Access our research platformsSign-in to our platforms to access our extensive research, our latest insight, data and analytics and to connect to our industry experts.As we look to 2020, copper is faced with a finely balanced market. For now, positive investor sentiment around copper’s fundamentals is supporting higher prices. Stronger demand growth is underpinned by new semis capacity, while...Read More
Access our research platformsSign-in to our platforms to access our extensive research, our latest insight, data and analytics and to connect to our industry experts.Guilty of going after tonnages and pursuing growth at any cost during bull times, the world's mining companies have suffered a wave of CEO replacements, with shareholders demanding more capital austerity and returns in the form of div...Read More
Access our research platformsSign-in to our platforms to access our extensive research, our latest insight, data and analytics and to connect to our industry experts.The steady climb in copper prices since mid-2020 – and the more recent launch into the stratosphere – puts me in mind of Senator Gracchus in the film Gladiator. Specifically, his observation that fear and wonderment is a p...Read More
Access our research platformsSign-in to our platforms to access our extensive research, our latest insight, data and analytics and to connect to our industry experts.This article first appear in Forbes on Oct 7, 2018. After a positive start to 2018, growing trade tensions have raised concerns over global economic growth, while tightening global liquidity is having an adverse effect on many em...Read More
Access our research platformsSign-in to our platforms to access our extensive research, our latest insight, data and analytics and to connect to our industry experts.We enter 2021 with many mined commodity prices riding high after recovering from a dramatic pandemic-induced slump in H1 2020. But far from marking a new atmosphere of positivity, the new year brings new questions. How will Chinese po...Read More
RAPAPORT... Hong Kong-based retail sales of jewelry and other hard-luxury items were far below pre-pandemic levels in April as tourism remained stagnant.Revenue from jewelry, watches, clocks and other valuable gifts came to HKD 2.63 billion ($338.6 million) for the month, well short of April 2019's total of HKD 5.86 billion ($747.8 million), the municipality's Census and Statistics department repo...Read More
Access our research platformsSign-in to our platforms to access our extensive research, our latest insight, data and analytics and to connect to our industry experts.As the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic began to bite, many observers confidently predicted that the end was nigh for global economic activity. Governments around the world closed their economies as the only tool available to li...Read More
RAPAPORT... Swiss watch exports exceeded pre-pandemic levels in April as demand in the US strengthened and China continued to see growth in domestic purchasing.Global shipments were 2% higher than in the same month of 2019, amounting to CHF 1.79 billion ($1.99 billion), the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry said last week. The organization used 2019 rather than last year as a base because of...Read More
Access our research platformsSign-in to our platforms to access our extensive research, our latest insight, data and analytics and to connect to our industry experts.The U.S has increased tariffs on $200bn of Chinese goods to 25%, from 10%, impacting a number of metals. Commentary below comes from the Wood Mackenzie metals team:Copper By Wood Mackenzie Senior Consultant, Yanting Zhou"Previous...Read More
RAPAPORT... Regional health authorities for Canada's Northwest Territories have declared a coronavirus outbreak at the Ekati mine, sending operations temporarily into flux.The Office of the Chief Public Health Officer (OCPHO) recommended workers at the mine enter quarantine after three positive cases were identified following regular testing, it said Monday. Regularly scheduled flights to the...Read More
The premium for direct-reduced (DR) iron ore pellet has remained at $60.20 per tonne for shipments in the second quarter of this year, but market sources were expecting it to rise in the third quarter, Fastmarkets heard on Tuesday June 1.Fastmarkets' assessment of the iron ore DR-grade pellet premium to 65% Fe fines index, Middle East reference, was $60.20 per tonne on June 1, unchanged month on m...Read More
Access our research platformsSign-in to our platforms to access our extensive research, our latest insight, data and analytics and to connect to our industry experts.The outbreak of coronavirus, the oil price crash and the impending global recession present an enormous challenge for energy and natural resources. How are you keeping up with the spread of Covid-19 and its impact on your sector?We&rs...Read More
RAPAPORT PRESS RELEASE, June 1, 2021, Las Vegas... Diamond market sentiment was positive during May as the US and China saw upbeat jewelry sales. Supply shortages and a swift recovery in demand supported polished prices. The RapNet Diamond Index (RAPI?,,?) for 1-carat diamonds rose 0.8% in May. RapNet Diamond Index (RAPI?,,?) Read More
Access our research platformsSign-in to our platforms to access our extensive research, our latest insight, data and analytics and to connect to our industry experts.The most important driver of the zinc market in 2020 will be the performance of the world’s zinc smelting industry, according to Wood Mackenzie.The easing of trade tensions between the US and China, the struggling manufacturing...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Antwerp's polished import and export figures for April are well up on a year ago - during the depths of the pandemic - but are still significantly lower than the same month in pre-pandemic 2019.The value of rough exports soared by almost 25 times in April, compared with a year ago, when Covid brought the diamond industry to a near-standstill.Polished exports increased more tha...Read More
Steel slab prices from the Commonwealth of Independent States region showed some signs of softening in the week to Tuesday June 1, despite the fact that mills have not been active in the market."It is too early. [According to what I have heard,] they will not make any offer before June 10," one trader said.A producer from Russia said that it was not offering any material at the moment, but if it w...Read More
Access our research platformsSign-in to our platforms to access our extensive research, our latest insight, data and analytics and to connect to our industry experts.Why is zinc expected to see significantly higher zinc prices later this decade?A spate of scheduled mine closures, an underdeveloped project pipeline and steady demand growth is expected to provide the basis for significantly higher z...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Fifteen workers have died so far this year and more have been injured in accidents mining for gold and other precious metals in Zimbabwe, says a union boss.Justice Chinhema, general secretary of Zimbabwe Diamond and Allied Minerals Workers Union (ZDAMWU) says many mines are increasingly unsafe. Ten fatalities were at small scale mines, he said. Five were at larger operations."...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Customs officials in Surat, India, seized two consignments of loose "lab grown" diamonds that were over the declared weight - and were actually higher-value natural gems.They were being sent from the tax-free Surat Special Economic Zone and were destined for Hong Kong, via Mumbai airport.The owner of Universal Diamonds, Meet Kachhadiya, wrongly declared the diamonds, said the Direc...Read More
Access our research platformsSign-in to our platforms to access our extensive research, our latest insight, data and analytics and to connect to our industry experts.On Friday 15th February 2019, Vale announced there was a fire affecting a conveyor belt system at its distribution centre in Malaysia. Vale anticipate this will result in a 10 to 15 day halt in operations and note that a planned 10 da...Read More