All Turkish flat steel prices increased sharply in December 2020, and the market was expected to remain steady in January because of globally strong demand for steel products, Fastmarkets heard on Wednesday January 6.Turkish hot-rolled coil producers were fully booked until April, and market participants believed that buying would remain strong in January, provided that prices remained firm.Global...Read More

Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Thursday January 7 that are worth another look.The provisional anti-dumping duties imposed on imports of Turkish hot-rolled coil by the European Commission are neither reasonable nor fair, Turkish steel exporters told Fastmarkets on January 7.The blockade...Read More

European buyers expected that domestic hot-rolled coil prices would continue to rise in January and in the rest of the first quarter, due to good order books at domestic mills and a lack of competitive imports, sources told Fastmarkets on Thursday January 7.During the first week of January, however, domestic prices have remained fairly stable in a seasonally slow market.Fastmarkets calculated its...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

The Chinese alumina price rose slightly this week following a spate of panic buying after railway transport in Shijiazhuang, in the northern Chinese province of Hebei, was suspended amid a rise in Covid-19 infections, market participants told Fastmarkets. All trains arriving in or departing from Shijiazhuang, the capital city of Hebei, have been canceled since Wednesday January 6. Shijiazhuang Cit...Read More

Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Thursday January 7 that are worth another look.The provisional anti-dumping duties imposed on imports of Turkish hot-rolled coil by the European Commission are neither reasonable nor fair, Turkish steel exporters told Fastmarkets on January 7.The blockade...Read More

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