Zinc and aluminium prices reached unexpected levels on July 21 with zinc hitting a seven year high. London Metal Exchange zinc futures on the London Metals Exchange (LME) have risen to $1,255.50 a tonne - a price not reached since November 1997. Demand for the metals is driven by China which, as we have reported recently, has indicated above-expectation performance results in manufacturing and construction. AME Mineral Economics has said that world zinc consumption could rise 260,000 tonnes in 2005, resulting in a global deficit of 280,000 tonnes.

Huawei has also said it expects to return an operating profit of 18.3 percent for the six months to June this year. Last year Huawei reported a 10.8 percent rise in its first-half revenue. The company reported 12.2 percent growth in its operating margin in 2013.

To the disappointment of rival bidders Arriva, Keolis and National Express, the eight year concession to run Crossrail, the £15 billion project that will provide trains in an east-west link across London, with links to south London as well, has been granted to MTR. Short for Mass Transit Railway this is a company that operates nine urban lines in Hong Kong, and already runs London's Overground metro service in conjunction with Arriva.

The Vale do Rio Doce in Brazil is doubtless an idyllic place beauty as its name, valley of the peaceful river, implies. However the now more prosaically named Vale is a global company with which readers of Business Excellence are very familiar, most recently in our coverage of Vale's coal mining operations in Mozambique – and indeed, Wales.

“Business since we last spoke has been good for the company,” enthuses Adrok’s Managing Director, Gordon Stove. “We have been growing steadily and in the process increased our turnover for last year compared to that achieved in 2012. At the heart of this has been our ability to win more clients, and with this they have brought us fresh contracts and new sources of revenue. What that means is that at this time we are well on course to increase that turnover again for 2014, so things are going very nicely for us indeed.”

Between 1886 and the early 1970s the Central Rand Goldfield was intensively mined, with overall gold output estimated to have reached around 250 million ounces. All good things, as they say, must come to an end however and by the mid-70s a combination of factors including depressed gold prices, ageing infrastructure and the reduction in the availability of high grade reefs meant that the area was declared “worked out”.

The evidence is hard to refute: swapping spreadsheets for specialist commodity management solutions helps create a winning business that makes better decisions, faster, and with more confidence.

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Data just released reveals that China's economy grew by 7.5 percent in the April to June quarter, a slightly improved rate over the first quarter's 7.4 percent. As we reported recently, manufacturing output and retail sales also grew in June. However the property market, characterised by over supply, continues to languish.

Covering an area of approximately 48,445 square kilometres, the Dominican Republic is the second largest Caribbean nation by area and is home to an estimated ten million people. Today it also represents the second largest economy in the Caribbean and Central American region and has the ninth largest economy in all of Latin America, one that was long known for agriculture and mining, but is now dominated by services.