Roughly 6 million tonnes per year of alumina refinery capacity in China has been curtailed due to the 2019-nCoV coronavirus pandemic, opening opportunities for market participants in the West to sell extra material to the East asian country, a senior executive at Norsk Hydro has said.The shortfall has arisen with Chinese smelters continuing to produce material as normal despite the effects of the...Read More

Russian aluminium producer Rusal has allayed market fears about prices by vowing to maintain production output despite the global spread of the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV).Rusal said it was introducing further safety measures for its head-office employees to curb the spread of the virus."Rusal has introduced unprecedented measures across the whole company to ensure the u...Read More

Cerro Verde, the world's fourth-largest copper mine in output, will suspend operations and enter a 15-day care and maintenance period following the Peruvian government declaring a national state of emergency, owner and operator Freeport McMoRan said on Tuesday March 17.The 15-day period started on Monday March 16, with Cerro Verde working with authorities to 'be prepared and restart operations as...Read More

Brazilian multi-metals producer Nexa Resources may need to suspend its operations in Peru after the local government declared a state of emergency and closed its borders due to the coronavirus (2019-nCoV) pandemic, the company said on Monday March 16.For now, the zinc-lead-copper producer is adopting preventive measures to follow authorities' health and safety recommendations, under a newly-create...Read More

RAPAPORT... The Kimberley Process (KP) Intersessional Meeting will take place as a virtual conference this year, as European borders close to travelers due to the coronavirus pandemic.The annual forum, in which member states, civil societies and the diamond industry come together, was scheduled to take place in Moscow from June 8 to 12."COVID-19 is a global challenge without parallel in our l...Read More

RAPAPORT... Pandora has rescinded its revenue guidance for 2020, as the coronavirus pandemic has hit sales and forced it to shut stores temporarily, it said Monday.In February, the company had forecast revenue would fall between 3% and 6% for the year."Pandora's financial guidance announced on February 4, 2020, excluded any impact from COVID-19," the company noted. "As a consequence of the global...Read More

RAPAPORT... The Israel Diamond Exchange (IDE) has temporarily reduced fees for members due to the severe slowdown in trading resulting from the coronavirus outbreak.IDE president Yoram Dvash announced a 50% discount on membership charges and a 33% drop in maintenance fees for March and April. "We're talking about significant financial steps that add up to millions of shekels going straight in...Read More

ArcelorMittal Italia has decided to reduce its steel output and temporarily stop the operation of some equipment to secure the safety of workers during the 2019-nCoV coronavirus pandemic, the company told Fastmarkets on Tuesday March 17.ArcelorMittal and Italian trade unions Fim, Fiom, Uilm, Usb and Ugl have signed an agreement concerning the containment measures adopted by the company to contain...Read More

RAPAPORT... Sotheby's has rescheduled its Hong Kong Magnificent Jewels sale and other jewelry auctions amid new restrictions on public gatherings due to the coronavirus pandemic."We are closely monitoring the advice of government and health authorities in the countries and cities where Sotheby's is located and adjusting our business and operations accordingly," the auction house said Monday....Read More

RAPAPORT... Diamond resources at Lucapa Diamond Company's Lulo alluvial mine in Angola are 25% higher than it originally estimated, according to an independent valuation.Lulo has 100,700 carats remaining in the mine, a December 2019 study by external consulting company Z Star Mineral Resource Consultants has found. That figure was reevaluated from a previous Lulo resource estimation conducted in D...Read More

(IDEX Online) - India's gross exports of cut and polished diamonds slumped by more than 40 per cent last month because of the Covid-19 pandemic.Totals were down from $2.34bn in February 2019 to $1.38bn for this February, according to The Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC).But exports of gold jewelry were up, as were overseas sales of polished lab-grown diamonds, albeit from...Read More

(IDEX Online) - Russian mining giant Alrosa is allowing buyers to defer up to 60 per cent of their allocations at its regular contract sales.The move, effective as of yesterday's sale, is a sign of market uncertainty.  In times of stability customers have been able to defer only 20 per cent of the stones offered.Alrosa, which last week reported a 31 per cent slump in 2019 profits, says b...Read More

(IDEX Online) - The American Gem Society (AGS) has canceled its Conclave, an annual education, social and networking event for jewelry traders.The event had been due to take place on April 27-29 in  Denver, Colorado.Organizers took the decision amid growing concerns over the Covid-19 pandemic and said they were exploring the online option of a virtual mini-conference instead.Details of the 20...Read More

The European Commission (EC) has published guidelines for border management measures including goods transportation during the outbreak of 2019-nCoV coronavirus, now that logistics issues have begun to bite, the EC said on Monday March 16.The rapid spread across Europe of the Covid-2019 disease caused by the virus has forced governments to resort to strict measures, including border closures in so...Read More

Angola has launched a limited public tender to contract three independent diamond evaluators to evaluate the some 9.2-million carats of rough diamonds produced in the country each year. The contracts would fall under government’s services provision regime. The tender is open to both Angolan and foreign bidders, but proposals must be submitted in Portuguese. To win, the bidders will have to h...Read More

ArcelorMittal Poland had decided to postpone the restart of its blast furnace (BF) at its Krakow plant, the company said on Tuesday March 17.The decision not to restart in the second half of March, as originally planned, was made amid the uncertainty resulting from the spread of the coronavirus (2019-nCoV) in Europe and related risks, the steelmaker said."We have observed that several customers...Read More

Domestic rebar prices in the United Arab Emirates have gone down over the past week amid concerns about the spread of the 2019-nCoV coronavirus outbreak, sources said on Tuesday March 17.Local rebar producers announced new monthly domestic prices on February 25. Emirates Steel was offering rebar at 1,897 dirhams ($516) per tonne ex-works last week, but the company lowered its price once again this...Read More

Flat steel import prices in the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia remained steady over the week, with market demand limited amid the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) outbreak, sources said on Tuesday March 17.UAEChinese suppliers' offers for hot-rolled coil (HRC) were stable at $475-485 per tonne cfr this week, while Japanese suppliers continued to offer the same material at $480-485 per tonne.Fa...Read More

Ferrous scrap prices in the Mexican domestic market were unchanged in the week ended Friday March 13 amid growing uncertainty in raw material markets due to the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) outbreak and a massive devaluation of Mexico's currency.Prices were reported at stable levels last week, with market participants trying to anticipate the direction prices will take in the coming days."We will...Read More

Seaborne coking coal prices remained largely stable on Tuesday March 17, amid subdued trading activity. Fastmarkets indicesPremium hard coking coal, fob DBCT: $163.74 per tonne, up $0.69 per tonnePremium hard coking coal, cfr Jingtang: $167.70 per tonne, up $0.93 per tonne.Hard coking coal, fob DBCT: $146.01 per tonne, unchangedHard coking coal, cfr Jingtang: $152.50 per t...Read More