The Comex copper market was listlessly trading on Monday March 25 morning in the United States, with the market in a general state of paralyses. The copper price for May settlement on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange was flat at $2.8425 per lb. Without fresh catalysts, the red metal has been unable to generate a consistent direction over the last few weeks, which has continue...Read More

The premium for the supply of aluminium to main Japanese ports (MJP) for the second quarter of 2019 has settled at $105 per tonne, representing a 25% increase from the first-quarter benchmark of $83-85 per tonne. Deals for a total of 48,850 tonnes of aluminium for April-June delivery between at least one consumer, several traders and three major producers have been reported to Fastmarkets as of Mo...Read More

Arbitrage for copper, aluminium, zinc and nickel imported into China on Monday March 25*Copper -$118.25 (-795.69 yuan) Aluminium -$276.78 (-1,862.40 yuan) Zinc -$157.80 (-1,061.80 yuan) Nickel -$219.56 (-1,477.40 yuan) *Fastmarkets calculates the physical arbitrage for import into China daily by using SHFE...Read More

Base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange were generally suppressed during morning trading on Monday March 25, continuing on the downward trajectory from last week.Weakening European and United States' economic data continue to exert downward pressure on all metals, but nickel and tin bore the brunt of this downturn, recently trading down by $100 per tonne and $175 per tonne respectively. "I...Read More

RAPAPORT... Diamond resources at Lucapa Diamond Company's Lulo alluvial mine in Lesotho are90% higher than it originally estimated, according to an independent valuation. Lulo has 80,400 carats remaining in the mine, according to a December 2018 study by external consulting company Z Star Mineral ResourceConsultants. That figure was reevaluated from a previous Lulo resource estimation conduct...Read More

RAPAPORT... Alrosa's newest mine could become one of the company's richest sources of large rough diamonds, recent testing has found. The Russia-based miner conducted experimentation, between March 11 to 15, at apreviously untested portion of the Zapolyarnaya pipe, located at its Verkhne-Munskoye deposit. The purpose of the testing was to determine thequantity, color, grade and per-carat...Read More

RAPAPORT... Luxury jeweler Graff is preparing to cut and polish the exceptional 13.33-carat Lesotho Pink that sold for $8.8 million in February. The company revealed this week that it bought the stone from Gem Diamonds at a tender in Antwerp. At $656,933 per carat, the sale was the highest average price for any rough diamond recovered at the Let??eng mine in Lesotho, Gem Diamonds sa...Read More

RAPAPORT... The American Gem Society (AGS) will honor three industryleaders at its Circle of Distinction dinner, it said last week. Alan Zimmer, CEO of Reeds Jewelers, will receive theLifetime Achievement Award. Zimmer's father opened Reeds in 1946, with the business now covering more than 50 store locations across the US. Caryl Capeci, president of Chow Tai Fook North America, andElliot Tann...Read More

The Mexican government has officially reinstated a 15% safeguard duty on imports of certain steel products from countries with which it does not have free trade agreements, according to a decree published on the country's official gazette on Monday March 25.The ruling will impose 15% import duties on steel goods classified under 186 tariff codes, including heavy plate, sheets, hot-rolled coil, col...Read More

Arctic Star Exploration of Vancouver has begun this year's exploration program at the 40% owned Diagras joint venture diamond property near Lac des Gras, NWT. Margaret Lake Diamonds holds the remaining 60% and is the project operator.The Diagras property covers 22,595 hectares with a total of 23 known kimberlites on trend with the Diavik mine. This year's work will include gravity, magnetic and el...Read More

Conventional wisdom has it that increased diamond recycling results in downward price pressure, owing to the theoretical increase in supply, diamond analyst Paul Zimnisky notes in a release published earlier this month. However, he suggests that the contrary may be true, and, “in fact, a more prevalent diamond recycling market could . . . be the natural-diamond industry’s saving grace&...Read More

Baselworld runs until March 26, 2019. And while the show has been and still is heavily criticized, there is also some good news. At the opening press conference, it was announced that in 2018, the Swiss Watch industry recorded a 6.3 percent increase in exports, and had reported a turnover of CHF 21.2 billion.  But some already had made up their mind about this year's edition of the...Read More

Fastmarkets published its CIS export billet index later than scheduled on Monday March 25 but it is now appearing as normal.Fastmarkets' CIS export billet index, fob Black Sea, was published in the Fastmarkets price book later than scheduled. The price book has been updated.To provide feedback on the delayed publication of these calculations, please contact Vlada Novokreshchenova by email at: pric...Read More

Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates-based flat steel re-roller and galvanizer Al Ghurair Iron & Steel increased its hot-dipped galvanized coil prices by $20 per tonne with immediate effect on Monday, March 25.The company is offering 1mm thick HDG with 275 grams per square meter zinc coating at $824 per tonne ex-works for June production from Monday, up from the previous $804 per tonne ex-works.Th...Read More

Turkish steel mills added two more cargoes to round off last week's activity before going quiet in the deep-sea scrap markets after the government's response to Donald Trump's Golan Heights comments. A steel producer in the Marmara region booked a US cargo, comprising 35,000 tonnes of HMS 1&2 (80:20) at $323 per tonne cfr and 5,000 tonnes of bonus at $333 per tonne late on Friday March 22.The same...Read More

Turkish domestic auto-bundle scrap prices have gone up over the past seven days, while ship scrap prices fell because the country's lira has weakened against the US dollar, sources said on Monday March 25.Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for domestic auto-bundle (DKP-grade) scrap in Turkey was TRY1,700-1,870 ($295-324) per tonne delivered on Monday, widening upward from last week's TRY1,700-1,...Read More

Vale's Brucutu iron ore mine in Brazil will not resume normal operations as early as was intended, the Brazilian miner said on Monday March 25.A civil court ruled on March 22 that operations should halt at several tailings dams, one of which is used by the mine, in the south-eastern state of Minas Gerais.The dams affected by the decision were Paracatu, Lavra Azul, Dic??o Leste, Mosquito, Cobras, B...Read More

The London Metal Exchange three-month base metals prices ran into follow-through selling on the morning of Monday March 25 following the weak economic data points released at the end of last week.Flash manufacturing purchasing managers’ index (PMI) data from the United States and Eurozone were disappointingly soft and underscored weakening global economic growth. The three-month nickel p...Read More

Physical iron ore prices were rangebound on Monday March 25 amid mixed news about Australian and Brazilian supplies.MB 62% Fe Iron Ore Index: $85.81 per tonne cfr Qingdao, down $0.15 per tonne. MB 62% Fe Pilbara Blend Fines Index: $84.93 per tonne cfr Qingdao, down $0.15 per tonne. MB 62% Fe Iron Ore Index-Low Alumina: $87.40 per tonne cfr Qingdao, down $0.95 per tonne. MB 58% Fe Premium Index: $7...Read More

Seaborne coking coal prices fell across the board on Monday March 25 after lower offers emerged in the market.A cargo of premium mid-vol hard coking coal was offered at $209 per tonne fob Australia, while two shipments of lower-ranked brands in the same category were offered around $201-203 per tonne cfr China, according to various sources.In the meantime, a cargo of lower-ranked second-tier hard...Read More