The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.Chinese domestic and export flat steel prices surged in November 2020, with the export hot-rolled coil index rising to $592 per tonne during the month from $519 per tonne previously, and the monthly average increasing by 7.5% over October.Economic activity in China continued to expand, with manufacturing output rising by 7.5...Read More

The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.Key ferro-alloy forecast highlights for the coming months:?EUR? A strong recovery in both bulk and noble alloys is expected in 2021 but the markets are unlikely to return to the levels seen before the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic. We have seen a quicker-than-expected recovery across various regions amid the economic fal...Read More

The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.Prices for most ferro-alloys maintained their upward momentum into October, solidifying previous gains and reflecting the improved demand from steelmakers, the rebuilding of depleted inventories, and the supply-side concerns following both planned and unplanned outages. Gains were noted for ferro-silicon, silicon metal, mang...Read More

The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.This month's key ferro-alloys forecast highlights:Prices across most ore and alloy markets trended higher in September, buoyed by improving demand from steelmakers with the end of the summer holiday season in Europe and the United States, as well as maintained demand from Chinese steel mills. Tightening of alloy inventories...Read More

The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.This month's key ferro-alloy forecast highlights:Prices across most ferro-alloy markets trended stable to lower in August as demand remained subdued in major markets, apart from China where steel output continues to rise at a rapid pace, supporting demand for ferro-alloys. As alloy makers seek to remedy supply/demand imbalan...Read More

The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.Fastmarkets analysts were invited to present our outlook for the coking coal market at Coaltrans Asia, held online on November 23-25. One of the key topics at the event was the trade tensions between China and Australia, which overtook Mongolia to become the largest coking coal exporter to China this year...Read More

The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.Iron ore remains the most bullish commodity of the year, with prices fuelled by Chinese demand and supply disruptions in Brazil, along with bullish sentiment. But prices are expected to come down because Brazilian exports have begun to recover, and have reached their highest level since the Brumadinho dam disaster in 2019. W...Read More

The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.In the iron ore market, supply issues including heavy rains at the start of the year, followed by staffing problems during the Covid-19 pandemic, have affected exports from Brazil. This has helped Australia gain a larger market share, but since June, Brazilian export volumes have returned to levels last seen before the...Read More

The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts are ready to view.Chinese blast furnace (BF) utilization rates have stagnated and iron ore port stock volumes are rising, reaching their highest levels since March, which suggests that iron ore supply is becoming excessive while demand is not growing. Unsurprisingly, prices dropped last week and we expect the trend to continue. The market has...Read More

The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts is ready to view.Prices of stainless steel are generally set to reach highs for the year as 2020 comes to a close. For the most common nickel-containing grades of stainless steel, this upward trend is being driven above all by rising nickel prices, which themselves are hitting relatively high levels into the end of 2020.The price increases si...Read More

The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts is ready to view.While much commentary has been written about Asian economies performing far better than those elsewhere this year during the global Covid-19 pandemic, it is stainless steel markets in Europe and the United States that are ending the year in better shape than their Asian counterparts.We do not talk of demand levels or demand g...Read More

The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts is ready to view.While a world leader in many areas, the United States is a relatively small player when it comes to stainless steel. It produces a small amount of material, both in absolute and relative terms (i.e. compared to the size of its population), while a large share of its industry is in the hands of bigger European companies. Never...Read More

The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts is ready to view.Having found it easier to increase prices than their counterparts in Europe and the United States during the past few months, Asian stainless steelmakers now face a number of concerns.In the short term, Asian prices have moved down in recent weeks while those in Europe and the US are on the up. This is mostly a reflection of...Read More

RAPAPORT... Gold-jewelry demand plummeted in 2020 due to the pandemic and high prices, according to the World Gold Council (WGC).The global total dropped 34% to 1,412 tonnes for the year, the lowest since the organization began collating annual data in 1995, it reported Thursday.Demand plunged in the first half and fell less heavily in the third quarter, with an economic recovery in key marke...Read More

Access our research platformsSign-in to our platforms to access our extensive research, our latest insight, data and analytics and to connect to our industry experts.Genscape is now part of Wood Mackenzie. As we combine their commodity intelligence and proprietary short-term data sets with Wood Mackenzie’s world-class long-term analysis, we will be able to offer you unparalleled depth and br...Read More

(IDEX Online) - Surat's long-awaited bourse - a vast $355m building with 4,400 offices  - is  finally due to open in September. The Surat Diamond Bourse (SDB) says it will become the world's biggest diamond trading hub, with an estimated annual turnover in excess of $25bn. It was supposed to open in January 2020, according to its own website.Surat has long been the capital...Read More

RAPAPORT... The Diamond Council of America (DCA) has elected Chuck Kuba to a two-year term as chairman of its board of directors.Kuba, the owner of Iowa Diamond in Des Moines, Iowa, is also on the board of directors of Jewelers of America (JA), and was previously the president of the Iowa Jewelers Association, the DCA said last week.David Bonaparte, CEO of JA, and Bill Luth, executive vice preside...Read More

(IDEX Online) - Debswana, which controls most of Botswana's diamond production, saw rough exports down 30 per cent in 2020 as a result of the global pandemic.Foreign sales were down from $3.05bn in 2019 to $2.02bn in 2020, according to the Bank of Botswana.The country is the world's second largest producer of diamonds after Russia, and relies on them for 30 per cent of its revenue nation...Read More

RAPAPORT... US consumer spending on gifts is expected to decrease 20% this Valentine's Day, with the number of people planning to purchase jewelry also slipping, according to the National Retail Federation (NRF).Consumers intend to lay out $21.8 billion on their loved ones over the holiday, the NRF noted last week following a survey. That's a sharp drop from the record $27.4 billion it predicted a...Read More

Access our research platformsSign-in to our platforms to access our extensive research, our latest insight, data and analytics and to connect to our industry experts.Wood Mackenzie’s latest analysis reveals that China’s crude stock (including strategic and commercial petroleum reserves) could reach 1.15 billion barrels in 2020, equivalent to 83 days of oil demand.Wood Mackenzie senior...Read More