The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.In the year 2020 to date in late August, the Fastmarkets 62% Fe iron ore benchmark has powered along and reached six-year highs, supported by Chinese demand, and despite the global economic uncertainty created by the Covid-19 pandemic. Iron ore demand has weakened almost everywhere except in China, where it has continued to...Read More

The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.There has been an increasing bullishness in Chinese steel market sentiment recently, with rising post-Covid-19 optimism about the country's economy for the second half of 2020, especially after the government announced an infrastructure spending boost. Although we believe that high prices are justified, they remain far from...Read More

The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.Heavy rains in China, which can negatively affect iron ore supplies and pig iron production, and bolster demand for scrap, continued in July 2020. Although this was more an upside risk to our bearish base case one month ago, Chinese scrap prices remained strong. The firm prices gained support from the rains and from a more g...Read More

The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.This year has come with several unexpected events which increased the bullish case for iron ore prices, while the Chinese government's spending on infrastructure is likely to boost iron ore demand and add upside support to prices. But supply disruptions and a demand surge which caused price spikes are now easing. We do not e...Read More

The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view. A look at stainless steel price movements through August reveals the ongoing battle being faced by stainless steelmakers in Europe and the United States while they try to pass on rising costs to consumers. In these regions, prices on most grades of stainless steel are little changed from July, rising by around 2% at most -...Read More

The latest forecast from Fastmarkets' team of analysts is ready to view.As we enter the summer season across the northern hemisphere, almost half a year has passed since the Covid-19 pandemic began to seriously affect Europe and the United States.One would not really be able to tell that such a dramatic event had occurred by looking at stainless steel prices, however, because they are more or less...Read More

The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of base metals analysts are ready to view, including an upgrade to our aluminium price forecasts.Aluminium: Price forecasts raisedWe correctly expected the macro reflationary theme to raise the prices for all base metals but, with it being the base metal with by far the weakest fundamentals, we had expected the price of aluminium to underperform relative...Read More

Turkish steel mills have continued their deep-sea scrap purchases for September-October shipments at higher prices, sources told Fastmarkets on Thursday September 3.A steel mill in Northern Turkey booked a Baltic Sea cargo comprising 10,000 tonnes of HMS 1&2 (80:20) at $300 per tonne, 13,000 tonnes of shredded at $305 per tonne and 4,000 tonnes of bonus at $310 per tonne cfr late on Wednesday.Anot...Read More

Positive sentiment as the trade adapts to the Covid-19 selling environment. Polished prices firming due to shortages. 1 ct. RAPI +3.2% in Aug. Manufacturers seeing better profit margins after De Beers and Alrosa reduced rough prices. Polished production increasing but coronavirus restrictions still limiting Surat factories. Rough trading steady. Momentum likely to continue through October as retai...Read More

RAPAPORT... Signet Jewelers' revenue and profit beat expectations in the second fiscal quarter as stores unlocked their doors and the retailer upgraded its digital capabilities."Sales improved sequentially throughout the second quarter as we reopened stores and remained agile and innovative in these unprecedented times," CEO Virginia Drosos said Thursday. "During the quarter, we also scaled o...Read More

RAPAPORT... Jewelry was one of the top-selling categories at Macy's during the second fiscal quarter, even as overall sales declined at the department-store chain.Group revenue dropped 36% to $3.56 billion in the three months ending August 1, while comparable-store sales - at owned and licensed shops open for at least a year - fell 35%, the retailer reported Wednesday. However, sales rose at its "...Read More

RAPAPORT... Rio Tinto will offer a record-breaking diamond at its penultimate pink-diamond tender as it prepares to close the Argyle mine.The 2.24-carat, fancy-vivid-purplish-pink diamond, known as Argyle Eternity, will headline the Argyle Pink Diamonds Tender, which has run since 1984. It is the largest round brilliant diamond of fancy-vivid color the company has ever put up for sale. The tender...Read More

RAPAPORT... The resurgence in rough-diamond trading will persist for another two months as manufacturers fill supply shortages and retail demand rises, dealers predicted."There's still a gap, because demand is there, and supply is very limited and will be limited for a couple of months," a sightholder said. Polished originating from rough bought in August won't hit the market until mid-Octobe...Read More

Peru's copper production continued to increase on a monthly comparison in July but output was still lower than a year ago, while the reopening of zinc mines drove output higher compared with the same month of 2019, the country's energy and mines ministry, Minem, said on Wednesday September 2. Copper output reached 198,796 tonnes in July, down by 2.2% from 203,321 tonnes a year before, Minem's data...Read More

(IDEX Online) -  More than 100 people have reportedly been arrested on suspicion of conspiring to receive diamonds smuggled from Hong Kong to the Chinese mainland.A Chinese couple had 150 packets of undocumented polished diamonds and details of their destinations when they were picked up in the border metropolis of Shenzhen (pictured), a special economic zone which is home to more than 2,300...Read More

Chile produced 462,000 tonnes of copper in July 2020, a 5.1% year-on-year drop from 486,800 tonnes with several operations halted, notably Codelco's, national copper commission Cochilco said on Wednesday September 2.Despite the lower production in July, the year-to-date output for the country was still up year on year after seven months. Chile produced 3.29 million tonnes in January-July 2020, up...Read More

RAPAPORT... Sales of jewelry and other luxury items in Hong Kong plunged in July amid a continued lack of tourism and a resurgence in coronavirus cases.Revenue from jewelry, watches, clocks and other valuable gifts slid 54% year on year to HKD 2.55 billion ($328.5 million) for the month. While the figure was an improvement over the previous month, the lingering effects on the trade continued to be...Read More

(IDEX Online) - The Jewelers for Children charity will celebrate its achievements - raising almost $57m to support kids - with a day of promotions and fundraising.Its third annual JFC Day will be held on Saturday, 26 September, with charity partners rallying their local supporters to visit jewelers and say thank you.    "The pandemic has presented a host of issues not only for...Read More

Extreme tightness of duty-unpaid aluminium units in Rotterdam has pushed the P1020 duty-unpaid premium to its highest since March. With a lack of imports and material in tight hands, participants are concerned the tightness will not ease in the near term. "There is no unpaid material, simple as that. There is nothing new coming in and those holding the material are not willing to let it go at low...Read More

(IDEX Online) - The IDEX Polished Diamond Price Index showed long-awaited signs of post-Covid recovery with a slow but steady rise throughout August. It closed the month up 0.6 per cent, the biggest increase since the "false dawn" in April, when it rose 0.7 per cent. During August the Index increased marginally most days, with only occasional exceptions. In the previous month, July, the...Read More