The Vietnam Steel Association (VSA) is leading an industry-wide pushback against the country's proposed export tax of 5% on steel billet, it said on Friday July 23."The proposal to increase export taxes on billet and reduce import taxes on finished steel products is not suitable with the current situation of steel production," the association said.This was in response to domestic demand for steel...Read More

The current high inflation could theoretically transform into hyperinflation, disinflation, stagflation, or deflation. What does each mean for gold?Inflation, inflation, inflation. We all know that prices have surged recently. And we all know that high inflation is likely to stay with us for a while, even if we assume that the CPI annual rate has already peaked, which is not so obvious. But let&rs...Read More

Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Friday July 23 that are worth another look.Slab export prices from Brazil have edged down, with most market participants remaining cautious and holding onto their inventory positions.The flooding caused by torrential rains that have battered central...Read More

Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Friday July 23 that are worth another look.Slab export prices from Brazil have edged down, with most market participants remaining cautious and holding onto their inventory positions.The flooding caused by torrential rains that have battered central...Read More

RAPAPORT... Trans Atlantic Gem Sales (TAGS) brought in $62 million at its latest rough-diamond tender in Dubai, its highest proceeds to date, as the market continued to strengthen.The tender house offered 43,300 carats of goods from southern Africa and Angola from July 14 to 21, it said Thursday. The diamonds covered a range of sizes and were mostly in higher qualities, with many single stone...Read More

(IDEX Online) - Forty per cent of diamond artisans have reportedly failed to return to work in Surat, India, as fears mount of a third wave of coronavirus.An estimated 400,000 migrant workers returned to their home villages for the Hindu festival of Holi, at the end of March, and have remained there, according to the Financial Express newspaper.It says production across the city's 6,000 manuf...Read More

(IDEX Online) - A lab-grown ruby was found to have been subjected to a treatment usually reserved only for natural stones.The GIA lab in Carlsbad, California, USA, received the gem for grading and staff were surprised to find that fractures had been filled with lead glass to minimize their appearance and enhance overall clarity."While it is unclear why anyone would go to the trouble to treat a syn...Read More

RAPAPORT... The India International Jewellery Show (IIJS) Premiere exhibition will take place in Bengaluru this year, occurring outside of Mumbai for the first time.The fair, the country's largest exhibition of gems and jewelry, is now set to run from September 15 to 19, India's Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC) said last week. The annual event was originally scheduled for Janua...Read More

(IDEX Online) - More and more couples are opting for engagement watches rather than rings, says a new report.They're ditching the traditional solitaire diamond for a pair of timepieces, says the global fashion search platform Lyst in its Wedding Report 2021. They're often matching or gender-neutral."Expect to see more fine watches and the rise of the engagement watch," it says."Looking a...Read More

RAPAPORT... The organizers of jewelry show VicenzaOro will require all participants in the event to hold a green pass to gain entry to the expo center.Ensuring "Covid-free" halls will mean "the only thing those inside need to worry about is doing business," said Corrado Peraboni, CEO of Italian Exhibition Group (IEG), which runs the show. "The request for this measure has come loud and clear from...Read More

The second-quarter earnings season is upon us and more than 130 Canadian public companies will release their quarterly earnings results this week. Such key events sometimes offer good trading opportunities for those closely following the respective companies.Here are two of the top TSX stocks reporting this week that you may want to watch closely.Watch out for increased volatility on Teck Resource...Read More

It’s been a horrific past few months for the top TSX gold stocks. Not even the best producers in the space could steer clear of the damage brought forth by waning gold prices. For many investors who’d punched their ticket to top gold producers like Barrick Gold (TSX:ABX)(NYSE:GOLD) to hide their wealth from inflation, it’s been a brutal first half of 2021. In the U.S., inflation...Read More

The foundations of modern life were built on bird shit.That's not an insult or any kind of disparagement.It's just very much a fact.Bird and bat excrement - or more appropriately guano - was an extremely important natural resource in the 19th century.That's because, with an exceptionally high amount of plant nutrients, guano was critical as fertilizer to support the growing agricultural demands of...Read More

Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Monday July 26 that are worth another look.China's drive to achieve peak carbon by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2060 will likely mean a higher steel industry concentration ratio in time, sources told Fastmarkets.Norway-based aluminium and renewable...Read More

Copper's three-month price on the London Metal Exchange rose to $9,809.50 per tonne at the close of trading on Monday July 26, an increase which led most other prices in the complex higher as well.The red metal closed near its intraday high of $9,826.50 per tonne, the highest for copper since June 15. Intense buying took its volumes on Monday to 24,000 lots traded by 5pm, also the highest since th...Read More

Bob Moriarty ArchivesJul 26, 2021These are true stories taken from one of the chat boards over the weekend.@Icarus This is a COVID post. Please ignore if you are not interested in Covid or Ivermectin. I just contracted Covid on a plane trip to New York for my nephew's wedding. I purchased one of those test kits and the result was unequivocal...COVID for sure. This is my story. After returning...Read More

A summary of China's battery raw materials exports for June 2021.In brief Exports of cobalt tetroxide increased both month on month and year on year in June amid rising buying appetite from South Korea, the Netherlands and Belgium.Lithium carbonate exports fell slightly on a monthly...Read More

Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Monday July 26 that are worth another look.China's drive to achieve peak carbon by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2060 will likely mean a higher steel industry concentration ratio in time, sources told Fastmarkets.Norway-based aluminium and renewable...Read More

Seaborne manganese ore markets were quiet during the week to Friday July 23, with low-grade manganese ore prices remaining under pressure from heavy stocks of South African material in Chinese ports.Fastmarkets' calculation of the manganese ore index, 37% Mn, cif Tianjin edged down by 7 cents per dry metric tonne unit (dmtu) to $4.58 per dmtu on Friday from $4.65 per dmtu on July 16.The index...Read More

The S&P 500 reached new heights on Friday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed above 35,000 for the first time and the S&P/ASX 200 was at an all-time high today.Treasuries were little changed but traders are braced for possible turbulence as Fed officials resume talks at this week's two-day policy meeting on when and how to taper stimulus, Bloomberg reported.In commodities, nickel look...Read More