Condividiamo alcune notizie provenienti dagli Uffici Esteri dell’ICE.
AMPLATS: LA RECESSIONE SI FA GIÀ SENTIRE SUL PREZZO DEI METALLI PREZIOSI
(ICE) – ROMA, 23 AGO – Il gruppo di metalli preziosi Anglo American Platinum (Amplats) afferma che i profitti principali si sono quasi dimezzati nel semestre fino a fine giugno, colpiti da vendite inferiori e prezzi in calo, sebbene questi ultimi fossero ancora al secondo livello più alto mai registrato.
Il gruppo minerario è rimasto ottimista riguardo alle prospettive del platino, prevedendo che il surplus per esso e il rodio si muovano gradualmente verso un deficit nel 2024 e nel 2025 con l’accelerazione della domanda automobilistica.
Il CEO di Amplats, Natascha Viljoen, ha affermato durante un’intervista ai media che è improbabile che la minaccia di una recessione capovolga la domanda e le prospettive dei prezzi dei metalli del gruppo del platino (PGM), dato che “l’incertezza è già incorporata nei prezzi correnti”.
Dal punto di vista della produzione, la produzione automobilistica è “probabilmente già a livelli di recessione”, portando Amplats a ritenere che non ci sarà un effetto aggiuntivo significativo sulla domanda o sui prezzi in caso di recessione. “L’attuale produzione di automobili è già inferiore rispetto ad alcuni precedenti periodi di recessione, quindi non c’è motivo per cui i prezzi non rimangano nella posizione abbastanza forte in cui si trovano in questo momento”, ha affermato Viljoen.
Ci sono altre incertezze da considerare, tuttavia, e includono se ci saranno interruzioni alla fornitura di energia dalla Russia, che potrebbero interessare le grandi case automobilistiche in Europa, ha affermato Viljoen.
Gli utili principali di Amplats sono scesi del 42% a 26,7 miliardi di rand a fine giugno, con la produzione in calo del 4% a 1,987 milioni di once. La miniera di Mogalakwena del gruppo è stata colpita da diversi problemi, tra cui forti piogge e interruzioni della catena di approvvigionamento, che hanno ritardato la consegna delle attrezzature di perforazione.
L’area in cui si trova la miniera nel Limpopo ha registrato la maggior parte delle precipitazioni in 50 anni. Ciò ha comportato la perdita di accesso ad alcune delle aree di livello superiore della miniera e l’attività forzata a spostarsi in alcune delle aree di livello inferiore, ha affermato Viljoen.
“Da allora siamo stati in grado di tornare nelle aree di grado superiore e ci aspettiamo di estrarre quelle per il resto dell’anno”, ha aggiunto.
I prezzi del PGM sono scesi del 7% in dollari, ma i fondamentali di mercato sottostanti per i metalli rimangono solidi, ha affermato Amplats, mantenendo invariata la sua linea per l’intero anno con una produzione raffinata compresa tra 4 milioni e 4,4 milioni di once.
Questa linea è, tuttavia, soggetta alla riduzione del carico di Eskom nella seconda metà dell’anno. Viljoen ha dichiarato che la riduzione del carico nel primo mandato ha comportato una perdita di produzione di circa 6.000 once e il rischio rappresentato dalla riduzione del carico per il secondo mandato è maggiore rispetto all’inizio dell’anno. Una riduzione dell’alimentazione di base dovuta all’arresto della sua fonderia di Polokwane per la ricostruzione potrebbe significare che l’azienda sarà costretta a ridurre le operazioni che di solito protegge dalle interruzioni di corrente, come l’attività mineraria e gli impianti di concentrazione.
Viljoen ha descritto la performance del gruppo come “forte”, osservando che nell’anno precedente c’è stato un aumento delle vendite di scorte accumulate durante la ricostruzione dell’impianto di conversione di Anglo nel 2020.
L’invasione russa dell’Ucraina ha portato molti analisti a stravolgere le previsioni che avevano all’inizio dell’anno, con Amplats che lunedì ha affermato che l’aspettativa di un’offerta di PGM moderatamente più debole e il miglioramento della domanda automobilistica si sono rivelati “al di là del segno”.
