The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.US flat-rolled prices began to recover in August, as we expected. The monthly average of our daily HRC index hit $473 per ton ($521/tonne), which was $3/t above our forecast.The upward momentum has since continued and has done so more quickly than we expected - sentiment has turned around dramatically on fundamental developm...Read More
RAPAPORT... Diamonds Do Good will hand out $150,000 in grants to support members of the industry who most need assistance with maintaining their programs, it said Tuesday.The nonprofit, which helps develop diamond communities and empower local citizens in those areas, will distribute money to the Flaviana Matata Foundation, which supports education, entrepreneurship, youth empowerment and hig...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.This month's key ferro-alloys forecast highlights:Prices across most ore and alloy markets trended higher in September, buoyed by improving demand from steelmakers with the end of the summer holiday season in Europe and the United States, as well as maintained demand from Chinese steel mills. Tightening of alloy inventories...Read More
RAPAPORT... More than half of consumers plan to treat themselves and others to luxury products this year during the holidays, feeling that indulgence is important at this time, according to a survey by Accenture.This comes despite the fact that two out of every five shoppers intended to spend less for the seasonal period than they did last year, the professional services company noted in its 14th...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.This month's key ferro-alloy forecast highlights:Prices across most ferro-alloy markets trended stable to lower in August as demand remained subdued in major markets, apart from China where steel output continues to rise at a rapid pace, supporting demand for ferro-alloys. As alloy makers seek to remedy supply/demand imbalan...Read More
RAPAPORT... Petra Diamonds has resolved its contract issues with South African workers following a strike threat stemming from a failure to reach a pay agreement.The miner has signed a one-year deal with employees who are members of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), Petra said Tuesday. The company will make a one-time bonus payment of ZAR 5,000 ($302) and an increase of 5.5% for the year to...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.This month's key ferro-alloy forecast highlights:Numerous ore and alloy markets enjoyed upward pricing momentum in the first half 2020, with supply-side constraints supporting prices despite collapsing demand from steelmakers and other key end users. While supply side issues related to Covid-19 lockdowns have been resolved,...Read More
Filmmaker Laurent Cartier follows the determined men who search Sierra Leone's Sewa River for natural diamonds.RAPAPORT... Fifty-year old John is a diamond diver in Sierra Leone, one of a few hundred or thousand such divers out of some 1.5 million artisanal miners worldwide. His work is arduous: Going 5 to 10 meters underwater without a mask, he relies on his teammates and his faith. Divers do not...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Scientists have discovered the largest ever diamonds in outer space - and say they were formed by the enormous heat and pressure of planets colliding.They're convinced that they weren't produced deep beneath the surface of the planet, like diamonds found on Earth.Researchers at Goethe University, Frankfurt, Germany, found tiny extra-terrestrial diamonds, as well as graphi...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.Chinese blast furnace (BF) utilization rates have stagnated and iron ore port stock volumes are rising, reaching their highest levels since March, which suggests that iron ore supply is becoming excessive while demand is not growing. Unsurprisingly, prices dropped last week and we expect the trend to continue. The market has...Read More
(IDEX Online) - A dealer is facing up to 10 years in prison for attempting to bring diamonds into the USA with bogus Kimberley Process certificates.Stanley Tipton, 45, from Ohio, admitted violating the Clean Diamond Trade Act in a prosecution that "sets an international precedent," according to the US Attorney's Office.He told an undercover Homeland Security Investigations (HIS) special agent...Read More
(IDEX Online) - A Japanese collector paid $15.7m for a 102-carat, D-color, flawless diamond - a record high price for a gem in an online auction.But it was nowhere near as much as experts had predicted. Before Monday's sale by Sotheby's Hong Kong, there was speculation that the exceptionally rare diamond, offered without reserve, could fetch over $30m.Nevertheless, it smashed the p...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.We do not consider the average iron ore fines price for September so far above $125 per tonne cfr Qingdao to be sustainable. The bullishness is not likely to last in the long term as we expect Chinese demand growth to slow down. A key factor boosting Chinese steel demand so far has been the stimulus policies from the authori...Read More
The takeaways from the latest edition of the Steel Raw Materials Market Tracker are ready to view.Iron ore prices remained relatively stable last week, signalling an end to the price spike. And for the first time since March, at the time of the Covid-19 lock-down in Hubei, we have seen a consistent downturn in utilization rates in China. Blast furnace utilization rates dropped for a fifth consecut...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.In the year 2020 to date in late August, the Fastmarkets 62% Fe iron ore benchmark has powered along and reached six-year highs, supported by Chinese demand, and despite the global economic uncertainty created by the Covid-19 pandemic. Iron ore demand has weakened almost everywhere except in China, where it has continued to...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts is ready to view.Having found it easier to increase prices than their counterparts in Europe and the United States during the past few months, Asian stainless steelmakers now face a number of concerns.In the short term, Asian prices have moved down in recent weeks while those in Europe and the US are on the up. This is mostly a reflection of...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view. A look at stainless steel price movements through August reveals the ongoing battle being faced by stainless steelmakers in Europe and the United States while they try to pass on rising costs to consumers. In these regions, prices on most grades of stainless steel are little changed from July, rising by around 2% at most -...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
Base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange were weaker across the board this morning, Wednesday October 7, while equity markets were mixed.* US Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powel warned too little stimulus is worse than too much.* International Monetary Fund chief Kristalina Georgieva warns economic “calamity is far from over”.* US President Donald Trump postpones stimulus talks wit...Read More
Domestic prices for hot-rolled coil in Europe increased further week on week on Wednesday October 7, driven by long lead times from domestic mills and a lack of import offers, sources have told Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets calculated its daily steel hot-rolled coil index, domestic, exw Northern Europe, at ?,?497.50 ($585.83) per tonne on Wednesday, up by ?,?1.04 per tonne from ?,?496.46 per tonne on Oc...Read More