Prices in the CIS export steel billet market became firmer on Monday January 25 with fresh bookings heard in Latin America at slightly higher prices.A large cargo of Ukraine-origin billet was sold to Latin America at slightly less than $580 per tonne fob Black Sea, three sources told Fastmarkets.One market participant suggested that part of the cargo could be material with chemistry that may comma...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Monday January 25 that are worth another look.The London Metal Exchange will launch its new cash-settled lithium futures contract on June 14, 2021, settled against Fastmarkets' price assessment for lithium hydroxide monohydrate.Liberty Steel Group has completed...Read More
Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Friday January 22 that are worth another look.Import prices for flat-rolled steel in South America softened in the week ended January 22 with some Chinese mills accepting lower bids from clients.Base metals producer Vedanta Resources is seeking a sales...Read More
A differentiated fee structure designed to drive member-to-member trade away from the telephone market is being proposed by the London Metal Exchange as part of its discussion paper. The goal is to incentivize trade on the exchange's electronic trading platform, LMESelect, and is proposed to be achieved by cutting fees to trade electronically while raising fees for the telephone market by around 5...Read More
The London Metal Exchange and its clearing house are revisiting a proposal to transition to a different way of calculating its clearing methodology. The exchange announced its discussion paper on the topic on Tuesday January 19. The last attempt was made in 2017 and was rejected by LME members because it would make the provision of credit lines expensive and result in the rapid withdrawal of...Read More
Covid-19 appears to have claimed another casualty: the London Metal Exchange ring trading floor. The closure of the floor, now entering its 144th year, has been proposed in a discussion paper issued by the exchange earlier on Tuesday January 19.The open outcry floor may be old, but it didn't appear to have serious underlying health issues. It has successfully fought back against talk it was set to...Read More
The London Metal Exchange will launch its new cash-settled lithium futures contract on June 14, 2021, settled against Fastmarkets' price assessment for lithium hydroxide monohydrate. The exchange will also add another aluminium cash-settled futures contract to its suite with the launch of a new European duty-paid aluminium premium contract settled against Fastmarkets' benchmark Rotterdam premium....Read More
The Chinese market price of nickel pig iron (NPI) rose in the week to Friday January 22 amid improved spot activity ahead of the Chinese New Year holiday (February 11-17), sources said.Fastmarkets assessed the price of nickel pig iron, high-grade NPI content 10-15%, spot, ddp China at 1,110-1,140 yuan ($171-176) per nickel unit on Friday, up by 20-40 yuan per nickel unit or 2.7% from 1,090-1,100 y...Read More
Seaborne premium fob index skyrocketed on Monday January 25 following two higher transactions during the day, while the premium cfr price increased on latest transactions also, sources said.Fastmarkets indicesPremium hard coking coal, fob DBCT: $145.95 per tonne, up $11.96 per tonnePremium hard coking coal, cfr Jingtang: $212.95 per tonne, up $3.74 per tonneHard coking coal, fob DBCT: $107.78 per...Read More
The London Metal Exchange will launch its new cash-settled lithium futures contract on June 14, 2021, settled against Fastmarkets' price assessment for lithium hydroxide monohydrate. The exchange will also add another aluminium cash-settled futures contract to its suite with the launch of a new European duty-paid aluminium premium contract settled against Fastmarkets' benchmark Rotterdam premium....Read More
RAPAPORT... JCK Las Vegas has been postponed until late August, giving the organizers a better chance of holding the event in its usual physical form."After a year without an opportunity for the jewelry community to gather, it is important to JCK to facilitate an in-person event in the most positive and safe way possible," JCK said in a statement Monday.Both the main JCK fair and the Luxury s...Read More
RAPAPORT... Consumers increasingly want to know the story behind their diamond. But what type of provenance information are they seeking, and how can the industry provide this?Four guests explored this topic in the second installment of Rapaport's new podcast series, "Technology and the Diamond Trade," sponsored by Sarine Technologies.They included David Block, Sarine's CEO; Alexey Tikhonov,...Read More
RAPAPORT... Lab-grown producer Diamond Foundry plans to launch the American Diamond Council (ADC), which will concentrate on promoting US-made goods.The company expects to unveil the association in the spring, a Diamond Foundry spokesperson told Rapaport News last week. Its mission will be to "celebrate the virtues of American diamonds, focusing on diamonds manufactured in America and the loc...Read More
RAPAPORT... HourUniverse, the successor to Baselworld, has been postponed until the summer due to continued uncertainty over Covid-19, the show organizers said Monday in a letter to exhibitors.This year's event will take place "a few months" later than the April dates for which MCH Group had been planning, the company noted. It has not given specific timing.MCH, which owned the defunct Baselw...Read More
Six months ago, BIPOC jewelry professionals put out a call for greater equality and diversity in the trade, but how much has changed since then? RAPAPORT... The dearth of representation for Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) in the jewelry trade became the focus of a new manifesto and open letter that burst onto the scene half a year ago, following the killing of George Floyd...Read More
The Chinese market price of nickel pig iron (NPI) rose in the week to Friday January 22 amid improved spot activity ahead of the Chinese New Year holiday (February 11-17), sources said.Fastmarkets assessed the price of nickel pig iron, high-grade NPI content 10-15%, spot, ddp China at 1,110-1,140 yuan ($171-176) per nickel unit on Friday, up by 20-40 yuan per nickel unit or 2.7% from 1,090-1,100 y...Read More
(IDEX Online) - The show that was due to replace the ill-fated Baselworld has been postponed because of the coronavirus pandemic.HourUniverse had been scheduled for 8 to 12 April In Basel, Switzerland, but a notice on the organizers' website simply says: "Due to the prevailing COVID-19 pandemic, we are assessing new dates to hold a live HourUniverse show in Basel in 2021." MCH Grou...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Operations have finally resumed at the Ekati mine, in Canada, 10 months after it was closed at the start of the global pandemic.At the time owners Dominion Diamond Mines warned the 1,800 employees that it could be months before they returned to work.In the interim the company entered insolvency protection, and last month it agreed to sell the mine to investment managers acting for...Read More
(IDEX Online) - The offices of diamond scanning firm Diyora & Bhanderi Corporation (DBC) have been raided by the tax authorities in India.Fifty officers scaled the walls to two premises in Surat last Thursday and Friday after they were denied entry, according to local media reports.The company, which describes itself on its Facebook page as "the world's largest diamond scanning facility"...Read More
(IDEX Online) - De Beers is poised to report the highest sales from a sight in three years, as the diamond industry enjoys a global boom.It could net as much as $600m, well-placed sources have told the Bloomberg news website, despite reportedly increasing prices of larger (+1-ct) stones by five per cent at the first Sight of 2020, which ended last week.For context, the UK-based miner sold rough wo...Read More