The new issue of Aluminium Market Tracker is now online at metalbulletinresearch.com.In this edition, Fastmarkets' research team delivers key insights and forecasts into aluminium markets around the world.Aluminium price down 2.3% week-on-week amid stock market sell-offGlobal markets remain rattled by the spread of the novel coronavirus (2019-nCOV) across Europe and the United States. Panic-sellin...Read More

Copper has attempted to rebound since early September following a marked sell-off in the summer months where macro and fundamental forces have been prevalent.On the macro front, copper has benefited from a slight easing in US-China trade tensions and more monetary policy easing across the globe - including China, where copper consumption is the most exposed - that has shored up investor sentiment....Read More

The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.As oil price stumbles, outlook for welded markets weakensIn February, oil prices, already hit by the economic slowdown in Asia, turned lower on the failure of OPEC+ to reach an agreement on production cuts. This was enough to shake oil markets, but the collapse of global demand due to the pandemic has driven Brent below $30/...Read More

The new issue of the Seamless OCTG & Linepipe Market Tracker is now online at metalbulletinresearch.com.In this edition, Fastmarkets' research team delivers analysis of seamless OCTG and linepipe across international markets:Covid-19 underscores pipe outlookUnsurprisingly, the concern in the seamless pipe markets across the regions is the effect of the spread of Covid-19 on public health and econo...Read More

The new issue of the Steel Market Tracker is now online at metalbulletinresearch.com.In this edition, Fastmarkets' research team delivers key insights and forecasts into the long and flat products markets.This week's risks to our latest flat-rolled forecasts:The Chinese government is stepping up help to the economy, increasing banks' liquidity. But the spread of the coronavirus worldwide is likely...Read More

The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.This month's key ferro-alloy forecast highlights:While the ferro-alloy industry's initial response to the Covid-19 outbreak was marked by rising prices primarily in response to supply-side concerns, focus has now shifted somewhat. As Chinese activity slowly returns to more normal levels, for alloys with a strong Chinese prod...Read More

The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.A 6% decline in the daily average 62% Fe iron ore fines benchmark last week contributed to the lowest quarterly price rise for the first quarter in five years, in spite of clear evidence of supply-side constraints. Although there were clear demand-related obstacles to iron ore suppliers raking in more typical, seasonal price...Read More

The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.Coronavirus continues to shape scrap markets but tighter supply may partly offset lower demandWe have downwardly revised our ferrous scrap price forecasts for the following few months and, as a result, for the whole year of 2020, with the Covid-19 outbreak outside China stalling the markets. The Fastmarkets' daily benchmark...Read More

The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts is ready to view.Although China is slowly returning to pre-outbreak activity, the same cannot be said for the rest of the world, which is grappling with the Covid-19 outbreak, with a fifth of the global population and counting under lockdown. Average blast furnace activity in China is recovering but iron ore demand from outside China is expec...Read More

The increasing consumption of scrap and a potential shift toward the electric-arc furnace (EAF) steelmaking route from the basic oxygen furnace (BOF) route in China are medium- to long-term threats to demand for steelmaking raw materials, while in the near team coking coal import volumes will continue to be affected by iron ore procurement strategies.This was the basis of Fastmarkets research team...Read More

The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.Having first hit Asia during early 2020, the Covid-19 viral outbreak is now having an even bigger impact on European countries and the US. Widespread lockdown measures have been put in place on people and industry, and economic activity has slowed markedly.For now, stainless steel markets in Europe and the US are yet to show...Read More

Import offer prices for hot-rolled coil in Europe have been moving downward, adding negative sentiment to the market, sources told Fastmarkets on Tuesday April 7.Fastmarkets' daily steel hot-rolled coil index, domestic, exw Northern Europe, was ?,?468.75 ($506.37) per tonne on Tuesday, down by ?,?4.25 per tonne day on day from ?,?473.00 per tonne on April 6.Tuesday's index was calculated based on...Read More

RAPAPORT... A rough diamond changes hands at least five times before it reaches the cutting wheel, an industry veteran explained to my amazement when I first started writing about the market. A polished stone is traded even more often before being set into a piece of jewelry, he continued.The journey a diamond undergoes from mine to finger is truly a global one. It can be unearthed in Lesotho, sol...Read More

The second tranche of the European Union's steel product import quotas has reached the point where some have become exhausted. Fastmarkets looks at the progress of quota take-up country by country, and reviews the likely dates for exhaustion that were calculated at the end of 2019.BackgroundOn February 2, 2019, the European Commission (EC) imposed definitive safeguard measures on a list of importe...Read More

RAPAPORT... The Jewelers Board of Trade (JBT) will issue two parallel credit ratings for companies during the current crisis to reflect the impact of the shutdown on cash flow.The organization's credit reports, which score jewelers' debt history, will include one rating using its usual methods, mirroring the realities of COVID-19, and a second showing the situation before the downturn.The JBT offe...Read More

RAPAPORT PRESS RELEASE, April 7, 2020, Las Vegas... Diamond prices fell in March as the spreading coronavirus led to a dramatic decline in the global economy. Diamond markets are under pressure and facing a severe liquidity crisis as jewelry retail, diamond manufacturing and trading shut down.The RapNet Diamond Index (RAPI?,,?) for 1-carat diamonds dropped 6.8% during the month and 8.7% in the fir...Read More

RAPAPORT... Tiffany & Co. has donated $1 million to aid efforts to stem the spread of COVID-19, with a portion allocated toward providing essential medical supplies to New York.The jeweler will contribute $750,000 to the COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund for the World Health Organization (WHO), it said Monday. Those funds will help countries around the world prevent, detect and respond to...Read More

RAPAPORT... Pandora has hired two new marketing executives to head the global business units that it established recently as part of its strategic reorganization.Frederique Gouzard will lead the "moments" global unit, which includes charms and collaborations, the Danish jeweler said Monday. She was previously a global brand marketing director for De Beers Diamond Jewellers (now De Beers Jewel...Read More

The premium for duty-paid aluminium in Rotterdam plummeted further on Tuesday April 7 to the lowest level since January 2010.Fastmarkets assessed the aluminium P1020A premium, in-whs dp Rotterdam at $90-105 per tonne on Tuesday, down from $100-120 per tonne on April 3. Multiple deals so far this week were concluded in the new range, although some participants even reported being able to...Read More

RAPAPORT... Can my company survive this crisis? How long will the shutdown last? Should I lay my workers off? Should I apply for government support? The coronavirus outbreak has left US jewelers with a string of questions. There aren't many definitive answers yet, as the outbreak has shown signs of worsening before it gets better, and estimates vary as to the severity of the economic impact....Read More