Here are five Fastmarkets MB stories you might have missed on Thursday August 1 that are worth another look.Multi-year lows in smelting income have sharply reduced China's production of intermediate copper products, which are primary smelting products and feed to produce copper cathodes, forcing dozens of domestic refineries to search for these materials overseas. Zinc was lower at the close...Read More

The London Metal Exchange has reintroduced its reciprocal membership arrangement (RMA) with Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing (HKEX), waiving both annual subscriptions and processing fees for new applicants that already hold a membership in either of the exchanges.The scheme was first introduced in November 2014, intended to encourage participation across both exchanges. The RMA period initially last...Read More

Key data from the August 1 pricing session in London and Shanghai. Fastmarkets' benchmark alumina index, fob Australia, was little changed at $301.61 per tonne on Thursday August 1 from $301.69 the previous day. It is down 6% from the start of July 2019 when it was at $321.08 per tonne.Fastmarkets' alumina metallurgical grade, ddp China at 2,400-2,490 yuan ($348.50-361.50) per tonne on T...Read More

Canadian mineral exploration and development company Turquoise Hill Resources (THR) has announced its 2019 second-quarter financial results, reporting a $600 million impairment at its Oyu Tolgoi copper-gold-silver project in Southern Mongolia amid company losses amounting to $736.7 million. Oyu Tolgoi, the company's principal mining project located in the Gobi Desert, is 66% owned by THR and 34% b...Read More

Multi-year lows in smelting income have sharply reduced China's production of intermediate copper products, which are primary smelting products and feed to produce copper cathodes, forcing dozens of domestic refineries to search for these materials overseas. "I have got inquiries for blister copper from eight refineries in just a week. I haven't seen anything like that before. It's such a shame th...Read More

Global steelmaker ArcelorMittal showed a 68.65% year-on-year decrease in earnings by its European unit in the second quarter of 2019, the company said on Thursday August 1.ArcelorMittal Europe's quarterly earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (Ebitda) dropped to $359 million in April-June 2019, down from $1.15 billion in the corresponding period of 2018.The decrease was ma...Read More

Turkish billet prices have been stable over the past week while demand for material in the domestic, import and export markets has been poor, sources said on Thursday August 1.Buyers of steel billet originating from the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) were pessimistic have been over the past few days because of a lack of activity in the finished steel markets...Read More

Turkey exported 355,753 tonnes of flat steel products in June 2019, according to the Turkish Statistical Institute (TUIK).This volume was down by 35.59% year-on-year from the 552,308 tonnes exported in June 2018, the institute said.The country exported 3,037,796 tonnes of flat steel in January-June 2019. This was 17.64% more than the 2,582,199 tonnes exported in the first six months of 2018.The re...Read More

Turkish domestic rebar and wire rod prices have gone down on the strengthening of the country's lira, although demand was very poor in the summer holiday period, sources said on Thursday August 1.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel reinforcing bar (rebar), domestic, exw Turkey, was TRY2,980-3,020 ($536-544) per tonne on Thursday, down from last week's TRY3,080-3,100 per tonne.The price...Read More

Russia's largest steelmaker, Novolipetsk Steel (NLMK), has switched completely to the use of merchant steel slab supplies at its assets in the United States, rather than continue to import its own slab, because of the volatility in the market.The admission was made by Grigory Fedorishin, the company's president and chairman of the management board, during a conference call with media on Wednesday...Read More

Rough sales plummet due tolack of profit and liquidity squeeze. Midstream pressures caused by high 2017/18rough supply at inflated prices, combined with tighter inventory controls byretailers. Sightholders refuse goods as De Beers keeps prices stable at $250MJuly sight. Rio Tinto 1H diamond revenue -16% to $271M, loss of $5M. Polishedprices continue to soften, with July 1 ct. RAPI -0.9%. Rough pri...Read More

Someimprovement from last week, with more foreign buyers looking for goods. USdemand supporting the market. Manufacturers still under pressure andmaintaining low production levels. Not much buzz for next week's IIJS Mumbaishow, with gold-jewelry suppliers concerned about high gold price. Roughtrading slow after small De Beers July sight. RoundRead More

(IDEX Online News) - Once again, just like during the first half of the year, price developments in rounds in most sizes under a carat were mixed - and minor. However, the few price developments in sizes from 0.90 ct. up to three carats were positive, with the 1.00-1.24 carat range showing 2 to 3.5 percent rises in VVS1-VVS2 / EF and SI2 / DEF goods. In the 2.00 to 2.99 carat range, there were som...Read More

The Plumb Club will be hosting a webinar to help retail jewelers understand today's self-purchasing women. The webinar to be held on Tuesday, August 6th, 2019 at 2:00pm ET. It will cover topics such as: What do retail jewelers need to understand about women as consumers and purchase influencers?How should they be marketing to and communicating with them?How do women buy jewelry?What need...Read More

RAPAPORT... Alrosa's knack for recovering unusually shaped diamonds hasscaled new heights with the discovery of a rough stone resembling a fish. "In the photo, you see a very rare specimen: a rough-diamondcrystal which pretends to be a fish," the Russian miner wrote in an Instagrampost Wednesday announcing the find. As with its other similar hauls, Alrosa hooked the catch toa marketing goal, usin...Read More

LVMH reported strong earnings for the first half of 2019, generated by brands like Louis Vuitton and Dior. LVMH's earnings rose 15 percent in the second quarter of 2019, to $14 billion, with the largest growth coming from a 20 percent increase in the fashion and leather goods sector. Asia proved profitable in particular as the region generated  at third of LVMH's overall reven...Read More

The USA's National Retail Federation and GfK (Growth from Knowledge) a digital research agency, have produced and published a white paper, entitled "Decoding the Personalization Paradox." The paper is to help retailers and brands apply "personalization at scale." and allows its users to learn more about consumers' needs, desires and concerns about targeting and personalization and how ma...Read More

RAPAPORT... Weak rough prices pushed Rio Tinto's diamond unit into thered in the first half of the year, the miner reported Thursday. The division recorded a net loss of $5 million for the sixmonths ending June 30, compared with a profit of $55 million a year ago. Diamondsales fell 16% to $271 million for the period. Production dropped 10% to 8.3 million carats, primarily dueto a 13% decreas...Read More

Access our research platformsSign-in to our platforms to access our extensive research, our latest insight, data and analytics and to connect to our industry experts.The time is right for the mining industry to invest in new projects. The fundamentals are clear: we forecast supply gaps across a number of key commodities by 2028.Investors are understandably concerned that the mining industry will r...Read More

RAPAPORT... UK-based synthetic-diamond-jewelry retailer Lark & Berryhas hired Paul Ziff as its brand manager for North America. Ziff was previously a brand president at both Richemont andLVMH, and has held executive positions at Ralph Lauren Watch and Jewelry,Zenith Watches, and Ferragamo Timepieces. He will be responsible for helping tolaunch Lark & Berry's products in the North Amer...Read More