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Yunnan Chihong Zinc & Germanium Co (Chihong), China’s largest zinc and lead producer headquartered in Southwest China’s Yunnan province, saw its output of refined metal products, mainly zinc and lead ingots, surge by 14.5% on year to 269,500 tonnes in the first half of this year, Mysteel Global learned on September 4. The smelter says its operations were largely unaffected by the COVID-19 outbreak.
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The Mines Ministry has invited comments from the public on a series of structural reforms it proposes under Atmanirbhar Bharat to enhance private investments and generates employment in the mineral sector.
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China Baowu Steel Group (Baowu), the country’s largest steelmaker by installed capacity, saw its first primary aluminum ingot emerge from its own aluminum production line on July 30, marking the steel giant’s first foray into aluminium smelting and making further progress in the group’s production of metals suitable for use in auto manufacturing.
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The China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC), the country’s governing body of all futures exchanges, has granted its approval, allowing three commodity exchanges to launch options contracts for six industrial products over June-August for trading, according to its official post on June 12.
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China’s major zinc smelters have started scheduling maintenance stoppages this month in response to a shortage of zinc concentrate supplies, according to Mymetal, Mysteel’s data collection arm for non-ferrous products. Some smelters have already idled their furnaces.
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The fast spread of the COVID-19 in the past few weeks have forced some metallurgical mining companies to either slow down or to completely suspend their operations, as many countries where their mining sites are located have adopted the harsh measure of lockdowns to curtail the virus from infecting more citizens and to prevent their medical systems from collapses.
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Metallurgical Corporation of China Ltd (MCC), China’s largest construction and engineering service provider, saw its business model further diversifying from the traditional metallurgical projects in 2019, as the revenue from the sector decreased to 22.5% of the total from the 25.1% for 2018, according to the company’s latest annual report released on April 1.
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Glencore, a multinational energy and mineral producer, has been forced to join many other mining companies to idle its nonferrous and coal operations in several countries to cooperate with the respective countries’ efforts in containing the COVID-19, according to a company release on the afternoon of March 26 Central European Timezone.
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The Dalian Commodity Exchange (DCE) headquartered in Northeast China’s Liaoning province is progressing with the launch of liquified petroleum gas (LPG) futures and options contracts, Mysteel Global has learned. The exchange is currently collecting public feedback about the contract designs and will accept submissions until March 13.
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China Hongqiao Group, the country’s leading aluminum producer headquartered in East China’s Shandong province and listed in Hong Kong, has recently secured the financing for its second-phase alumina expansion in Indonesia to double the capacity to 2 million tonnes/year by the end of 2020, market sources confirmed on Friday.
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Sales of new-energy vehicles (NEVs) in China continue to show signs of stalling, given a series of negative factors including the prevailing softening economy, the county’s cooling automotive sector generally, and the reduction in subsidies for NEV purchases since late June, market sources said.
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Domestic production and sales of new-energy vehicles (NEVs) across China are showing signs of weakness, largely as a consequence of the central government’s move to reduce generous subsidies on NEVs that over the past few years had helped automakers to enjoy substantial growths in electric car sales.
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The semi-annual reports released by some major Chinese automobile producers over the past few days showed that most witnessed declines in their H1 net profit from softening sales amid the overall weakness in the country’s auto industry, Mysteel Global has learned. However, some makers of new energy vehicles (NEVs) still earned good profits during the half.
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Shandong province in East China is still dealing with the damage after the Typhoon Lekima slammed the region on August 11-12, and industrial enterprises such as nonferrous smelters and steel mills have their operations affected, Mysteel Global understood from the local companies on Wednesday.
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Inspectors from the local government of North China’s Shanxi province have begun investigating complaints that alumina plants in the province are responsible for serious leaks from sludge dumps that are causing pollution. Thus, market sources fear alumina supplies could be significantly affected.
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Nickel and copper production at Brazilian mining giant Vale declined during this year’s January-March quarter from October-December, mainly due to lower mill processing rates and maintenance at some of its works, according to the company’s Q1 production report released on May 8.
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A shrewd tweak of its business plan last year saw China Hongqiao Group, the country’s leading privately-owned integrated aluminum producer, double the share that sales of alumina enjoyed in its overall business, the Shandong-headquartered company’s latest annual report shows.
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Chinese prices of tungsten concentrates have reversed up from a six-month low, thanks to support from the tight supply of raw ores, with the price for W 65% or higher gaining by Yuan 1,500/tonne ($224/t) week on week to reach Yuan 97,000/t including the 16% VAT as of March 6, according to Mysteel’s database.
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Mines in North China, especially those producing non-ferrous metals, are bracing for disruptions to their operations fearing central and local government authorities will respond with vigour to last Saturday morning’s horrific accident in an underground silver mine in Xilin Gol League in North China’s Inner Mongolia.
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Shanghai-listed China Molybdenum Co, the country’s top molybdenum producer, holds a positive view of China’s market for ferromolybdenum for the current half of this year, according to its 2018 semi-annual report released on August 28.
