RAPAPORT... Swiss luxury watchmaker Breitling will not return toBaselworld in 2020, and will instead focus on marketing through its ownplatform.Although the watch and jewelry exhibition proved successfulfor the company this year, the fair's new schedule, which will begin next year,clashed with Breitling's. "The decisive factor is the timing of Baselworld at the endof April, which cannot be re...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.As Indonesia heads for the polls on 17 April, Wood Mackenzie's research director Andrew Harwood provides the following commentary:"We predict that President Jokowi will once again defeat his 2014 opponent, Prabowo Subianto, and secure...Read More

Petra Diamonds published a report for the first quarter of the year. The company produced 924,228 carats, compared to 992,315 carats in the first quarter of 2018, reflecting the increased production at the Cullinan, Koffiefontein and Williamson mines, but offset by a lower production at the Finsch mine. With the expansion of operations at the Cullinan mine, across the so-called C-Cut footprint, t...Read More

This year, National Jeweler honored two single-store independent jewelers along with one multi-store independent. The 2019 inductees are Cathy Calhoun of Calhoun Jewelers, Julia and David Gardner of David Gardner's Jewelers & Gemologists, and Judy and Steve Padis of Padis Jewelry.  "We are thrilled to welcome five jewelers into the National Jeweler Retailer Hall of Fame this year. We thi...Read More

ImaGem Inc. launched Varna-D, a portable device for color grading polished diamonds. Weighing only half a pound and about the size of a weighing scale, Varna-D was designed and built with the members of the diamond trade in mind, as they require accessible and easy to handle tools for accurate and repeatable grading of loose diamonds. The company said its color grading technology was developed and...Read More

For the third time in a row, the Antwerp World Diamond Centre (AWDC) and the University of Antwerp (UA) will organize the Antwerp Summer University. Spanning two weeks at the end of August - early September, the academic program, is intended for an international group of masters and PhD students, graduates, researchers and (young) professionals from in- and outside the diamond industry. The...Read More

Sarine Technologies Ltd announced that New Art Cima Ltd. is the first retail chain in Japan to implement the Sarine Diamond Journey solution as a center piece of its new customer experience. The Sarine Diamond Journey solution vividly showcases a diamond's transformation from its rough origin to its polished form. The solution includes a three-dimensional model of the original rough stone th...Read More

Okavango Diamond Company (ODC) will be hosting diamond viewings for its registered customers at the AWDC Tender Facility from the July 1-5, 2019. At the viewing, the goods on-site will be single stones and sales lots comprising stones greater than +9.8 carats. These goods then will be sold as part of ODC's July online auction that is planned for July 25, 2019. Meanwhile, registration for the...Read More

Holding pattern for now Base metals seem to be in something of a holding pattern, waiting for more details from US-China trade talks before making their next directional move. Given the likelihood of a positive conclusion, stronger demand-related signals from China, and tight underlying supply-demand balances, we maintain that the mostly likely next move will be to the upside. Aluminium: Becoming...Read More

Aluminium prices slipped back below $1,850 per tonne last week Aluminium prices continued their downtrend and slipped below the $1,850 per tonne mark last week. This comes as weaker investor sentiment across Europe continues to trickle through to commodity purchasing, with US President Donald Trump threatening to apply $11 billion worth of tariffs on goods from the EU. Grounded in an ongoing aircr...Read More

Aluminium LME aluminium produced what appears to be a bullish daily hammer candlestick on Friday April 12. This technical development could mark a potential short-term reversal. Given how oversold the daily RSI and stochastic lines are, there is decent upside potential on both indicators to support a move higher. Still, we will need to see more buying emerge first and LME aluminium needs to t...Read More

The copper industry gathered in Santiago last week for the annual CESCO week. Overall, sentiment was fairly bullish and that seems to be flowing into prices this week, with copper having another go at resistance in the $6,500s. Below we highlight some of the key takeaways from CESCO and give our opinion on some of the main talking points. Mine disruptions are back After a relative dearth of mine s...Read More

Rising stocks highlight adequate availability A pick-up in both LME and SHFE lead stocks in recent months is a headwind for lead prices at this seasonally weak time when the threat of severe cold weather in the northern hemisphere has passed. That said, exchange lead stocks are still relatively low, at around 109,500 tonnes on Friday, compared with 123,276 tonnes at the start of the year. While th...Read More

At Fastmarkets’ Battery Material Conference held in Shanghai last week, there was much focus among participants on how China’s EV policies will support nickel-rich lithium-ion battery demand in medium to long term. Below are some important highlights from this discussion: The halving of China’s new energy vehicle (NEV) subsidies in late March (to 18,000 yuan ($2,680) for EVs with a...Read More

Dip-buying continues to keep LME tin prices fairly stable in the mid-to-high $20,000s. As this delays the still-likely sell-off associated with the beginning of the end of the Indonesian supply bottleneck, we turn our attention this week to the tinplate market, noting highlights from our Galvanized Steel and Tinplate Markets Tracker. Chinese market in transition In China, the tinplate market seems...Read More

Zinc rebounds on positive Chinese data... Zinc prices came under pressure for much of last week as trade jitters and macroeconomic uncertainties dominated risk sentiment. But price weakness was limited by technical support around $2,870 per tonne, before staging an end-of-week rebound to close with a modest $5.50-per-tonne gain on the week in response to positive data from China. ...as new loans a...Read More

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Click here to download the Selected Demand IndicatorsACCESS RESTRICTEDTo read the rest of this analysis please take a free sample or subscribeFREE SampleReceive a free sample of  market analysis and price forecasts.Free SampleSUBSCRIBEReceive unlimited access to all current and archive content going back to 2008 including downloadable pricing data and forecasts.Plus download the lat...Read More

Trading across most of the metals is relatively quiet in early morning on Tuesday April 16 and the market seems to be waiting for fresh direction, which we think means the market is waiting for a US-China trade deal. Before that, today’s ZEW and US industrial production data may provide direction, as too will tomorrow’s Chinese GDP data. Base metals Trading across the London Me...Read More

U.S. equity index futures were higher this morning. S&P 500 futures were up 11 points in pre-opening trade. Strength was prompted by a 2.39% gain by the Shanghai Composite Index to 3.253.60. Several North American equity indices are testing their all-time highs this morning. All-time highs are 2,940.91 for the S&P 500 Index, 8,133.30 for the NASDAQ Composite Index, 7,700.56 for the NASDAQ...Read More