Chinese tungsten market participants expect prices to continue a steady uptrend in early 2021 given tightened supply of concentrate and robust prices for downstream products.Sources told Fastmarkets that they have become more confident and rarely worry about price declines after experiencing sluggish market conditions over the past year due to the Covid-19 pandemic.Firm concentrate marketTight sup...Read More
Following a recent surge in costs for ferro-chrome production in China and the release of disappointing January tender prices by consumers, two leading producers have initiated moves to strengthen alloy prices.On Wednesday December 30, Xinganglian Metallurgy (XGL) issued a notice saying that it will raise its offer price in the spot market. The company, which is China's top ferro-chrome producer,...Read More
Forward prices for copper and nickel on the London Metal Exchange continued to reach new highs during trading on Thursday January 7, while the rest of the base-metals complex showed smaller increases than those seen at the beginning of the week on a marked rebound in the US dollar index.Nickel's three-month price achieved a new 16-month high of $18,200 per tonne on Thursday, with the uptake of ele...Read More
Seaborne coking coal prices increased across the board in the cfr market on Thursday January 7, on higher offer prices, but with storms expected to hit Queensland this weekend, the fob market stayed quiet, with many miners reluctant to sell.Fastmarkets indicesPremium hard coking coal, fob DBCT: $103.99 per tonne, up $0.07 per tonnePremium hard coking coal, cfr Jingtang: $208.19 per tonne...Read More
Seaborne iron ore prices maintained their upward trend across the board on Thursday January 7, with lump premiums also continuing to rise because of firm demand, sources told Fastmarkets. Fastmarkets iron ore indices 62% Fe fines, cfr Qingdao: $171.69 per tonne, up $2.97 per tonne62% Fe low-alumina fines, cfr Qingdao: $172.25 per tonne, up $3.50 per tonne58% Fe fines high-grade premium,...Read More
It's always fun when JP Morgan is getting inside the minds of gold & silver investors...by Chris Marcus of Arcadia EconomicsThe latest report out of JP Morgan suggests that they think the price of Bitcoin may be eventually headed towards $146,000 per coin.They didn't mention any of their latest thoughts on silver, but it was a report you'll likely want to hear. And on another wild trading day, to...Read More
Diamond trade ends challenging 2020 with 1 ct. RAPI +5.8%. Firm polished prices reflect inventory decline after significant drop in manufacturing and rough sales. Optimism for 1Q as jewelers and dealers seek goods following the holiday season. Retail outlook still cautious amid spike in global Covid-19 infections. Lockdowns may curb jewelers' inventory replacement efforts. Rising expectations for...Read More
Steel billet and rebar prices have remained stable in Egypt in the week ending Thursday January 7 because of low levels of market activity, market sources have told Fastmarkets.January 7 was the Coptic Christmas in Egypt, and trading was subdued in the days before the holiday.Market participants now wanted to see the direction that prices might move globally before placing orders.Demand for rebar...Read More
RAPAPORT... LVMH has shaken up Tiffany & Co.'s senior management after the French luxury group finally completed its acquisition of the iconic US jewelry brand.Anthony Ledru, previously executive vice president for global commercial activities at Louis Vuitton, will succeed Alessandro Bogliolo immediately as Tiffany's CEO, LVMH said Thursday. Ledru is returning to Tiffany, where he was se...Read More
RAPAPORT... E-commerce spending in the US grew to a record high during the holiday season, with jewelry boasting a strong performance, according to Adobe Analytics.Revenues for the category rose 66% in November and December compared to the same period of 2019, Adobe said Wednesday. Total online spending soared 32% to $188.2 billion. That figure was just shy of the 33% increase to $189 billion Adob...Read More
Turkish steelmakers continued to book deep-sea scrap cargoes for February and March shipment at firm prices, sources said on Thursday January 7.A steel mill in the Marmara region booked a US cargo, comprising 15,000 tonnes of HMS 1&2 (80:20) at $480 per tonne, 22,000 tonnes of shredded and 10,000 tonnes of bonus at $490 per tonne cfr.And a steel mill in the Izmir region booked a Baltic Sea cargo a...Read More
(IDEX Online) - The luxury Japanese jeweler Mikimoto has been singled out for criticism by the New York-based NGO Human Rights Watch. It claims the company, best known for its cultured pearls, put up a "wall of silence" when asked how it avoided abuses in the gold and diamond supply chains. Fourteen other well-known jewelry brands in the US, Europe, and Asia were more forthcoming and...Read More
(IDEX Online) - A new smartphone app can count a collection of the tiniest gems almost instantly.The diamond and jewelry wholesaler Terra Cor, based in New York, is branching into tech and has launched image-based gem counting software that can count sizes down to .005 ct. (-2) stones. It uses a neural network - a series of algorithms - to count the gems in a high-quality photograph and sends...Read More
(IDEX Online) - A son of the LVMH billionaire Bernard Arnault will reportedly take a key management role at Tiffany & Co.Alexandre Arnault, aged 28, is currently CEO of the German luxury suitcase brand Rimowa, which is part of the LVMH empire. Two brothers and a sister also run LVMH companies.His appointment, and that of Anthony Ledru, a top Louis Vuitton executive to another top position at T...Read More
Robust export demand for brass and copper scrap is weighing on the domestic prices of scrap metal in the United States, with brass scrap prices reaching record highs in the first week of the New Year."We have never been busier, and I have never seen prices of copper and brass scrap like this," a brass ingot maker said. "For the first time, we are paying more for brass scrap for melting into ingots...Read More
The blockade at the Las Bambas copper mine in Peru has been partially ended on a temporary basis pending a dialogue between local community members and mining company MMG, Fastmarkets learned on Thursday January 7. But the path to a resolution remains uncertain, a source with direct knowledge of the matter said. Meanwhile, transport of copper concentrate is still minimal because it will take time...Read More
The three-month nickel price on the London Metals Exchange crossed $18,000 per tonne on the morning of Thursday January 7 and copper continued to stride above $8,000 per tonne in a broadly positive morning for the complex. Nickel's price touched $18,190 per tonne during early trading, the first time the metal has crossed $18,000 per tonne since September 13, 2019, and a 2.3% gain on Wednesday's 5p...Read More
Markets remained upbeat on the morning of Thursday January 7 despite the outbreak of violence in Washington, DC, with nickel joining copper and tin in setting fresh new multi-month highs but gold turning lower.Asian-Pacific equities generally upbeat, along with pre-market western equity index futures as the US Democrats win the Senate US 10-year treasury yields continue to rise Base metals Th...Read More
Scoped for growth: Nevada Copper shifts into production modeSPONSOREDnevada copper corp.With a focus on copper and gold, Mundoro enters the new year with a spring in its step after clinching an additional exploration partnership with Vale Canada. That brings the number of partnered exploration licences with Vale to six in total.Many of Mundoro's assets are in the Tethyan Belt's Timok region in Ser...Read More
China Copper's raw materials director Feng Mingrui will be the next group leader of the country's top copper smelters after a tie vote at a recent meeting, sources told Fastmarkets.Feng, who previously worked at Daye Nonferrous and Trafigura, received the same number of votes as Jinchuan Group's Yang Xiangbin at a meeting of the China Smelters Purchase Team (CSPT) in late December.The CSPT eventua...Read More