Domestic prices for steel hot-rolled coil increased further across Europe over the week to Friday April 9 due to a material shortage and strong demand.At the end of last week, ArcelorMittal increased its official HRC offers to ?,?920 ($1,094) per tonne ex-works, up by ?,?20 per tonne from its previous offers.The announcement followed a rise in transaction prices, with buyers paying higher prices f...Read More

Steel rebar prices from Russia increased in the week to Monday April 12 supported by a strong domestic market, Fastmarkets has learned."Russian domestic prices are strengthening," a source on the producers' side said.Fastmarkets' price assessment for steel reinforcing bar (rebar), domestic, cpt Moscow, Russia, was 54,000 roubles ($697) per tonne on April 12, including 20% value-added tax. This was...Read More

The three-month nickel price was down by the greatest percentage on the London Metal Exchange at the close on Monday April 12, with Chinese warnings of higher prices over the weekend driving the entire complex down as well. The stainless steel additive was down to $16,134 per tonne on Monday, its lowest in two weeks, following a 1.2% drop on Friday to $16,628 per tonne. Nickel, along with the rest...Read More

National Iranian Copper Industries Co's (NICIC) three copper-related projects will come online this year to produce an extra 400,000 tonnes of copper concentrate, according to local media reports. That could bring in an estimate revenue of $800 million to the company, which was established by the Iranian state and was subsequently privatized, according to a Tehran Times report on April 6 that cite...Read More

The waiting time to deliver out aluminium at Istim's London Metal Exchange warehouses in Port Klang, Malaysia, soared to 183 days at the end of March, according to the LME's latest queue report. The queue has built quickly over the past month, compared with no queue at the end of February for Istim warehouses in Port Klang for the first time since December 2018. More than 600,000 tonnes were...Read More

Chinese automotive production jumped by 71.6% annually in March to 2.462 million units, providing strong support for upstream metal prices. The China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) attributed the strong recovery in automotive output to the government's efforts to control the Covid-19 pandemic. Output was also 63.9% higher than that in February, indicating steady growth in industria...Read More

The London Metal Exchange three-month nickel price was down by 2.8% to $16,165 per tonne during morning trading on Monday April 12, with the other base metals also starting the week lower after turning to the downside last Friday following comments out of China regarding rising commodity prices.The decline in nickel this morning, the sharpest among its peers, comes after it had dropped by 1.2% on...Read More

Base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange and Shanghai Futures Exchange were weaker this morning, Monday April 12, while markets contend with cross winds.United States treasury 10-year yields have pulled back from recent highs Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said US economy at an "inflection point" with growth and hiring set to accelerateMarkets wary of US earnings season in case resu...Read More

RAPAPORT... Signet Jewelers has predicted sales growth of up to 88% for the first fiscal quarter after positive market conditions resulted in a better start to the year than the retailer had anticipated."Signet has seen stronger-than-expected conversion and average ticket values in the first quarter," the jeweler explained Monday. "The company believes this top-line strength is likely due to...Read More

RAPAPORT... Jewelry sales in the US more than doubled in March, buoyed by government stimulus payments and a broader reopening across the country, according to Mastercard SpendingPulse.Sales in the category increased 106% year on year during the month, also benefiting from a strong base comparison with March of last year, the first month in which US retail was hit by the Covid-19 pandemic, Masterc...Read More

RAPAPORT... Two pieces of green glass imitating valuable tourmalines have turned up at the Gemological Institute of America (GIA) after manufacturers apparently used innovative techniques to make the shards look like real gemstones.The bluish-green prisms weighing 1.91 and 1.92 carats resembled either Paraiba tourmaline with copper inclusions or emeralds with pyrite inclusions, the GIA said i...Read More

Tata Steel has introduced carbon surcharges on steel products manufactured in Europe to balance the rising cost of such emissions, the company's spokesman told Fastmarkets on Monday April 12."We are now creating a greater awareness of the cost of carbon by introducing a CO2 surcharge on our products," the spokesman said."Increasing shortages and rising prices for emissions rights mean that there i...Read More

(IDEX Online) -  The United States has blacklisted Myanmar's state-owned gem company following the removal of state counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi as leader in a military coup in February.Myanma Gems Enterprise, part of the country's ministry of mines, is said to be responsible for all sales of the country's ruby, jade and other gems.The US Treasury Department has banned it from a...Read More

(IDEX Online) - Pandora reported an increase in its Q1 revenue, even though it's having to close more retail outlets because of the Covid pandemic.The Danish jeweler, best known for its charm bracelets, said sales for the quarter were up 13 per cent on organic basis to $719m.That's in spite of the fact that 35 per cent of its 7,000 points of sale globally were closed for business as of t...Read More

(IDEX Online) - The Murowa mine, in Zimbabwe, reported a 15 per cent drop in its diamond production for 2020 as known deposits begin to run dry.Owners RioZim said it was exploring sites near the three kimberlites pipes currently being worked in the southern central Midlands Province.Rough output in the year ending 31 December 2020 from the RioZim associate RZM Murowa Private Limited was 579,000 ca...Read More

Prices for steel slab from the Commonwealth of Independent States continued to climb in the week to Monday April 12, supported by persistent growth in finished flat steel prices both domestically and in customers' markets.Offer prices for hot-rolled coil (HRC) from producers in Russia and Ukraine have jumped to $895-960 per tonne fob, depending on the coil weight and supplier, up from $885-905 per...Read More

Flat steel suppliers to Russia's Central Federal District around Moscow were targeting higher prices for May deliveries because of the strong export market but faced stiff resistance from buyers, sources told Fastmarkets on Monday April 12. Firm offers were still scarce because producers were taking their time to better estimate the market situation, but some had already started to test buyers wit...Read More

RAPAPORT... Xcel Brands, which owns several apparel labels, has acquired Logo by Lori Goldstein, a lifestyle brand encompassing clothing and jewelry. Goldstein, an American stylist and designer, launched Logo in 2009. The brand has since clocked up retail sales of more than $1.5 billion, Xcel said Monday. The investment will help enhance the brand's product merchandising and design, acco...Read More

Turkish steel mills held off from making deep-sea scrap bookings on the first working day of the week, market participants told Fastmarkets on Monday April 12. The most recent cargo was heard at the end of the last week, when a steel mill in the Iskenderun region booked a Canadian cargo comprising 35,000 tonnes of HMS 1&2 (95:5) and 15,000 tonnes of shredded at an average price of $436 per tonne c...Read More

Huntsman Set to Expand Nickel Sulphide Discovery at CanegrassSPONSOREDhuntsman explorationShaofu said smelting capacity increased 1.8% in 2020 to 8.Read More