The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.This year has come with several unexpected events which increased the bullish case for iron ore prices, while the Chinese government's spending on infrastructure is likely to boost iron ore demand and add upside support to prices. But supply disruptions and a demand surge which caused price spikes are now easing. We do not e...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' teamof analysts are ready to view.Chinese crude steel production outperformed our expectations with its recovery since the Covid-19 pandemic lockdowns. Crude steel output was up by 2.3% year-on-year in the first half of 2020 to 503 million tonnes, and we have revised upward what was initially a more bearish forecast for this year. We now estimate that product...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.Prolonged flooding in China could limit the use of construction steel and drag down demand for steel rebar in the short term, which in turn could damp the demand for iron ore. So far, it has been reported that steel mills in the affected regions have continued to operate as normal. The floods have, however, caused a few days...Read More
The latest forecast from Fastmarkets' team of analysts is ready to view.As we enter the summer season across the northern hemisphere, almost half a year has passed since the Covid-19 pandemic began to seriously affect Europe and the United States.One would not really be able to tell that such a dramatic event had occurred by looking at stainless steel prices, however, because they are more or less...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts is ready to view.Stainless steel prices are relatively stable this month, showing little change since our previous tracker. Such stability masks growing issues for stainless steelmakers, however, who are increasingly unable to pass on rising costs to consumers and are, thus, facing cuts to their margins.In general, this is due to an excess of...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts is ready to view.Stainless steel prices are on the increase in June. As far as this market is concerned, it appears as though the Covid-19 pandemic has had little impact so far, with prices on the most common grades of stainless steel just 2-4% lower than they were at the turn of the year in most markets.Even in Asia, a region often talked ab...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts is ready to view.Stainless steel prices have fared relatively well over the past couple of months in the face of the threat from the Covid-19 pandemic.In grade-304 material, the most common grade of stainless steel, prices were down by about 5-7% since the turn of the year - not bad, when compared with the falls in prices of other assets so f...Read More
Liberty House Group, part of GFG Alliance, is interested in purchasing Alcoa's San Cipri??n aluminium smelter in Spain, sources told Fastmarkets. Alcoa launched an informal process with the workers' representatives to discuss collective dismissals at San Cipri??n on May 28. The company announced last week that the formal consultation period for collective staff dismissals at the Spanish aluminium...Read More
The Turkish steel producers have continued their purchases of deep-sea scrap for September shipments, sources said on Monday August 10.Three steel mills booked cargoes from the Baltic Sea and the United States late on August 7.A steel mill in the Iskenderun region booked a US cargo, comprising 18,000 tonnes of HMS 1&2 (90:10) at $288 per tonne, 3,000 tonnes shredded at $290 per tonne and 6,000 ton...Read More
RAPAPORT... Alrosa has recovered a 236-carat, intense-yellow-brown diamond, the largest natural colored diamond found in Russia.The stone, which the miner recovered from its Ebelyakh deposit in Yakutia, is an estimated 120 million to 230 million years old, Alrosa said last week. The company's United Selling Organization unit is currently studying and evaluating the diamond to decide whether it wil...Read More
The waiting time for aluminium to be delivered from Istim's warehouse in Port Klang, Malaysia, rose to 68 days at the end of July, according to the latest London Metal Exchange queue report, up from 34 days at the end of June. The build-up in the queue follows over 200,000 tonnes of aluminium being canceled during July. Some 49,125 tonnes of aluminium was freshly canceled on July 9 - the single la...Read More
The London Metal Exchange three-month copper price was higher during morning trading on Monday August 10, after a steady uptick in consumer inflation figures for China's economy while broad consolidation elsewhere led lead futures down over the morning. LME copper's outright price was recently trading at $6,344.50 per tonne, climbing over 2% from a morning low of $6,234 per tonne, while turnover w...Read More
RAPAPORT... The question of how to tackle the hardships facing informal diamond miners is as pressing today as it was when it first arose nearly 20 years ago.It was first touted as an issue that perhaps the Kimberley Process (KP) could incorporate into its mission. But the KP was not equipped - or mandated - to meet the challenge, even if the sector represented an Achilles heel for a body tas...Read More
The Shanghai Futures Exchange launched aluminium and zinc options contracts on Monday August 10 to meet growing desire for the important risk management tool, the exchange chairman said.The launch comes after the exchange received approval from the China Security Regulatory Commission in mid-June, Fastmarkets reported at the time. SHFE set the minimum trading amount for aluminium and zinc options...Read More
RAPAPORT... Sarine Technologies ended the first half of 2020 in the black as deep cost cuts offset the effects of Covid-19.The supplier of diamond-polishing equipment made a profit of $1.2 million for the period, compared with a loss of $2.8 million a year earlier, it reported Thursday. The company brought its expenses down by around 20% year on year in response to the unprecedented situation...Read More
Markets are looking mixed this morning on Monday August 10, while traders weigh up the cross winds blowing through the markets, Fastmarkets learned.United States President Donald Trump's intervention to step in to extend unemployment benefit after Congress failed to come up with a rescue package has provided some support, but his executive orders focused on Chinese tech companies only go further t...Read More
RAPAPORT... Mountain Province reported a loss in the second quarter as the coronavirus pandemic closed markets and hit demand.The miner posted a net loss of CAD 26.8 million ($21.8 million) for the three months ending June 30, compared with a profit of CAD 10.3 million ($7.7 million) during the same period last year, the company said Wednesday. "Our [second-quarter] financial and operational figur...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Alrosa today reported another month of weak sales, with rough and polished totaling just $35.8m for July, down 79 per cent on last year.The Russian state-owned miner is widely reported to be seeking another rescue deal to sell up to $1bn of rough to Gokhran, the finance ministry's precious metals and gems repository.Alrosa negotiated a similar deal, also for $1bn, during...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Sales of custom-made jewelry have spiked since COVID-19 lockdown, says a cutting and polishing firm in South Africa.Nungu Diamonds has experienced unprecedented demand for engagement and wedding rings since restrictions were imposed in March, according to a Reuters news agency report.Sales are up 60 per cent and June was its best month in a year.Kealeboga Pule, founder of the compa...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Fugitive diamond billionaire Nirav Modi is to appear at a five-day hearing in London next month, when a judge will decide whether he should be extradited to India for trial. The 49-year-old jeweler is alleged to have defrauded the Punjab National Bank out of out of $1.85bn by persuading corrupt workers to approve low-rate loans for importing foreign goods, which he used to p...Read More