According to the World Gold Council's Gold Demand Trends report released Tuesday primary gold production hit another record in 2017 after nine years of annual growth in output.Overall mine production totalled 3,268.7 tonnes or just over 105m troy ounces in 2017 which was only slightly higher than in 2016 as new mine starts in recent years have mostly served to fill the gap left by production losse...Read More
The Turkish steel mills have returned to the deep-sea scrap markets for two US cargoes, after a short break for negotiations, sources said on Tuesday February 6.A steel mill in the Izmir region booked a US cargo on February 6, comprising 15,000 tonnes of HMS 1&2 (80:20) at $343 per tonne, 20,000 tonnes of shredded at $348 per tonne and 5,000...Read More
RAPAPORT... The Panama-based World Jewelry & Diamond Hub has elected Edi Faltz as president. Faltz (pictured), who has been executive vice president of the bourse since September 2016, is the owner and CEO of Panama City diamond and jewelry company Ten Global, as well as the Diamond Buying Office and the Faltz Diamond & Jewelry Group, both in Israel. He will replace Mahesh Khemla...Read More
Comex copper prices were pulled lower on Tuesday February 6 by a combination of the recent equity sell-off and a dollar increase. Copper for March settlement on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange gained 3.75 cents or 1.2% to $3.2250 per lb. The red metal dipped to a one-week low on Friday following a heavy sell-off in equity markets. "Judging by the limited pullback in the base...Read More
(IDEX Online) - The Israel Diamond Exchange (IDE) today (Monday) officially launched a partnership with Alibaba.com, making it the first diamond bourse to offer polished diamonds and diamond jewelry on the platform, directly from the source. Alibaba.com is the leading platform for global wholesale trade, serving millions of buyers and suppliers around the world. The launch was anno...Read More
RAPAPORT... World demand for gold jewelry grew 4% year on year to2,135.5 tonnes in 2017, boosted by growth in India, the World Gold Council (WGC) reported Tuesday. India saw annual growth of 12% to 562.7 tonnes, led by strongmomentum in the fourth quarter as gold prices decreased in rupee terms. The holidayseason -beginning with the Dhanteras wedding festival in early October -also drove sales. Th...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Jewelry giant Pandora reported that group revenue in 2017 increased by 12% (15% in local currency) to DKK 22,781 million ($3.8 billion). Revenue from Pandora owned retail increased by 42% (46% in local currency). Like-for-like sales growth for Pandora owned concept stores was 11%. Revenue from EMEA increased 13% (15% in local currency), while in the Americas it...Read More
The benchmark Rotterdam duty-unpaid premium touched a fresh one-year high of $100-107 per tonne on Monday February 5, fuelled by a surging US Midwest premium. The aluminium P1020A in-warehouse Rotterdam, duty-unpaid premium touched highs of $105 per tonne in February 2017. Participants short of material and some who want to ship metal to the Midwest, where the premium is at a four-y...Read More
RAPAPORT PRESS RELEASE, February 6, 2018, New York... Diamond market sentiment improved in January, with firm prices after retailers reported a better-than-expected holiday season. Suppliers are gaining confidence about first-quarter orders as jewelers start to replenish stock after holiday sales. The RapNet Diamond Index (RAPI?,,?) for 1-carat diamonds rose 2.2% during January. RAPI for 0.30-cara...Read More
Mining investors in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) are united in their desire to fight the country's new mining code, and could take legal action if they fail to reach a mutually-agreeable solution, according to the chief executive officer of Randgold Resources.Speaking during an interview with Metal Bulletin on a panel at the Mining Indaba conference in Cape Town, Bristow said that it was...Read More
RAPAPORT... Titan Company's sales grew in the fiscal third quarter, buoyed bya healthy Diwali season and recent government regulations that favored thejewelry business. Revenue rose 7% year on year to $670.4 million (INR 42.96 billion),while profit for the three months ending December 31 surged 21% to $44 million (INR2.82 billion). All the company's businesses - which include jewelry, watches,sung...Read More
RAPAPORT...Two senior executives will leave Signet Jewelers, adding toa list of recent departures from the US retail giant. Steven Becker, Signet's chief human resources (HR) officer (pictured, left),and George Murray, its chief retail insights and strategy officer (right), will exitthe company on May 5, the jeweler said Monday. Becker and Murray will both receive their base salaries for12 m...Read More
The latest metal markets news and price moves to start the North American day on Tuesday February 6.Base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange were lower across the board during morning trading today on further profit-taking.Here is how the LME base metals complex looked at 12.04pm London time:For a snapshot of exchange news, check out our live futures report.Premiums for index-linked cargoes...Read More
Good morning from Metal Bulletin's offices in Shanghai as we bring you the latest news and pricing stories on Tuesday February 6.Much like yesterday, most base metals prices on the Shanghai Futures Exchange were under pressure during Asian morning trading on Tuesday, with sharp falls in the US stock market overnight damping market sentiment.Nickel prices continued their recent run of weakness as t...Read More
SHANGHAI, Feb 6 (SMM) – SHFE aluminium led the loss in base metals today with an over 1% drop, while nickel was down 0.75% and lead was 0.66% lower. Copper slid 0.51%.The ferrous complex showed much stronger performance today as coke and coking coal rose 2%. Iron ore also edged up slightly but hot-rolled coil and rebar dipped.Copper: SHFE copper was weaker due to an overall bearish sentiment...Read More
SHANGHAI, Feb 6 (SMM) – SHFE aluminium led the loss in base metals today with an over 1% drop, while nickel was down 0.75% and lead was 0.66% lower. Copper slid 0.51%.The ferrous complex showed much stronger performance today as coke and coking coal rose 2%. Iron ore also edged up slightly but hot-rolled coil and rebar dipped.Copper: SHFE copper was weaker due to an overall bearish sentiment...Read More
SHANGHAI, Feb 6 (SMM) – SHFE aluminium led the loss in base metals today with an over 1% drop, while nickel was down 0.75% and lead was 0.66% lower. Copper slid 0.51%.The ferrous complex showed much stronger performance today as coke and coking coal rose 2%. Iron ore also edged up slightly but hot-rolled coil and rebar dipped.Copper: SHFE copper was weaker due to an overall bearish sentiment...Read More
SHANGHAI, Feb 6 (SMM) – SMM assessed imported copper concentrate treatment charges (TCs) at $74-86/mt as of Friday February 2, unchanged from a week ago as the holiday mood kicked in.Trading liquidity was thin and enquiries were few and far between, sources told SMM. We expect the copper concentrate spot market to be quiet until early March.In the domestic market, the pricing coefficient of...Read More
Originally posted at ExecSpecIn recent months we have been warning that the first deep dive in stocks since Trump's 2016 election would be in the 1st quarter 2018. Once Trump passed the tax cuts last December we opined that the trigger for this market decline would be wage inflation and fear of higher interest rates. The strong economy was already adding inflationary pressure to material prices an...Read More
SHANGHAI, Feb 6 (SMM) –Copper: We see firm support for SHFE copper at the 53,000 yuan/mt level with both sides of the market at a standoff. In the spot market, sellers were unwilling to let go their cargoes at big discounts as the price spread between the SHFE 1802 and 1803 contracts continued to expand. We expect spot copper to trade at a discount of 40 yuan/mt to a premium of 20 yuan/mt to...Read More