Base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange edged lower during morning trading on Monday July 2, with ongoing global trade tensions and subsequent dips in equity indexes continuing to deter market investment. "European PMI numbers came in lower this morning, and people are backing away. The Chinese have backed off quite a lot. The appetite to price metal there is quite low. Copper is showing e...Read More

RAPAPORT... Angola plans to allow miners to sell up to 60% of roughdiamonds to companies of their choice, including to their own tradingdivisions, Reuters reported last week. The changes are part of the country's reforms to its diamondsector under President Jo??o Louren??o, who came to power inSeptember. Producers must currently sell through state-owned tradingcompany Sodiam. As a result, Catoca,...Read More

RAPAPORT... The Natural Color Diamond Association (NCDIA) has releasedits first educational video on yellow diamonds, claiming they are the biggestgrowth opportunity for colored diamonds in the "affordable" jewelry market. In the video, the group's educational director, Thomas Gelb,covers topics including what causes color in diamonds, the ranges of coloravailable, and where the stones occur in th...Read More

(IDEX Online) - The Lucapa Diamond Company has recovered an 89-carat yellow diamond from the Mothae diamond project in Lesotho. The diamond was recovered from current bulk sampling program at Mothae as construction of the new 150 tonne per hour commercial diamond plant continues on schedule for H2 2018 commissioning, the miner said.  The bulk sampling program is designed to expand and improv...Read More

RAPAPORT... Alrosa sold $10.4 million worth of rough at a large-stone auction in Hong Kong, the miner said last week. The 100 diamonds - each over 10.8 carats - weighed acombined 1,550 carats, and garnered an average price of $6,710 per carat. Stonessold for more than one and a half times their original asking price, thecompany noted. A total of 28 companies from Hong Kong, Belgium, Israel,India,...Read More

Arbitrage for copper, aluminium, zinc and nickel imported into China on Monday July 2*Copper -$86.53 (-576.62 yuan)Aluminium -$521.01 (-3,472.06 yuan) Zinc $5.59 (37.27 yuan) Nickel -$233.79 (-1,558.03 yuan) *Metal Bulletin calculates the physical arbitrage for import into China...Read More

RAPAPORT... The Rapaport editorial team analyzes De Beers' synthetics launch, Martin Rapaport's criticism of the miner's disclosure rules, and other surprises from the Las Vegas shows.Rapaport's reporters, fresh from their visit to the shows,reflect on the mood of the key JCK Las Vegas fair and the other events thatgraced the Nevada city last month. Sonia Esther Soltani, Rapaport's Editor inChief,...Read More

RAPAPORT... Lucapa Diamond Company has recovered an 89-carat yellow roughdiamond from its Mothae mine in Lesotho, it said Friday. The miner found the stone during bulk sampling in theasset's southeast zone. The diamond is not part of the miner's original forecastfor the Mothae resource, it said. "Having recently recovered a 25-carat yellow diamond fromthe previously untested neck zone in our bulk...Read More

US domestic merchant bar prices have risen after early June mill hikes, while import merchant bar prices held steady due to a lack of market activity following the implementation of Section 232 tariffs on steel imports from Canada, Mexico and the European Union.American Metal Market's latest price assessment for US domestic 2x2x 1/4 angle merchant bar rose to $38.05 per hundredweight ($761...Read More

Producers of hot-rolled (HR) and cold-rolled (CR) steel sheet in Russia's central region, near Moscow, were bearish, trying to stimulate sales. Metal Bulletin's weekly assessment of Russia-origin 4mm HR sheet prices fell again this week, to 43,700-44,900 roubles ($695-699) per tonne cpt Moscow on Monday July 2, including VAT, from 44,700-44,950 ($710-714) roubles the previous week."Offers are unch...Read More

Plate prices in the United States rose for a second consecutive week on long lead times for spot orders and tight supplies resulting from Section 232 tariffs on imported steel.American Metal Market's price assessment for cut-to-length plate stands at $48 per hundredweight ($960 per ton), up 1.1% from $47.50 per cwt previously and up 3.2% from $46.50 per cwt a month ago.Plate prices are also up 41....Read More

New tariffs threatened by the United States on imports of cars from Europe could jeopardize as many as 1 million jobs in manufacturing and 3.3 million jobs in the retail sector, according to the European Union.The EU made its comments in documents submitted to the US Department of Commerce as part of that country's continuing Section 232 national security investigation into imports of cars, SUVs,...Read More

Market activity was focused on downstream silico-manganese and ferro-manganese products in China last week after steel mills put out tenders at higher prices in anticipation of higher-priced trades in the weeks ahead. Semi-carbonate manganese ore cif Tianjin prices unmoved  44% manganese ore cif Tianjin ticks upward  Ferro-manganese Chinese free market surges  European manganese al...Read More

Ammonium paratungstate (APT) prices continued to weaken last week, with the recent tightness subsiding and spot activity slowing down. Chinese, European APT prices move lower Spot activity slows down Partial APT production restarts in Jiangxi province follow environmental inspections in the region The downtrend in the Chinese APT export market continued on low buying interest from outside buy...Read More

Panasonic is looking for consistent and lower lithium prices where all parties, producers as well as consumers, can enjoy adequate profits, according to the company's executive vice president for global procurement. Speaking at Industrial Minerals' 10th Lithium Supply & Markets conference in Las Vegas on Thursday June 28, Masaharu Nagata said Panasonic is willing to make multi-year commitments to...Read More

Key data from the pricing session in the week ended Friday June 29. China  Chinese stainless steel mills released higher tender prices for July.  Prolonged ferro-chrome smelter shutdowns have continued to tighten the market and boost prices.  Imported UG2 chrome ore prices dropped due...Read More

Due to an input error, Metal Bulletin's ferro-chrome China spot 6-8% carbon, on 50% chrome basis, delivered duty paid prices was published incorrectly on Friday June 29.Metal Bulletin has corrected its ferro-chrome China spot 6-8% Carbon, on 50% chrome basis, delivered duty paid price, which was published incorrectly on...Read More

The Chinese domestic ferro-silicon market has bounced in the past week due to a fall in production on a combination of government pollution controls and prohibitively expensive electricity costs; meanwhile, the European market has climbed after third-quarter deliver settlements were agreed above the previous bottom in spot prices. China domestic market bounces due to falling supply amid cuts ...Read More

Swedish state-owned iron ore producer LKAB has applied for a new environmental permit that would allow it to increase output at its main mine in Kiruna, northern Sweden, the company said on Monday July 2."To achieve the planned increase in production, Kiruna should have a new environmental permit in place no later than at the turn of the year 2019-20. So it's crucial that the environmental assessm...Read More

Turkish steel producers extended their silence in the deep-sea scrap markets on Monday July 2, but are expected to resume buying soon for August deliveries.However, the producers are waiting to see the level of demand for finished steel products before buying more scrap, according to market participants."Turkish mills ended their July bookings and will probably wait for a while to see the...Read More