The waiting time to deliver aluminium out of Istim's London Metal Exchange-registered warehouses in Johor, Malaysia, has risen to 78 days, according to the LME's latest queue report.The 78-day queue at the end of July is up from just eight days at the end of June. Over July, no fresh units were delivered into Istim's Johor warehouses and only 34,275 tonnes were delivered out. Total stock now sits...Read More

Iron ore prices fell significantly on Tuesday August 10 due to continuing weak demand, with production cuts and pollution-control measures in China's Tangshan city, in preparation for February's 2022 Winter Olympics, further depressing market sentiment.Fastmarkets iron ore indices 62% Fe fines, cfr Qingdao: $162.44 per tonne, down $10.07 per tonne62% Fe low-alumina fines, cfr Qingdao: $162.75 per...Read More

RAPAPORT... Foreign attendance at the upcoming JCK Las Vegas show is hanging in the balance, with key diamond centers sending far fewer exhibitors than normal amid continued Covid-19 measures.The Belgian diamond industry will not run a pavilion, while India's section will only house exhibitors' local representatives, spokespeople for the respective national trades told Rapaport News. Some ove...Read More

Tin's three-month price reached a new all-time high of $35,300 per tonne on the London Metal Exchange, with continued tightness continuing to grip the market, while the rest of the complex rose by an average of 1.3% on Tuesday August 10. Tin's three-month price has increased by around 9.5% in the last month, having had an intraday high of $32,250 per tonne on July 12. Around 470 lots of tin h...Read More

RAPAPORT... Alrosa's sales jumped year on year in July amid steady consumer demand for diamond jewelry, even as revenue for the month was the lowest since the start of 2021.Diamond revenue surged to $334 million, up from $35.8 million a year earlier when the coronavirus pandemic stunted sales, the miner said Tuesday. Sales were also nearly double those of July 2019, when the company sold $170.5 mi...Read More

RAPAPORT... An Israeli financial-technology company is set to offer almost $8 million in credit to the diamond industry every month after receiving a license to operate in the sector.MDPS, which stands for Mazalit Digital Payment Solutions, claims to be the world's only accredited non-bank financial institution dedicated to the diamond industry. It has promised to fill the gap left by traditi...Read More

Prices for domestic steel rebar in Russia's Central Federal District have continued to decline, losing another 3000-5000 roubles ($41-68) per tonne in the seven days to Monday August 9.Market participants expect the downward trend to prevail until the busy construction season ends in early November.Considering the high prices on offer from traditional suppliers in the Moscow area, stockists have b...Read More

RAPAPORT... Group revenue at Watches of Switzerland increased in the first fiscal quarter amid strong consumer demand in the US and UK and a spike in online traffic.Sales grew 96% year on year to GBP 297.5 million ($414.3 million) in the three months ending August 1, as the US and UK divisions reported solid domestic growth in sales of luxury watches and jewelry, the company said Tuesday. E-commer...Read More

(IDEX Online) - Alrosa's rough and polished sales hit their lowest point of the year in July, down to $334m (provisional) as demand outstripped supply.Miners are struggling with inventories at record low levels, the company said today, reinforcing an earlier warning of a long period of "supply deficit". And prices are back to pre-Covid levels.Total sales in July were down more than 18 per cen...Read More

(IDEX Online) - Israel's diamond trade is bouncing back as global demand recovers, and business booms with UAE following last September's normalization agreement.Rough exports were up 229 per cent year-on-year for January to July, to $1.05bn, according to Ministry of Economy and Industry figures. In July almost 11 per cent of rough exports were to UAE, a market that was officially c...Read More

(IDEX Online) - Fugitive diamond billionaire Nirav Modi has been granted the right to appeal his extradition to India, after a judge ruled he was severely depressed and could kill himself.Modi, 50, (pictured) is accused of fraudulently using letters of undertaking offered by the Punjab National Bank (PNB) in an alleged $1.85bn fraud.He was arrested in London in March 2019 as India's most want...Read More

RAPAPORT... Israel's diamond shipments continued their recovery in July as the sector benefited from a global rebound in demand.Polished exports - after returns - jumped 68% year on year by value for the month, the country's Ministry of Economy and Industry reported Monday. Polished imports gained 120%.Rough imports leaped 89%, while rough exports more than tripled, boosted partly by the 2020...Read More

The waiting time to deliver aluminium out of Istim's London Metal Exchange-registered warehouses in Johor, Malaysia, has risen to 78 days, according to the LME's latest queue report.The 78-day queue at the end of July is up from just eight days at the end of June. Over July, no fresh units were delivered into Istim's Johor warehouses and only 34,275 tonnes were delivered out. Total stock now sits...Read More

Chinese lithium battery producer EVE Energy has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with battery materials producer GEM to recycle more than 10,000 tonnes per year of nickel from spent nickel-containing batteries as of 2024, EVE Energy said on Monday August 9.Under the terms of the MoU, starting in 2024 GEM has agreed to recycle nickel products and provide EVE Energy with more than 10,000 t...Read More

Tianshan Aluminum has signed a cooperation deal with an unnamed Indonesia bauxite company, it said on August 10 - a move to secure more supply and boost its competitiveness.Tianshan will buy no less than 49% of shares of the bauxite company through direct or indirect acquisitions, the company told the Shenzhen Stock Exchange website, where it is listed.Tianshan hopes to expand its cooperation with...Read More

The departure of Triland Metals Ltd from the ring of the London Metal Exchange does not trigger its permanent closure, with the floor still set to reopen on September 6, the exchange confirmed.Triland, one of the nine current Category 1 members of the LME, said in a letter to customers earlier on August 10 that it has applied to switch to Category 2 membership and will not return to the ring when...Read More

Aluminum smelters in China's Guangxi province have been notified by Guangxi Power Grid Company to reduce their regular power consumption by at least 30% before August 15 by staggering power usage, sources told Fastmarkets.Guangxi province has a yearly operating capacity of 1.9 million tonnes per year of aluminium and is currently operating at 93% of capacity. "We estimate that [output will re...Read More

Hot-rolled coil prices in the United States achieved yet another record high, with debate now intensifying over whether mills can eventually collect $2,000 per short ton ($100 per hundredweight) on hot band.Fastmarkets' daily steel hot-rolled coil index, fob mill US was calculated at $94.67 per cwt ($1,893.40 per ton) on Tuesday August 10, an increase of 0.65% from $94.06 per cwt on Monday August...Read More

The event attracted 2520 delegates - the second-highest number ever - and it was wall-to-wall people in the two marquees.Read More

A summary of the financial results for Egypt's biggest steelmaking group, Ezz Steel, for the period from January 1 to June 30, 2021.In brief"Local rebar consumption reached 3.36 million tonnes in the first half of 2021, an increase of 2% over the first half of 2020," the company said in a release to the London Stock Exchange on Monday August 9."However, consumption in...Read More