RAPAPORT... Fana, a New York-based bridal and fine-jewelry brand, has appointed three senior staff members to shore up its sales operations and interactions with retail partners.Shelby Sterrett, who joined the company in February, will lead sales development for the west region, which covers Colorado and all other west-coast states, the company said last week. Steve Rumanoff will hold the sam...Read More
RAPAPORT... Dutch bank ABN Amro will close its Hong Kong diamond business in a major trimming of its global operations.The company is shutting the branch from which it lends to the local polished market, as part of a retreat from all trade-finance activities outside northwest Europe, a company spokesperson told Rapaport News Thursday. The decision leaves ABN Amro with just its Belgium office...Read More
(IDEX Online) - The Canadian miner Lucara reported a Q2 loss of ?, ?13.9m, after choosing not to sell any of its larger stones.Last year it made a 0.7m profit in the same quarter.During Q2 2020 it sold smaller stones from its Karoe mine (pictured), in Botswana, at a single tender in Antwerp and through its digital sales platform Clara - five sales of stones between one and 10 carats - generating a...Read More
RAPAPORT... Ask a De Beers or Alrosa contract client about the biggest problems with the miners' age-old systems for selling rough, and the answer will probably include a comment on prices. High rough prices relative to polished have squeezed diamond manufacturers' profit margins for years. But there's a more complex issue behind the complaints: the lack of customization.The two mining giants...Read More
(IDEX Online) - A Chinese billionaire living in the USA has ordered the world's most expensive COVID-19 face mask - costing $1.5m.Teams of jewelers are working in shifts to set 3,608 natural black and white diamonds (weighing 210 carats) into 270 grams of pure 18k gold.The anonymous customer from Shanghai is having the mask designed and made by Orna and Isaac Levy, owners of the Yvel luxury j...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Canadian miner Star Diamond claims Rio Tinto, senior partner in a joint exploration project, may be to blame for damage to some sample stones.The two companies are already tangled in a legal row over terms of another venture. Star Diamond accuses Rio Tinto of "bad faith predatory practices", gross overspending on exploration costs at the Star-Orion South project in Saskatchew...Read More
(IDEX Online) - The desire for diamonds is as strong as ever says De Beers boss Bruce Cleaver.He was launching the company's latest Global Sentiment Report, an assessment of consumer confidence in the wake of COVID-19.The report, based on 2,800 people in the USA, China and India, revealed that that sentiment was improving as consumers adjusted to the 'new normal' and were considerin...Read More
London Metal Exchange copper futures fell toward the 5pm close on Thursday August 13, failing to stabilize above the level of $6,400 per tonne.The LME's 3-month copper price closed at $6,256 per tonne, down by $176 per tonne from Wednesday's close, to the lowest since last Friday.Tumbling three-month prices have exacerbated a backwardation in the nearby forward curve. The cash/three-month spread w...Read More
The Turkish deep-sea scrap import market remained quiet on Thursday August 13, with mills preferring to wait for some movement in the domestic and export finished long steel sectors, sources told Fastmarkets. Steel mills in the country have booked a number of cargoes in recent weeks, with the latest transactions for HMS 1&2 (80:20) from the US and Baltic Sea done at $285 per tonne cfr.There were s...Read More
Sentiment in the copper scrap market in the United States has turned gloomy, with some saying that the typical summer doldrums have set in and with generally high exchange prices making discounting necessary."[It's] a combination of still-reduced manufacturing output in the US, soft demand from Europe and a strong market value near $3 [per lb]," one consumer said. "The market has typically slid in...Read More
Several mining companies in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) will join a meeting with the government next week to lobby for their right to continue selling copper concentrate overseas, Fastmarkets has learned. The meeting would take place in the DRC capital city of Kinshasa on August 20. "At least now the DRC government is willing to listen," a copper miner source said. Miners in the biggest...Read More
Aluminium producer Alcoa has reached an agreement with the workers' representatives for the San Cipri??n aluminium smelter in Spain to extend the deadline of the formal consultation period for collective dismissals to September 28, 2020, the company announced on Thursday August 13.The extension will include a process intended to evaluate a potential sale of the aluminium smelter to GFG Alliance, w...Read More
Aluminium producer Rusal said global primary aluminium demand was down 6.6% to 30.3 million tonnes in the first half of 2020, with Covid-19 lockdowns halting most economies globally throughout the period. Although it estimates there was a decrease in demand in most regions of the world, the producer sees room for a rebound in the second half of 2020, it said in its first-half earnings report publi...Read More
The London Metal Exchange has unveiled a package of sustainability proposals including new aluminium and steel scrap contracts, a spot trading platform and LMEpassport - a new digital register for physical metals data. The spot trading platform is focusing initially on aluminium but is open to other metals. The first stage of LMEpassport is targeting electronic certificates of analysis (CoAs) for...Read More
Brazilian imports of both flat and long steel products decreased year on year in July amid lower demand for imported material in the country and increased import prices.Imports of flat steel products totaled 78,953 tonnes during the month, down by 11.9% from the 89,595 tonnes a year earlier, according to figures from the Brazilian economy ministry.Imports of cold-rolled coil from China reache...Read More
Prices for steel reinforcing bar (rebar) in the United States held steady while domestic mills said overall market conditions will sustain satisfactory volumes with import purchases inhibited by overseas cost trends.Rebar traders reported some of the tightest margins in their careers, while export scrap costs discouraged Turkish rebar providers from offering more competitive prices. US market part...Read More
Artemis all set thanks to unique approachSPONSOREDartemis resourcesBMC board chairman Valery Kazikayev said the company had started "capital development including stripping of Udokan deposit in order to provide access to minable minerals from the surface".Read More
Domestic prices for hot-rolled coil in Northern Europe inched up day on day on Thursday August 13 and prices will continue to recover, sources told Fastmarkets.Fastmarkets' daily steel hot-rolled coil index, domestic, exw Northern Europe was calculated at ?,?417.84 ($491.51) per tonne on Thursday August 13, up by ?,?0.12 per tonne from ?,?417.27 per tonne on Wednesday.The index was also up by ?,?2...Read More
Imported billet and domestic rebar prices in Egypt rose in the week to Thursday August 13 because of increasing production costs and improved market sentiment compared with previous weeks. Global steel prices have been increasing because of higher feedstock costs. Fastmarkets' daily index for steel scrap, HMS 1&2 (80:20 mix), North Europe origin, cfr Turkey was calculated at $276.12 per tonne...Read More
Markets across the board were in consolidation mode this morning, Thursday August 13, with metals and Asian-Pacific equities mixed, while pre-market major western equity index futures were weaker.Traders seem to be waiting to see if US Congress can agree on a pandemic recovery fund and how the United States-China trade talks go this weekend when they review the phase one trade deal.* High volumes...Read More