The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts is ready to view.Prices of stainless steel are generally set to reach highs for the year as 2020 comes to a close. For the most common nickel-containing grades of stainless steel, this upward trend is being driven above all by rising nickel prices, which themselves are hitting relatively high levels into the end of 2020.The price increases si...Read More

The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts is ready to view.While much commentary has been written about Asian economies performing far better than those elsewhere this year during the global Covid-19 pandemic, it is stainless steel markets in Europe and the United States that are ending the year in better shape than their Asian counterparts.We do not talk of demand levels or demand g...Read More

The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts is ready to view.While a world leader in many areas, the United States is a relatively small player when it comes to stainless steel. It produces a small amount of material, both in absolute and relative terms (i.e. compared to the size of its population), while a large share of its industry is in the hands of bigger European companies. Never...Read More

Pig iron export prices from the south of Brazil softened in the week to Thursday April 1 in new sales.Fastmarkets' price assessment for pig iron, export, fob port of Vitoria/Rio, Brazil, was $500-515 per tonne on Thursday, widening downward from $510-515 per tonne at the end of the preceding week.One sale...Read More

Pig iron export prices from the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) increased during the week to Thursday April 1, amid new sales to neighboring markets and suppliers' bullish mood. Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for high-manganese pig iron, export, fob main port Black Sea, CIS was $535-542 per tonne on Thursday, up from from $520-530 per tonne a week before.The most-recent sales of Ukr...Read More

It is shaping up to be a year of significant deficit in the copper market as tighter-than-expected supply struggles to keep up with a radically improved demand outlook, the chief executive officer of diversified mining company Eurasian Resources Group (ERG) said.This demand is underpinned by unprecedented levels of so-called green stimulus as economies rebuild infrastructure to take account of dec...Read More

Diamond market quiet during Passover, Easter and India's Holi festival. Dealers expecting stable 2Q trading. Some concern that rising inventory levels may impact prices during slower season. More polished becoming available due to increase in manufacturing since beginning of the year, as evidenced by GIA backlog. Rough demand expected to drop after robust 1Q buying. 1 ct. RAPI +1.5% in March. Inde...Read More

RAPAPORT... An advertising watchdog has urged Diamond Foundry to amend its marketing, claiming that some of its language could mislead consumers about the origins of its lab-grown stones.The San Francisco-based synthetics producer should stop using potentially confusing terms, disclose more prominently the man-made provenance of its diamonds, and change some of the claims it makes on social m...Read More

RAPAPORT... Alrosa has pushed back its April contract sale by a week to support the diamond industry's inventory balance, it said.The next trading session will begin on April 19 instead of April 12, the Russian miner announced Wednesday."We are glad to see the continuing recovery of the industry, with our clients expressing sustainable interest in purchasing our goods," said Alrosa deputy CEO...Read More

Low-carbon aluminium value-added products continue to trade at a small premium in Europe, though such premiums are not achievable for primary aluminium, participants told Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets assessed aluminium low-carbon differential value-added product, Europe at $10-15 per tonne on Thursday April 1 from $5-15 per tonne premium on March 5. Deals were reported to Fastmarkets for aluminium...Read More

Aluminium's and nickel's prices bounced back slightly at the close of trading on the London Metal Exchange on Thursday April 1 from Wednesday's figures, but aluminium and zinc showed losses over the week of nearly 2%, while other base metals continued to consolidate.Nickel's three-month price showed the biggest increase in the base-metals complex on Thursday, up by 0.9% to $16,214 per tonne, back...Read More

Spot copper concentrate processing charges dipped further in the week to Thursday April 1 with more smelters accepting terms below $30 per tonne / 3 cents per lb.  Fastmarkets calculated its benchmark copper concentrates treatment and refining charge (TC/RC) index, cif Asia Pacific at $24 per tonne / 2.4 cents per lb on April 1, setting another record low. Offers to smelters dropped to t...Read More

Total primary aluminium stocks at the three main Japanese ports (MJP) of Osaka, Nagoya and Yokohama fell by 10% year on year at the end of February, data from Japanese trading house Marubeni on Thursday April 1 shows.Aluminium stocks at the three ports totaled 268,700 tonnes on February 28, down by 29,700 tonnes from 298,400 tonnes a year earlier, data shows.High freight rates and logistics proble...Read More

Fastmarkets has launched four implied prices based on the weekly published copper concentrates treatment charge/refining charge (TC/RC) index, with data available from April 2021.The derived prices are: MB-CU-0508 copper concentrates TC implied smelters purchaseMB-CU-0509 copper concentrates TC implied traders purchaseMB-CU-0510 copper concentrates RC implied smelters purchaseMB-CU-0511 copper con...Read More

Chilean state-owned copper producer Codelco has reached a 36-month labor agreement with the management and the workers union at its Radomiro Tomic copper complex, the company said this week.There was a consensus on no wage increases and a term bonus of 4.16 million Chilean pesos ($5,729), the company said on Wednesday March 31.The deal also includes incentives for different goals, such as overcomi...Read More

(IDEX Online) - The Lulo mine, in Angola, has yielded three more stones over 100 carats, bringing the total since it opened in five years ago to 22.Lucapa Diamond Company says it recovered a 131-carat is a Type IIa D-color diamond, a 118-carat brown diamond and a lower quality 133-carat grey diamond.All three were found at the highly prolific Mining Block 46 of its alluvial mine downstream of the...Read More

(IDEX Online) - One of the world's rarest and most sought-after watches, a Patek Philippe Reference 2523 with Eurasian Dial, is to be auctioned. It is valued at over $3.7m.The newly-discovered timepiece (pictured) is being offered for sale by Phillips, in association with Bacs & Russo, at the Geneva Watch Auction: XIII on 8-9 May. It was recently discovered in an important European collec...Read More

Zinc producer Trevali has begun trucking ore concentrate at its mothballed Caribou mine in the Canadian province of New Brunswick, the company said on Tuesday March 30.The activity follows the producer reopening the Caribou mine in mid-January. It had been on care and maintenance from March 2020.The Caribou mine's last full year of activity was 2019, when it recorded 34,017 tonnes of zinc producti...Read More

IDEX Online) - The more dominant movement was upwards for both rounds and fancies in March. There was little activity among fancies, but smaller goods reversed many of the losses suffered in February.RoundsThere was mixed activity in goods of most sizes during March, with little movement among smaller stones, notably 0.18-0.29 cts and 0.50-0.69 cts. One carats (1.00-1.24 cts) saw a smattering...Read More

Prices in Turkey for steel hot-rolled coil came close to $1,000 per tonne during the week ending Thursday April 1, with producers fully booked until late July, sources have told Fastmarkets.Demand was strong in the country because of low stock levels, as well as the expectation of more price increases.Most market participants expected further price increases next week, because of globally high pri...Read More