Three-month prices for base metals on the London Metal Exchange showed mixed fortunes at the close of trading on Monday April 16, despite the US Dollar Index being at a six-weeks low, with only copper showing a gain a of more than 1%, and nickel falling from its Friday price.Copper's three-month price was up by 1.8% at 5pm on Monday to $9,376 per tonne, compared with Friday's closing price of $9,2...Read More

It seems that copper's biggest market has soured on the metal. Premiums paid over exchange prices for copper cathodes imported into China have fallen in recent weeks, dropping to a five-month low in a decline that shows no signs of slowing down.Fastmarkets' benchmark copper grade-A cathode ER premium, cif Shanghai was at $40-48 per tonne on Wednesday April 14, a five-month low.Falling premiums for...Read More

Seaborne premium hard coking coal prices edged up slightly on Monday April 19.In the cfr market, imported coking coal prices were supported by positive market sentiment due to expectations of short supplies and rising domestic coking coal and metallurgical coke prices, while buying interest has started to revive after falling offer prices in the fob market, sources told Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets ind...Read More

The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.This month's key North American steel forecast highlights:?EUR? There is no end in sight to the shortfall in flat steel supply that has characterized US markets in early 2021, and we expect record-high US pricing for hot-rolled coil to persist through the second quarter of 2021 and into the second half of the year. We are fo...Read More

The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts is ready to view.In both Europe and the United States, the prices of most flat steel products have pushed to record highs in the weeks to Monday March 22. They remain slightly below their mid-2008 peaks in China, but are at multi-year highs there too.This illustrates in part the heavier consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic for steelmakers in...Read More

The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.Chinese seamless linepipe prices have jumped by $120 per tonne over the past month because of rising costs. With iron ore prices remaining elevated, scrap costs on the rise, and activity at steel mills curbed by environmental measures, steel billet has become difficult to source, bolstering the prices for seamless linep...Read More

The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view. This month's key North American steel forecast highlights: US hot-rolled coil prices continued to move in line with our forecasts in February, although actual prices again modestly exceeded our forecasts. Domestic HRC prices averaged $1,194 per ton in February, exceeding our forecast price of $1,150 per ton for the month. U...Read More

The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.This month's key ferro-alloy forecast highlights:?EUR?  Impressive advances in ore and alloy prices persisted in March, with most markets posting significant price gains. Strengthening demand from steelmakers along with supply shortages and depleted inventories in numerous markets, as well as freight and transportation...Read More

The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.This month's key ferro-alloy forecast highlights:?EUR?In a strong start to the year, January saw ore and alloy pricing gains across all markets priced by Fastmarkets - with the exception of Chinese silicon metal export prices, which retreated slightly last month after posting impressive gains in December 2020.The combination...Read More

The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts is ready to view.With nickel prices down by almost 20% over the space of around ten days during late February and early March, one might have been expecting us to be reporting sharply-lower prices of stainless steel, at least for the most common nickel-containing grades of stainless steel.This is not the case, at least in Europe and the Unite...Read More

The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts is ready to view.We spoke in our previous tracker of stainless steel prices ending 2020 on a high. That trend has continued during early 2021 and, in fact, the upward rally in prices has increased its momentum.Compared with the monthly price increase of some 5% seen at the end of 2020, prices for grade-304 stainless steel in al...Read More

Key data from Fastmarkets' pricing session in Europe on Friday April 16.Key drivers Market participants report lower offers all under $1,000 per kg for prompt delivery material on spot basis. Most germanium-dioxide material is tied up in long-term contracts on a formula basis, however, material rarely exchanges hands in...Read More

RAPAPORT... Belgium's polished-diamond exports jumped 40% year on year to $716 million in March, reaching the highest level since September 2019. Rough trading also grew sharply, according to data the Antwerp World Diamond Centre (AWDC) released last week."Continuing on the trend of the final months of 2020, the first quarter of 2021 demonstrates Antwerp's resilience and its agility to remain...Read More

RAPAPORT... Luk Fook's same-store sales rose 30% in the fourth fiscal quarter amid the recovery of the Chinese economy following Covid-19 closures.In mainland China, same-store sales - at self-operated branches open for at least a year - leaped 93% year on year for the three months ending March 31, the jeweler said last week. The surge was due to a favorable comparison with the same period in 2020...Read More

Domestic prices for hot-rolled coil in Europe increased further on Monday April 19 after ArcelorMittal announced an increase in its offer prices last week, sources told Fastmarkets.The mood in the market is bullish, and buyers are expected to accept even higher prices soon.Fastmarkets calculated its daily steel hot-rolled coil index domestic, exw Northern Europe at ?,?941.67 ($1,128.10) per tonne...Read More

RAPAPORT... The number of jewelry businesses operating in the US slipped slightly in the first quarter of 2021, a much smaller decrease than in previous periods, according to data from the Jewelers Board of Trade (JBT).In total, the sector downsized 1.5% year on year to 24,095 companies, compared to a decline of 4.2% in the first quarter of 2020, the JBT reported last week. Of the businesses that...Read More

(IDEX Online) - A 2.17-carat fancy vivid purplish pink diamond fetched $3.5m at auction, well above its high estimate of $2.5m.It was the most expensive of a "Perfect Palette" of three colored diamonds that raised a total of $8.4m last week at Christie's New York April Magnificent Jewels.The pink diamond (pictured) was a cut-cornered square modified brilliant-cut stone, natural color, SI1 cla...Read More

RAPAPORT... Chow Tai Fook's sales surged in the fourth fiscal quarter amid the reopening of the greater China economy and a return of consumer demand.Retail sales soared 174% in mainland China in the three months ending March 31, while same-store sales - at branches open for at least year - jumped 141%, the jeweler reported last week. In Hong Kong and Macau, retail sales climbed 47%, while same-st...Read More

RAPAPORT... Production from Mountain Province's Gahcho Ku?(C) mine fell in the first quarter amid an unplanned shutdown of the deposit to limit the spread of Covid-19.Rough-diamond output at the Canadian mine fell 16% to 1.4 million carats for the three months ending March 31, as the site closed for 22 days after several employees tested positive for the coronavirus, Mountain Province said last we...Read More

RAPAPORT... The Gemological Institute of America (GIA) has prevailed in a trademark infringement suit against a lab that used a look-alike logo to ride off the GIA's success, the organization said. AIG Belgium, which operates as American International Gemological Laboratories and Antwerp International Gemological Laboratories, must immediately cease using "AIG" either alone or in conjunction with...Read More