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

RAPAPORT... Ukrainian jewelry influencer Tatyana Pfaifer has launched an international competition for industry members, pledging to give $100,000 in prizes.The Jewellery Masterpiece Awards will honor excellence and artistry in the jewelry world on an annual basis, said Pfaifer, who runs the @Jewellery_Masterpiece Instagram and Facebook pages. She is inviting entries from jewelry artists, des...Read More

RAPAPORT... Lucapa Diamond Company has recovered yet another large rough stone as its African mines continue to produce high-value diamonds.The company found a 114-carat, D-color, type IIa diamond at its Lulo alluvial mine in Angola, it said Friday. The stone was the third above 100 carats Lulo has produced in the past eight weeks, after the miner discovered diamonds weighing 104 and 113 cara...Read More

The latest forecasts from Fastmarkets' team of analysts is ready to view.We spoke in our previous tracker of stainless steel prices ending 2020 on a high. That trend has continued during early 2021 and, in fact, the upward rally in prices has increased its momentum.Compared with the monthly price increase of some 5% seen at the end of 2020, prices for grade-304 stainless steel in al...Read More

RAPAPORT... Sarine Technologies moved into the black in 2020 as deep cost cuts enabled the supplier of diamond-manufacturing equipment to weather the Covid-19 crisis.The Israel-based company reported a net profit of $2.4 million for the full year, compared with a loss of $1.4 million in 2019. This came despite a 20% drop in revenue to $41 million, Sarine reported Monday."The group took aggres...Read More

RAPAPORT... Alrosa will auction a 242.31-carat diamond in Dubai later this month, one of the largest gem-quality rough stones the Russian miner has unearthed in the past decade, it said Friday. The opening price will be in excess of $2 million.The March 22 sale will mark Alrosa's 100th large-diamond auction. The company rarely trades Russian-mined rough diamonds of this magnitude - those that...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 outlook report shows that the art of balancing oil markets and the refining sector in 2021 hinges upon three key themes – OPEC+ production, Covid-19 developments, and the energy transition.Following...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

(IDEX Online) -  Mountain Province is preparing to resume operations after a Covid outbreak closed its Gahcho Kue mine for almost a month. At least 19 workers at the site (pictured), in Canada's remote Arctic tundra, tested positive for the virus.The unscheduled closure is a further blow for the miner, which reported diamond sales down almost 18 per cent to to $208.2m in its full-ye...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

(IDEX Online) - Anya Taylor-Joy wore over $2.3m of Tiffany & Co diamonds as she won a Golden Globes award for The Queen's Gambit.The 24-year-old actress appeared at last night's virtual event with a $250,000 platinum and diamonds pendant, a pair of $1.9m platinum and diamond earrings and a $160,000 platinum and diamond ring.US-born Taylor-Joy (pictured) paired the pieces with a green...Read More

(IDEX Online) - February saw another mixed bag of prices movements. Larger rounds - those over three carats - fared well but smaller fancies suffered.RoundsThere was mixed activity in goods of 0.70-cts and smaller during February, with slightly more downward movement in the 0.80 to 1.00-ct sizes, and a clear upward trend in larger goods of 3.00-4.99-cts.  Price rises dominated among 0.50...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 price of tin fell throughout the day on Monday March 1 to its lowest in two weeks at the close of trading on the London Metal Exchange, while the fortunes of the rest of the base-metals complex was mixed following strong losses on the previous Friday.Tin's three-month price was down to $23,460 per tonne on March 1, its lowest 5pm closing price since February 12.The metal was rallying until Fri...Read More

Hot Chili knock, knock, knockin' on tier 1 doorSPONSOREDhot chiliThe stars have aligned and shine bright over a certain hillside on South Australia's Copper Coast - just a couple of hours drive from the capital city of Adelaide.It's there, on the Yorke Peninsula, where Rex Minerals' Hillside copper-gold project resides. It's shovel ready with 2 million tonnes of relatively easy-to-develop copp...Read More

Prices in the CIS export steel slab market picked up in the week to Monday March 1 with bookings heard at higher prices in Italy. Higher costs for raw materials and raised prices for finished flat steel prices supported the uptrend in the slab sector.Fastmarkets' daily index for steel scrap, HMS 1&2 (80:20 mix), North Europe origin, cfr Turkey, was calculated at $450.49 per tonne on March 1, down...Read More

The United States Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Forest Service on Monday March 1 rescinded a January decision that would have cleared the way for a land swap deal for the Resolution Copper project involving Native American land in Arizona.According to an update on the project website, the USDA on March 1 "directed the Forest Service to withdraw the notice of availability and rescind the...Read More

The benchmark A380.1 secondary aluminium alloy price and the London Metal Exchange's North American special aluminium alloy contract (Nasaac) spiked to more than six-year highs, supported by healthy demand even as a semiconductor chip shortage disrupts automotive supply chains.Fastmarkets assessed aluminium alloy A380.1, delivered Midwest at $1.10-1.11 per lb on Thursday February 25, up 2.31% from...Read More

Ecobat has hired Sebastian Rudow as managing director of Berzelius Metall, the holding group for the company's German and Austrian assets. Rudow joins from European lead rival Recylex, which he has led...Read More