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.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

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

RAPAPORT... The World Jewellery Confederation (CIBJO) has released a consumer-targeted publication explaining how to describe and categorize pearls.The 62-page "CIBJO Guide for Classifying Natural Pearls and Cultured Pearls" is a reference point for the general public and the jewelry trade, the organization said Thursday. Dealing with both seawater and freshwater specimens, the free, download...Read More

RAPAPORT... Rio Tinto's rough-diamond sales fell 26% to $459 million in 2020 as the coronavirus crisis limited global trading, the mining group reported."A heavy decline in spending on jewelry impacted underlying demand, while lockdowns in India's manufacturing centers restricted the volume of rough diamonds purchased from miners," Rio Tinto said last week. Realized diamond prices slid 21%, i...Read More

RAPAPORT... Swiss watch exports fell 11% year on year to CHF 1.59 billion ($1.78 billion) in January, the 12th consecutive monthly drop, as demand slowed in the US and in key Asian markets.Shipments to the US declined 11% to CHF 183.3 million ($204.5 million), partly because strong figures in January 2020 created an unfavorable comparison, the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry said Thurs...Read More

RAPAPORT... The developer of a new jewelry retail complex in Miami has secured a $23.6 million loan, enabling it to move forward with the project.The funds from City National Bank of Florida will go toward completing phase one of the Time Century Jewelry Center program. This consists of constructing the building's retail and wholesale space, which spans the basement, ground, mezzanine and sec...Read More

(IDEX Online) - Jewelry retailers in China are expanding their operations as post-pandemic sales surge.Chow Tai Fook opened 543 new stores in the second half of 2020, a sign of its confidence in the post-Covid recovery.  It now has of 4,442 retail outlets and saw sales volumes increased by 17.5 per cent in the fourth quarter.Lukfook recorded a net increase of 225 mainland stores in the year,...Read More

(IDEX Online) - Alrosa says it has allocated $11.5m this year towards a social fund for residents in Yakutia (Republic of Sakha), one of its main areas of operation.The money will go towards building new cultural, educational, healthcare, and sports facilities, as well as environmental protection.The Russian state-owned miner, which has open-pit, underground mining and alluvial operations in the r...Read More

(IDEX Online) - The growth in sales of US watches and jewelry slowed markedly in December. It was still up 11.5 per cent year-on-year, but the rate of increase is down from its peak of 16.7 per cent in September. In addition, the November figure has been revised significantly down from 16.6 per cent to 13.6 per cent, based on actual through-the-till transactions rather than estimates. As a result,...Read More

Underground drilling at the Island Main zone, completed off of the 840-level exploration drift, expanded high-grade gold mineralization by up to 200 metres to the east of existing reserves, in a 300-metre gap between reservesRead full newsRead More

The Mensin Gold Bibiani Mines has Introduced Chifeng as New Owner to the Sefwi Anhwiaso Traditional Council, subject to the approval of the Government of Ghana.Following the announcement by Resolute Mining Limited at both the Australian and London Stock Exchanges on the sale of the Bibiani Mine to Chifeng on 15 December 2020, Mensin Bibiani Mines announced for the information of their stakeholders...Read More

The lower interest rates, economic recovery, and revival of consumer demand provide a strong base for growth in 2021. With that in the background, let’s dive into five under-$30 stocks that are likely to deliver superior returns.Algonquin Power & UtilitiesShares of Algonquin Power & Utilities (TSX:AQN)(NYSE:AQN) have consistently delivered healthy returns over the past decade. M...Read More

There's no stopping the progress of technology. That much is clear when you look at things like how smartphones manage to jam more tech in new models each year. It becomes clear when you see what cars are capable of today compared with even just a decade ago. It becomes clear when we as a society are at least somewhat seriously talking about the idea of colonizing Mars. Not even a worldwide pa...Read More

Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Monday February 22 that are worth another look.China allowed five cargoes of Australian coking coal to be unloaded last week after a wait of several months, industry sources told Fastmarkets on February 22.The year...Read More