Le interruzioni della catena di approvvigionamento hanno messo sotto pressione la produzione automobilistica sulla scia dell’invasione russa dell’Ucraina, mentre c’era stata anche una rinascita del Covid-19 in Cina. La preoccupazione per le gravi interruzioni dell’approvvigionamento di MGP dalla Russia ha provocato inizialmente un aumento dei prezzi, anche se da allora la preoccupazione è diminuita, perché nessun paese ha imposto sanzioni su questi prodotti.
La Russia rappresenta circa il 22% dei nuovi MGP estratti, ma è il principale produttore mondiale di palladio, producendo quasi il 40%. (ICE JOHANNESBURG)
INTERVIEW WITH GINA DROSOS ABOUT SIGNET’S BLUE NILE ACQUISITION
(ICE) – ROMA, 22 AGO – On August 9, Signet CEO Gina Drosos spoke to JCK about her company’s decision to acquire Blue Nile. The strategic motivation lies in the decision to win in large companies, especially in the bridal sector, and thus become a leader in digital commerce, accelerate the company’s growth in services and expand the medium market.
Blue Nile checks three of these boxes and we think and the fourth, services, is what Signet can provide. Blue Nile is strong in the bridal industry, have a very strong brand value and are considered by customers to offer good value. The company has 21 showrooms across the country, and this is very interesting.
Signet has differentiated their banner portfolio. At one time companies like Kay, Zales and Jared were competing, while now after Signet has distinguished the banners Jared is classified in the accessible luxury space, James Allen and in the last eight months also Diamonds Direct in that space. Blue Nile will fit at the top of our price range, so it will take us even more fully into affordable luxury.
Blue Nile has a young and affluent clientele compared to Signet’s banners, and the company has done a great job of creating transparency in jewelry purchases for customers. They have it as part of their brand equity. Jewelry is a big category. Signet has only about 9% of the total jewelry category and after the purchase of Blue Nile, it will only be 10%.
Future decisions regarding various sectors of the company are not yet known as the agreement is not yet concluded. They will discuss also about diamonds cultivated in the laboratory, it is thought in this sense to offer the choice to customers. Signet will bring the service sector to Blue Nile and this will be an opportunity for the company. Blue Nile has expanded the number of showrooms and if it is successful it will continue with it. You start the journey online and then end up in the shops and this strategy can be a winner.
At Signet, both acquisition and financial guidance are proof of balance sheet and operational breakthrough. The guide represents 25% revenue growth, compared to the pre-COVID period, which is still a very strong performance. Signet can provide double-digit operating margins thanks to the structural improvements they have made to their business. This is the same thing that gives the company the ability to invest in all our banners, as well as making acquisitions, even in a more challenged market. (ICE HOUSTON)
CURRENT JEWELRY TREND: COLOR CRAZE
(ICE) – ROMA, 22 AGO – The 2021 Las Vegas “Couture” fair had low attendance due to fears of Covid-19 and international travel restrictions. This led this year to a joyful Sin City reunion with colorful collections.
The dominant theme of Couture 2022 is color, and it has been expressed in different compelling ways and in every shade of the rainbow by the designers.
Enamel has enjoyed a renewed importance in the sector, for example for the Lebanese designer Selim Mouzannar enamel jewels are a pillar of the collection and his continuous experimentation with guilloché enamel and metal motifs represent continuous innovation.
The designer, Susana Martins, debuted this year with the line of the same name, and her piece “adventurous eye of the creator of Dubai” appeared modern for her color.
Designer Emily P. Wheeler embodies the joyful color you only experience with her nail polish in the form of white stripes, which lent an ever more playful energy to bold jewelry.
Tariq Riaz with his Couture Design Atelier showed his flexible “Circle of Life” rings which prove that no color combination is off limits.
Ananya’s signature piece, on the other hand, is a luxurious gemstone beaded bracelet, available in a wide variety of gemstones and secured with an 18K gold and diamond clasp.
Jacquie Aiche is synonymous with sinuous diamond chains with bezels set in a second skin.
The colors used by Azlee are muted in gold and diamonds. Sapphire pearls are a new interpretation of the “big three” gemstones, providing a more organic and unisex energy to the gem.
Reindeer demonstrates how large tumbled gemstone beads provide a sophisticated and sentimental version of sea-inspired jewelry.
AnaKatarina adapts the style to her aesthetic via textured gold, sea urchin-like and gemstones with inverted accents.
Beck Jewels is simpler with its solitary gem encased in a multi-tiered gold setting.
Melissa Kaye offers bespoke pieces with stones set in a halo of enamel, showing the intersection of cocktail jewelry and new enamel trends.
