Is it possible that a precious metals reset could actually be good for the banks?by Chris Marcus of Arcadia EconomicsCould higher #silverprice actually be good for the banksThere has been a lot of discussion on this channel, as well as others, about how the banks have suppressed the silver price far below its true free market value.Yet many ask why the price would only be suppressed lower, and if...Read More
Tin was the best performer on the London Metal Exchange on June 8 due to its constrained global supply situation being set to worsen amid disruption from MSC, while the rest of the complex finished positively on afternoon US trade despite a broader consolidation.LME tin's three-month price closed at $31,223 per tonne on Tuesday, jumping up by 2.3% from Monday's closing price of $30,525 per tonne,...Read More
London Metal Exchange ring dealing members have a decision to make - whether to remain one or not.The LME has just announced it will reopen the open outcry trading floor, which was temporarily closed due to Covid-19, on September 6.Its plan, however, comes with a twist; some ring dealers say, a knife.The official prices - which the global trade and industry use as the global reference for physical...Read More
The London Metal Exchange will enhance its off-warrant stock reporting, including limiting the warranting of metal that has not previously been disclosed in off-warrant stock reports, the exchange said on Tuesday June 8.The responses to the LME's discussion paper were generally supportive of the exchange taking a greater physical market role with respect to the off-warrant stock report, the LME sa...Read More
The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.United States sheet prices hit record highs again in May, with upward momentum carrying into June. Actual US HRC prices averaged $1,712 per tonne in May, largely in line with our forecast of $1,698 per tonne. Strong underlying supply-and-demand conditions both in the US and globally are supporting prices as well as long lead...Read More
RAPAPORT... India's polished-diamond exports will increase 20% to more than $20 billion this fiscal year as sentiment improves in key retail markets, a credit agency has forecast.China's apparent defeat of Covid-19 and the US's vaccine rollout have lifted consumer confidence in both countries, Mumbai-based Crisil Ratings said last week. Those two markets account for around 75% of India's poli...Read More
RAPAPORT... Group revenue at Chow Tai Fook rose for the full fiscal year amid an expansion of the company's mainland China operations and improved consumer sentiment.Sales jumped 24% to HKD 70.16 billion ($9.04 billion) for the 12 months ending March 31, the company said Tuesday. The increase reflects a favorable comparison with the same period in 2020, when the coronavirus pandemic forced numerou...Read More
RAPAPORT... In both financial and diamond industry terms, 2017 seems like an eternity ago. Bankers at the Dubai Diamond Conference in October of that year gave a stark warning to the diamond sector: The trade is over-financed, insufficiently transparent, not profitable enough, and altogether too risky. This was their unanimous observation, to the discomfort of the audience. With bank credit a...Read More
RAPAPORT... The Rapaport Diamond Podcast looks at Pandora's decision to focus on lab-grown stones instead of mined goods, and whether higher-end brands could go down the synthetics route.With Cartier CEO Cyrille Vigneron hinting to Forbes that it wouldn't rule out using lab-grown diamonds, could man-made stones have a future at the top jewelry maisons?The team also reflects on the latest deve...Read More
RAPAPORT... Lucara Diamond Corp. has unearthed six diamonds over 100 carats from its Karowe mine in Botswana, including a light-brown stone weighing 470 carats.The miner recovered the clivage diamond - one of lower quality, which needs to be cut before processing - from the site's south lobe EM/PK(S) area, known for its large, high-quality rough, it said Tuesday. The stone is Lucara's third over 3...Read More
(IDEX Online) - The only commercial diamond miner in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) hopes a $5m cash injection will go some way to revive its flagging fortunes.At its peak in 1961 MIBA, the Bakwanga Mining Company, produced 16m carats, but it has been badly hit by two wars, widespread corruption, embezzlement, poor management and infrastructure, crippling debt, unpaid workers' wages a...Read More
Tin was the best performer on the London Metal Exchange on June 8 due to its constrained global supply situation being set to worsen amid disruption from MSC, while the rest of the complex finished positively on afternoon US trade despite a broader consolidation.LME tin's three-month price closed at $31,223 per tonne on Tuesday, jumping up by 2.3% from Monday's closing price of $30,525 per tonne,...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Lucara has recovered a 470-ct diamond from its Karowe mine, in Botswana.It's the tenth +100-ct stone, and the third +300-ct so far from the deposit this year.The Canadian miner describes it as a top light brown clivage diamond (pictured) - indicating the rough stone will need to be split before being processed further.The diamond, measuring 49x42x26mm, was recovered from direc...Read More
(IDEX Online) - De Beers is reportedly raising prices of larger stones by as much as 10 per cent at its fifth sight of the year, which opened yesterday in Gabarone.The miner has been increasing prices since the end of 2020 as midstream demand rebounds, but not so dramatically.Rough diamonds over two carats are up by 10 per cent, sources have told Bloomberg News, and the prices of some smaller good...Read More
Domestic prices for hot-rolled coil were mostly stable across Europe on Tuesday June 8, on support from a continuing shortage of material, sources told Fastmarkets.The availability of domestic HRC has remained tight but lead times are no longer being extended, sources told Fastmarkets.Buyers have also been cautious about making new deals in fear of being left with stocks of high-priced coil if pri...Read More
Imports of used beverage can (UBC) scrap and industrial aluminium scrap into the United States rose 9.49% month on month to 36,990 short tons in April from 33,784 tons in March, according to the most recent data from the US Census Bureau.The United States imported 24,287 tons of UBC scrap in April, up 1.52% from 23,924 tons in March, of which 10,283 tons (or...Read More
The London Metal Exchange's electronic trading system is up to the job of discovering closing prices with any misalignments to be ironed out via a volume-weighted average price (VWAP) methodology, chief executive officer Matthew Chamberlain said. LMESelect's technical functionality had been considered in great detail by the exchange board, acknowledging that outright three-month prices work well e...Read More
Sherritt International has deferred its planned full-facility maintenance shutdown of its nickel-cobalt refinery in Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta, to August from the previously scheduled June to mitigate the risk of Covid-19 on employee and contractor health and safety, the company said. The full-facility shutdown occurs every six years, will last around 11 days, and will include all of the refinery...Read More
London Metal Exchange ring dealing members have a decision to make - whether to remain one or not.The LME has just announced it will reopen the open outcry trading floor, which was temporarily closed due to Covid-19, on September 6.Its plan, however, comes with a twist; some ring dealers say, a knife.The official prices - which the global trade and industry use as the global reference for physical...Read More
The United States government has published a sweeping review of US supply chains, proposing measures to increase domestic production of a number of key minerals and products. These measures include a proposed tariff on neodymium magnet imports.In February 2021, recently inaugurated US President Joe Biden indicated that there would be a government review of the resilience of critical minerals suppl...Read More