Total sales of watches and jewelry in the USA plunged in March, compared with same month last year, down by 27.2 per cent. It is an unprecedented fall, driven by unprecedented events. The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic were reflected to some extent in February's year-on-year figure, which saw a slowdown, but still some positive growth (up 3.4 per cent).The disastrous figure for March is the...Read More

(IDEX Online) - A judge has ruled that the Rio Tinto subsidiary DDMI can temporarily withhold diamonds from its troubled joint venture partner Dominion. DDMI and Dominion have a 60/40 split ownership of the Diavik mine in Canada's Northwest Territories.But Dominion has been in creditor protection since April after closing its other mine, Ekati, also in Northwest Territories, because of C...Read More

The recently opened anti-dumping investigation into Turkish exports of hot-rolled coil to the EU fails to comply with the principles of the Customs Union and Free Trade Agreements between Turkey and the European Commission (EC), the Turkish Steel Producers' Association (TCUD) told Fastmarkets on Thursday May 21.The EC started an anti-dumping investigation into imports of hot-rolled coil originatin...Read More

Turkish billet prices increased over the past week in line with rising prices in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) region, sources said on Thursday May 21.Suppliers in the CIS region managed to secure some billet export sales to China, which have supported prices over the past week.Therefore, offers...Read More

CIS exporters of steel billet have continued to enjoy strong demand from China over the week to Thursday May 21. Suppliers have been concentrating most of their efforts on this market recently because Chinese customers have been paying the highest prices.Around 40,000 tonnes of Ukraine-origin billet scheduled for shipment in July were reported sold to China at $393 per tonne cfr, equivalent to $36...Read More

Turkish rebar and wire rod export prices remained firm over the past week, despite some lower-priced rebar sales to Asia, sources said on Thursday May 21.Two steel mills were heard to have sold a combined total of 100,000 tonnes of rebar at $390 per tonne fob on an actual-weight basis to Hong Kong. Turkish steel mills, however, were trying to keep their prices firm...Read More

ArcelorMittal has temporarily stopped operations at its steel mill in Bosnia while Sweden's SSAB has decided to extend layoffs at some of its productions assets in the week to Thursday May 21.The decisions were made in a response to a drastic decline in steel demand across Europe due to the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.ArcelorMittalArcelorMittal decided to stop production at its Zenica plant f...Read More

Demand for imported steel billet and domestic steel reinforcing bar (rebar) in Egypt remained weak in the seven days to Thursday May 21, but billet import prices increased because of higher offers, sources told Fastmarkets.No improvement in demand is expected any time soon, sources said, due to the Islamic holy month of Ramadan and the Covid-19 pandemic.In addition, Egypt's president, Abdel F...Read More

Broad markets were weaker this morning, Thursday May 21, this after strong gains in recent days on high hopes that the recovery will gain momentum while economies move out of lockdowns and with ultra-loose monetary policy adding fuel. The danger is that some countries are relaxing lockdowns for economic reasons even though the Covid-19 virus is not under control, and that runs the risk of the viru...Read More

Trading activity in the Bangladesh import ferrous scrap market has ground to a halt in a week that has featured the continued Ramadan lull and the emergence of category-2 Cyclone Amphan over the country, market participants told Fastmarkets on Thursday May 21."No deals have been done recently. The market is very quiet because we are going into a long holiday for the eid festival," one South Asian...Read More

Seaborne iron ore prices rebounded on Thursday May 21 with active trading driven by improving steel production and demand, despite renewed concerns over supplies from Brazil. Fastmarkets iron ore indices 62% Fe fines, cfr Qingdao: $98.26 per tonne, up $1.31 per tonne. 62% Fe low-alumina fines, cfr Qingdao: $101.63 per tonne, up $2.09 per tonne. 58% Fe fines high-grade premium, cfr Q...Read More

Seaborne coking coal prices were generally flat in a quiet market on Thursday May 21. Fastmarkets indicesPremium hard coking coal, fob DBCT: $118.44 per tonne, down $0.54 per tonne Premium hard coking coal, cfr Jingtang: $124.77 per tonne, up $0.15 per tonneHard coking coal, fob DBCT: $90.94 per tonne, unchangedHard coking...Read More

The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.Activity in China has picked up, and although the impact from the Covid-19 did not spare the country with its gross domestic product contracting at its largest rate since recording began in the 1990s, the latest crude steel output figures for April from China's National Bureau of Statistics show a strong recovery, albeit sti...Read More

Artemis all set thanks to unique approachSPONSOREDartemis resourcesThe underground mine, which aims to extend the life of the centennial Chuquicamata copper deposit by 40 years, is reaching production rates of about 20,000 tonnes per day and the company has sunk someRead More

Cardinal heading down familiar gold roadSPONSOREDcardinal resources"Which is of course the way some shareholders would have liked to see us go," Mather said on a Red Cloud Securities webinar this week.Read More

Artemis all set thanks to unique approachSPONSOREDartemis resources"The index generally sees the annual lows in April but the unique circumstances resulting from COVID-19 have meant that April was instead the first signs of recovery," Marex Spectron's global head of analytics Dr Guy Wolf said.The index put the April average at 87.2, up from 86.7 in March and compared with 85 a year ago and 84.8 in...Read More

U.S. equity index futures were lower this morning. S&P 500 futures were down 13 points in pre-opening trade.Index futures were virtually unchanged following release of economic news at 8:30 AM EDT Consensus for the May Philly Fed Index was a drop to - 40.0 versus -56.6 in April. Actual was a drop to -43.1. Consensus for Weekly Jobless Claims was 2.400 million versus a revised 2.687 million las...Read More

China's domestic hot-rolled coil market saw moderate trading activity on Thursday May 21 amid a slight price drop, with sentiment being largely optimistic following the release of data showing declining inventory levels.DomesticEastern China (Shanghai): 3,560-3,580 yuan ($501-504) per tonne, widening downward by 10 yuan per tonneNorthern China (Tangshan): 3,510-3,520 yuan per tonne, widening downw...Read More

Seven ways the resources sector can survive the COVID-19 crisisSPONSOREDproudfootCardinal heading down familiar gold roadSPONSOREDcardinal resourcesSarama right in the middle of big exploration, corporate build-upSPONSOREDsarama resources Exore excels in Cote d'IvoireSPONSOREDexore resources"I believe that long-term mining economics should determine pricing.Read More

China's domestic rebar prices were flat on Thursday May 21, with both buyers and sellers taking a wait-and-see approach to the market following the start of an annual meeting of policymakers in Beijing.Domestic Eastern China (Shanghai): 3,560-3,590 yuan ($501-506) per tonne, unchangedThe Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference started its annual meeting on Thursday afternoon while that...Read More