfr Qingdao was at $96.09 per tonne on Friday November 1, up by $1.07 from a week earlier. The daily Fastmarkets index for iron ore 65% Fe Brazil-origin fi...Read More
China's domestic hot-rolled coil prices picked up some strength on Monday November 4 on robust trading activity after a stagnant week, though exporters appeared more willing to make concessions amid a pessimistic outlook for demand.DomesticEastern China (Shanghai): 3,510-3,520 yuan ($499-500) per tonne, narrowing upward by 10 yuan per tonneNorthern China (Tangshan): 3,510 yuan per tonne, up 10 yua...Read More