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The nickel price on the London Metal Exchange was trading firmly above $18,500 per tonne during morning trading on Monday September 2 against a backdrop of a flurry of buying and cancelation of more than 20,500 tonnes of warrants. The three-month nickel price started to rise strongly last week, climbing more than 9% from a low of $16,010 per tonne on August 29 to its highest in more than five year...Read More

Shanghai-bonded copper stocks fell to their lowest level since February 2016 at the end of August after a profitable import arbitrage between London and Shanghai boosted buying interest for bonded warrants last month....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.On Friday 15th February 2019, Vale announced there was a fire affecting a conveyor belt system at its distribution centre in Malaysia. Vale anticipate this will result in a 10 to 15 day halt in operations and note that a planned 10 da...Read More

While nickel is in the spotlight, the rest of the base metals are still being pulled and pushed by the combination of higher tariffs on US imports of Chinese goods and China's plans to support its economy with further spending on infrastructure.Chinese manufacturing data also showed mixed results with the official purchasing managers index (PMI) falling to 49.5 from 49.7, while the Caixin manufact...Read More

The price of rebar and wire rod exported from the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) dropped in the week to Monday September 2, pressured by weak demand in the major sales outlets as well as in rival markets amid increased competition and slower projects realization.Falling scrap and billet costs were another negative factor affecting steel sales and prices in the global market.Recent wire r...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.What does tight oil have in common with Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix and Alphabet's Google stocks (known as FAANG stocks)? Answer: tight oil is arguably the upstream equivalent of these tech sector leaders. It's the hot investment...Read More

RAPAPORT... Tiffany & Co. is growing its presence in China to capitalize on a shift in the country to local purchasing. The jeweler plans to open new stores, launch its Blue Box Cafe in the country, and introduce more fine-jewelry collections on the mainland, CEO Alessandro Bogliolo said last week in a call with analysts, transcribed by Seeking Alpha."We have made decisions [over] th...Read More

RAPAPORT... More than 160 trade groups urged US President DonaldTrump to postpone further tax increases on Chinese goods imported to the US, fearingthey would affect holiday sales. "We are writing with an urgent request that you postponeall tariff-rate increases," the Americans for Free Trade Coalition, whichrepresents members of the industry, said in a letter last week. "[They] come atthe worst p...Read More

The CIS steel export billet market continued to weaken on the first trading day in September, amid a pessimistic mood in the global scrap market and limited demand in the major sales outlets.Given these conditions, a fresh booking was heard on Monday September 2 only after a significant price discount was provided by the selling mill.A 30,000-tonne cargo of Russia-origin material...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.India's renewables target of 175 GW capacity (100 GW of solar and 75 GW of wind) by 2022 is an ambitious endeavour. Even with significant cost declines, Wood Mackenzie expects about 76% of the target to be met by 2022 and this would s...Read More

RAPAPORT... The South African government is calling for change in thediamond industry after expressing concern about the slow pace of localbeneficiation. The Portfolio Committee on Mineral Resources and Energy hasappointed a regulator to monitor the transformation after a weeklong review andoversight of the South African Diamond and Precious Metals Regulator (SADPMR),mineral research and developme...Read More

Import prices for steel slab in Southeast Asia and East Asia fell over the past week on dampened demand due to a softening of the downstream flat steel market, though suppliers have become unwilling to lower their offers any further. Fastmarkets' price assessment for steel slab imports, cfr Southeast Asia and East Asia was $420-430 per tonne for the week ending Monday September 2, down $5 per tonn...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

Import prices for rebar in Singapore continued to fall over the past week amid intensifying supply pressures.The weekly Fastmarkets price assessment for steel reinforcing bar (rebar) import, cfr Singapore - which mainly looks at cargoes sold into Singapore on a theoretical-weight basis - was $465-475 per tonne for the week to Monday September 2, widening downward by $10 per tonne from a week earli...Read More

Reports by various Hong Kong media outlets, such as the South China Morning Post (SCMP) said that this past Sunday, August 31, masked protesters had created chaos on Hong Kong's airport and damaged the railway station, causing travelers to head to the city on foot. SCMP reported that Sunday's protests had followed a night of violence after tens of thousands had joined an - illegal - mar...Read More

Nigeria's newspaper the Premium Times, published an article arguing that the country could earn well over $12 billion from gemstones annually if it would invest in gemological laboratory that would identify and grade to asses the value of the precious stones mined in the country. The paper quoted a Professor of Business Administration, Adesoji Adesugba, saying that this one of the conclusions...Read More

The Namibian news service New Era (NE) interviewed NamDeb's CEO Riaan Burger, asking how long NamDeb has before the firm's "onshore resources" run out. Burger said that the company, which has been mining diamonds since 1908, would have to close its mining operation at some point. "We have declining on-land reserves, but we also have opportunities. At the moment we can eco...Read More

The emergence of distressed cargoes of hot-rolled coil en route to Vietnam or sitting at key ports in the country have resulted in prices for the flat steel product to continue to fall in the past week.Fastmarkets' weekly assessment for steel HRC import, cfr Vietnam assessment - which mainly looks at Chinese 2-3mm re-rolling-grade SAE1006 HRC and equivalent products sold into Vietnam - was $460-46...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.Shockwaves from Tsingshan's new stainless steel hub in Indonesia are reverberating across South East Asia and beyond, according to Wood Mackenzie.“Competitively priced exports of Indonesian stainless product have provoked varyin...Read More