A sharp increase in China's cobalt metal imports last year was a consequence of refineries' efforts to hedge against tightening upstream supply, and trader moves to lock in profits during times of a favorable import arbitrage, market participants told Fastmarkets. And these participants expect imports to remain elevated in 2021.A total of 6,192 tonnes of cobalt metal was shipped to China over the...Read More

Tin and lead's forward prices on the London Metal Exchange continued their advances, with rises of over 1.5% on Tuesday January 26 and tin nearing the $23,000 per tonne mark, supported by falling stocks and a lower dollar index. Tin's price reached yet another new year-to-date high during trading of $22,900 per tonne on Tuesday, nearing the July 9, 2014 intraday high of $22,950 per tonne. The met...Read More

The cash price for tin and its benchmark spread are receiving a boost from a short-term lack of supply on the London Metal Exchange, the question is when and how stocks on the exchange will return?The LME cash contract was at $23,120 per tonne on January 26 and traded nearly $300 above its three-month delivery counterpart, which went as high as $22,740 per tonne the same day, with both prices at n...Read More

Iron ore prices fell on Tuesday January 26, due to weakening demand generally and in response to China's announcement about its plans to cut crude steel production in 2021 as part of its 14th Five-year Plan. Fastmarkets iron ore indices 62% Fe fines, cfr Qingdao: $165.07 per tonne, down $4.09 per tonne62% Fe low-alumina fines, cfr Qingdao: $166.19 per tonne, down $3.94 per tonne58% Fe fi...Read More

RAPAPORT... Several small-scale diamond miners have resumed operations after shutting down during the pandemic, offering another signal that the rough market has recovered from last year's lows.Diamcor Mining revived operations at its Krone-Endora at Venetia tailings project in South Africa, having placed the program on care and maintenance in March when Covid-19 spread.The company sold 667 carats...Read More

RAPAPORT... SB360 Capital Partners, an advisory firm based in Boston, Massachusetts, has named Leonard Polivy as its executive vice president for luxury, diamonds and jewelry.Before joining the company, Polivy worked on various large retail transactions and appraisals, and has served as a consultant to wholesale and retail clients in the jewelry sector for a global valuations firm. He will lead th...Read More

RAPAPORT... Mountain Province saw rough prices rise 8% on a like-for-like basis at its first sale of the year, as demand strengthened.The miner sold 241,827 carats from its Gahcho Ku?(C) mine in Canada - jointly owned with De Beers - for $21.8 million at this month's tender in Antwerp, averaging $90 per carat, the company reported Monday. Average prices at that event, which closed January 22, surp...Read More

RAPAPORT... The Natural Diamond Council (NDC) and celebrity jeweler Lorraine Schwartz have launched an initiative that will give $1 million in credit to emerging designers in the Black, Indigenous and people of color (BIPOC) community.The Emerging Designers Diamond Initiative will provide BIPOC designers with opportunities, remove barriers to entry and offer access to industry education and resour...Read More

Tin and lead's forward prices on the London Metal Exchange continued their advances, with rises of over 1.5% on Tuesday January 26 and tin nearing the $23,000 per tonne mark, supported by falling stocks and a lower dollar index. Tin's price reached yet another new year-to-date high during trading of $22,900 per tonne on Tuesday, nearing the July 9, 2014 intraday high of $22,950 per tonne. The met...Read More

(IDEX Online) - Tiffany is poised to expand its offering to include more gold, precious gems and watches, after LVMH's $15.8bn buyout was finally completed earlier this month.The French luxury conglomerate also has its sights set on revamping many of its 320 US stores and expanding its operations in Europe and Asia.The new owners outlining their vision to 14,000 Tiffany employees, said the em...Read More

(IDEX Online) - Grading reports by the IGI on lab-grown diamonds will now include details of post-growth treatments.The lab says previous reports have indicated only that lab-growns "may include post-growth treatments to alter color".Thanks to advances in technology it says it can now it can confidently state whether a diamond was "as grown" or may have been treated. For untreated CVD) and Hi...Read More

(IDEX Online) - Mountain Province sold 241,827 carats for $21.8m in Antwerp at its first sale of year and reported an eight per cent increase in like-for-like prices. The miner, which holds a 49 per cent stake in Gahcho Ku?? (C) , Canada, said the results were excellent, and reflected a "growing confidence" among rough buyers.The sale, which closed on 22 January, achieved an average value of...Read More

Activity in the European hot-rolled coil market has been slow, with buyers avoiding purchases in expectation of long-term price falls, sources told Fastmarkets on Tuesday January 26.Fastmarkets calculated its daily steel hot-rolled coil index, domestic, exw Northern Europe at ?,?711.00 ($864.16) per tonne on Tuesday January 26, up by ?,?1 from ?,?710 per tonne on January 25.The index was down...Read More

A global shortage of computer chips, another consequence of the Covid-19 pandemic that is affecting carmakers, has in some cases forced automotive producers to close assembly lines, Fastmarkets understands.In the automotive manufacturing sector, silicon-based computer chips - semiconductors - have become increasingly important due to their use in safety-related electronics systems, video displays...Read More

Brass and bronze ingot maker Atlas Pacific Corp has ceased alloy ingot manufacturing, according to sources with direct knowledge of the matter.The Bloomington, California-based scrap processor is instead sourcing products from other foundries in order to supply its customers, those sources said."As part of a long-range strategic plan, Atlas Pacific is now fully aligned with premier companies to ma...Read More

Demand for copper to be used in electric vehicles (EV) and other renewable energy applications was expected to be almost the equivalent of the total US refined copper market by 2025, according to the country's largest copper producer.Richard Adkerson, chief executive officer of Freeport-McMoRan, told a conference call for the company's 2020 earnings on Tuesday January 26 that global EV and renewab...Read More

The London Metal Exchange has registered Grafton Warehouse Services' Port Klang warehouse to be a part of the London Metal Exchange's network, according to a notice from the exchange on Tuesday January 26.The warehouse company is wholly owned by London-based Grafton Commodity Trading. The company also has active operations through Grafton Warehouse Services (USA) and Grafton Warehouse Services (Si...Read More

Freeport-McMoRan said its Indonesian unit, PT-FI, has advanced discussions with the majority-owner of the country's Gresik smelter regarding an expansion by around 30%. This would see the smelter's concentrate treatment capacity rise by around 300,000 tonnes per year and would reduce PT-FI's commitment to develop a new smelter in Indonesia to 1.7 million tpy from 2 million tpy, Freeport said.The t...Read More

Trident aims to fill valuable nicheSPONSOREDtrident royalties"2021 for us is the year where the narrative of a greener, government-supported transformation of the social paradigm meets the reality of too little supply, inadequate infrastructure, and a businessRead More

Demand for flat steel imports in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Saudi Arabia was still weak, with prices contunuing to fall, sources said on Tuesday January 26.Both countries showed soft demand because buyers did not want to make bookings with prices on their way down. Offer prices from China and India continued to fall this week, but buyers' bids were even lower."Large-volume bookings are unl...Read More