(IDEX Online) - Alrosa's rough and polished sales hit their lowest point of the year in July, down to $334m (provisional) as demand outstripped supply.Miners are struggling with inventories at record low levels, the company said today, reinforcing an earlier warning of a long period of "supply deficit". And prices are back to pre-Covid levels.Total sales in July were down more than 18 per cen...Read More

(IDEX Online) - Israel's diamond trade is bouncing back as global demand recovers, and business booms with UAE following last September's normalization agreement.Rough exports were up 229 per cent year-on-year for January to July, to $1.05bn, according to Ministry of Economy and Industry figures. In July almost 11 per cent of rough exports were to UAE, a market that was officially c...Read More

(IDEX Online) - Fugitive diamond billionaire Nirav Modi has been granted the right to appeal his extradition to India, after a judge ruled he was severely depressed and could kill himself.Modi, 50, (pictured) is accused of fraudulently using letters of undertaking offered by the Punjab National Bank (PNB) in an alleged $1.85bn fraud.He was arrested in London in March 2019 as India's most want...Read More

RAPAPORT... Israel's diamond shipments continued their recovery in July as the sector benefited from a global rebound in demand.Polished exports - after returns - jumped 68% year on year by value for the month, the country's Ministry of Economy and Industry reported Monday. Polished imports gained 120%.Rough imports leaped 89%, while rough exports more than tripled, boosted partly by the 2020...Read More

The waiting time to deliver aluminium out of Istim's London Metal Exchange-registered warehouses in Johor, Malaysia, has risen to 78 days, according to the LME's latest queue report.The 78-day queue at the end of July is up from just eight days at the end of June. Over July, no fresh units were delivered into Istim's Johor warehouses and only 34,275 tonnes were delivered out. Total stock now sits...Read More

Chinese lithium battery producer EVE Energy has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with battery materials producer GEM to recycle more than 10,000 tonnes per year of nickel from spent nickel-containing batteries as of 2024, EVE Energy said on Monday August 9.Under the terms of the MoU, starting in 2024 GEM has agreed to recycle nickel products and provide EVE Energy with more than 10,000 t...Read More

Tianshan Aluminum has signed a cooperation deal with an unnamed Indonesia bauxite company, it said on August 10 - a move to secure more supply and boost its competitiveness.Tianshan will buy no less than 49% of shares of the bauxite company through direct or indirect acquisitions, the company told the Shenzhen Stock Exchange website, where it is listed.Tianshan hopes to expand its cooperation with...Read More

The departure of Triland Metals Ltd from the ring of the London Metal Exchange does not trigger its permanent closure, with the floor still set to reopen on September 6, the exchange confirmed.Triland, one of the nine current Category 1 members of the LME, said in a letter to customers earlier on August 10 that it has applied to switch to Category 2 membership and will not return to the ring when...Read More

Aluminum smelters in China's Guangxi province have been notified by Guangxi Power Grid Company to reduce their regular power consumption by at least 30% before August 15 by staggering power usage, sources told Fastmarkets.Guangxi province has a yearly operating capacity of 1.9 million tonnes per year of aluminium and is currently operating at 93% of capacity. "We estimate that [output will re...Read More

Hot-rolled coil prices in the United States achieved yet another record high, with debate now intensifying over whether mills can eventually collect $2,000 per short ton ($100 per hundredweight) on hot band.Fastmarkets' daily steel hot-rolled coil index, fob mill US was calculated at $94.67 per cwt ($1,893.40 per ton) on Tuesday August 10, an increase of 0.65% from $94.06 per cwt on Monday August...Read More

The event attracted 2520 delegates - the second-highest number ever - and it was wall-to-wall people in the two marquees.Read More

A summary of the financial results for Egypt's biggest steelmaking group, Ezz Steel, for the period from January 1 to June 30, 2021.In brief"Local rebar consumption reached 3.36 million tonnes in the first half of 2021, an increase of 2% over the first half of 2020," the company said in a release to the London Stock Exchange on Monday August 9."However, consumption in...Read More

Future remains golden for Rox ResourcesSPONSOREDrox resourcesCashed-up Karora is doubling gold production at a blistering paceSPONSOREDkarora resourcesZinc-lead discovery helps Zenith double market capSPONSOREDzenith mineralsMining and the lack of external investmentSPONSOREDswannThe company produced 23,474 tonnes of copper in the quarter at a cash cost, net of by-product credits, of 84c per pound...Read More

The Wall Street Journal reviewed and published the findings of the 157-page report, which was later verified by Rio Tinto-controlled 66% Oyu Tolgoi owner Turquoise Hill Resources.Read More

Active sales of flat-rolled steel late in July and early in August have led to exporters from the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) trying to stabilize prices after their steady decline since May.Fastmarkets' weekly assessment of steel hot-rolled coil, export, fob Black Sea, CIS was $920-930 per tonne on Monday, up from $915-925 per tonne a week earlier.The price bottomed out this year...Read More

Germany's Thyssenkrupp ended force majeure at its Steel Europe division on August 6, the company's spokesperson told Fastmarkets on Tuesday August 10.Thyssenkrupp declared force majeure on July 16 because it was not able to ship feedstock steel products between the...Read More

Base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange were up across the board this morning, Tuesday August 10, this after a day of weakness on Monday – once again it looks like dips are being seen as a buying opportunity.Markets are focused on when central banks will start to tighten monetary policy, and to what degree the Delta variant of Covid-19 will slow the reflation tradeBase metalsLME three...Read More

The persistent logistics disruptions brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic have forced traders and buyers to rearrange their supply chains, and to change packaging and delivery destinations, while the continuing container crisis has pushed the US freight regulator to investigate the situation.The commodity world is facing logistics problems arising from the global container shortage. Additional p...Read More

U.S. equity index futures were mixed this morning. S&P 500 futures were unchanged in pre-opening trade. U.S. equity index futures were virtually unchanged following release of the U.S. Second Quarter Productivity Report at 8:30 AM EDT. Consensus was an increase of 3.2% versus a gain of 5.4% in the first quarter. Actual was an increase of 2.3%.Kansas City Southern gained $12.05 to $282.46 on ex...Read More

Mixed signals have emerged over the next direction for the US Midwest ferrous scrap market, but sources seem fairly certain that No1 busheling could face its first downward correction since August 2020 in the next round of trading.September's outlook is murky. Some feel shredded scrap could hold up due to strong demand, while others disagree; and while there is consensus that prime scrap could dro...Read More