M. Spalten’s “Gemfetti” jewels, characterized by a mix of varieties, sizes and cuts of colored gems, follow the designer’s personal color preferences.
Robinson Pelham’s jewelry trend is the rainbow, demonstrating over and over again the complementary effect of each main shade combined together.
Rosa Van Parys began her collection by shying away from the bright color, but has now branched out into the many possibilities of her in her typical “dagger” necklace shapes. (ICE HOUSTON)
US DEMAND TO LIFT INDIA’S LAB-MADE DIAMOND EXPORTS TO $8 BILLION
(ICE) – ROMA, 22 AGO – India, which cuts or polishes about 90% of the diamonds sold in the world, is ramping up sales of laboratory-made gems as demand from the US surges and they become more accepted in other markets.
Exports of polished lab-grown diamonds may double in the current financial year started April 1 from $1.3 billion in the prior year, Vipul Shah, vice chairman of the Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council, said in an interview. “We have a huge potential to grow exports to $7 billion-$8 billion in the next few years on the back of US demand and acceptability in the UK and Australia,” he said.
“It is going to be treated as a fashionable jewelry, which is affordable to the youngsters, and that’s the way the market is going to shift,” Shah said.
Diamonds grown in labs represent a small portion of the market currently — India shipped nearly $24 billion of polished diamonds mined naturally last year. Still, the much cheaper variety has been growing its share as it has the same physical characteristics and chemical makeup as mined stones, with experts needing a machine to distinguish between synthesized and mined gems.
Lab-made diamonds are developed from a carbon seed placed in a microwave chamber and superheated into a glowing plasma ball. The process creates particles that crystallize into diamonds in weeks.
Exports of polished lab-grown diamonds from India jumped about 70% in the April-July period to $622.7 million, while those of cut and polished mined diamonds fell around 3% to $8.2 billion during the same period, GJEPC data showed.
One advantage of the man-made gem is that it has a tracking system that helps monitor the supply chain and maintain consumer confidence in the gems.
“Commercial gem-quality earth-mined diamonds are being replaced completely by lab-grown diamonds,” said Ritesh Shah, director at ALTR, one of the first global lab-grown brands to start business in India. The product’s affordability, low carbon-footprint, size and fine quality offer a big draw for buyers, with the US the front-runner in the shift in consumer behavior, he said.
From a handful of companies growing diamonds in labs in the mid-2000s, there are now about 25 such growers in India, he said. The country contributes about 15% of the global production of lab-grown diamonds, according to the GJEPC.
Read more at:
https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/economy/foreign-trade/us-demand-to-lift-indias-lab-made-diamond-exports-to-8-billion/articleshow/93707309.cms (ICE MUMBAI)
THE JEWELRY INDUSTRY EXPORTS ALMOST DOUBLED IN THE FIRST HALF OF THIS YEAR
(ICE) – ROMA, 22 AGO – The Indonesian jewelry industry has succeeded in exporting products with a value of US$2.37 billion during the first half of this year, jumped almost 2 times from the same period last year. Minister of Industry Agus Gumiwang Kartasasmita said that in the January – June 2021 period, Indonesia’s jewelry exports only reached US$1.23 billion. “The main countries for exporting jewelry from Indonesia include Switzerland (35 percent), the United States (26 percent), the United Arab Emirates and Hong Kong (11 percent each),” Agus said in a written statement, quoted Sunday (21/8/2022). In 2021, Indonesian jewelry exports also recorded an increase in export value on an annual basis. Indonesia’s jewelry exports in 2021 will increase by 76 percent year-on-year (YoY). Indonesia’s jewelry exports throughout 2021 increased from USD 1.47 billion in 2020, to USD 2.59 billion in 2021. In addition, the Trademap.org report states that the market share of Indonesian jewelry exports to the global market in 2021 is 2.5 percent, ranking 14th out of all jewelry product exporting countries. The total market share rose 0.5 percent from the previous year. This, said Agus, shows the Indonesian jewelry industry still has the opportunity to continue to grow and develop in increasing its market share. So far, the Ministry of Industry has made a number of efforts to accelerate the growth of the jewelry industry. Among other things, facilitating the participation of industry players in national and international exhibitions. As well as, encouraging the reduction of import duty tariffs on jewelry products in export destination countries through the use of international trade agreements. (ICE GIACARTA)
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