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The most active lead contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange (SHFE) dropped to a near 13-month low of Yuan 17,750/tonne ($2,580/t) at the close of trading on Thursday. Tepid market demand and the recent weakness of the renminbi dragged down the metal price, market sources explained.
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China’s production of primary aluminum in July witnessed a sharp year-on-year increase of 11.6% to reach 2.9 million tonnes, according to the latest data released on August 14 by China’s National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). But despite last month’s impressive performance, total production during January-July only managed a gain of 3% on year to 19.4 million tonnes, the data shows.
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China’s fixed asset investment (excluding rural households) grew by 5.5% on year to Yuan 35.6 trillion ($5.2 trillion) over January to July, according to the latest data released by China’s National Bureau of Statistics on August 14. Growth in the country’s FAI was off by 0.5 percentage point from the level witnessed during January-June and was also the slowest since 1999, NBS said.
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Chinese smelters, traders and others with a stake in the country’s copper business are generally unfazed by the new 25% tariff China’s General Administration of Customs (GACC) is about to wack on imports of United States-origin copper scrap, despite the US being China’s biggest supplier of this material.
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The futures price for rebar on the Shanghai Futures Exchange (SHFE) ended higher on week as of Friday, as investors were encouraged by improved market sentiment in the physical market. Other positive factors included the ongoing output cuts among steelmakers and the approaching round of additional environmental facility inspections, Mysteel notes.
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The most-traded October aluminum contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange (SHFE) reached a new high since June 14 partly due to the concern on the supply shortage of alumina with the breakout of strike at Alcoa’s mining operations in Western Australia on August 8, according to market sources.
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Diversified miner Glencore achieved an 8% increase in copper output during the first half of this year and an impressive 31% jump in cobalt production over the same period, according to its latest half-year report released on August 8. The company’s production of nickel was also higher by 21% on year during the six months, it reported.
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Jiangsu Shagang Co, the listed-arm of Shagang Group and headquartered in Zhangjiagang in East China’s Jiangsu province, gained a net profit of Yuan 647 million ($94.9 million) in the first half of 2018, up by a sizzling 242% on year, according to its interim report released on August 8. China’s largest privately-owned steelmaker said stronger steel prices and its own higher output were behind its good performance.
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The most-traded November nickel contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange grew for the third day as of August 8, up another 1.9%, mainly due to the stronger performance of spot market and the decrease in SHFE warehouse stocks, Mysteel notes.
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China imported about 1.85 million tonnes of copper concentrates in July, with the monthly growth of 5% down by a large 6.3 percentage points from that in June, according to the latest data from China’s General Administration of Customs released on August 8. During the period from January to July, China’s total imports of Cu concentrates was still an impressive 18.2% higher at 11.4 million tonnes.
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Yunnan Aluminum Co, a Shenzhen-listed company headquartered in Southwest China’s Yunnan province, aims to increase its H2 aluminum production by 21.2% from H1 to 930,000 tonnes via the commissioning of two ongoing aluminum projects inside the province, according to the company’s interim report released on August 7.
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Most base metals contracts on the Shanghai Futures Exchange (SHFE) ended lower week-on-week on Friday August 3, weighed down by the renewed trade tensions between China and the United States and a stronger US dollar.
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The most-traded nickel contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange, that for September, plummeted by Yuan 2,860/tonne ($421/t) or 2.5% on Thursday from the settlement price on Wednesday to Yuan 110,540/t. Investors were nervous at the possibility of renewed friction between China and the US, market sources said.
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Changzhou city in East China’s Jiangsu province is among the latest to join Beijing’s drive to improve air quality, with the city explicitly instructing 48 local steel mills to continue to cut their daily steel output beginning July 25 and lasting possibly until year’s end, an official from Changzhou City Environmental Protection Bureau confirmed on July 30.
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The most-traded aluminum contract on Shanghai Futures Exchange, that for September delivery, increased for the third successive day, or up Yuan 125/tonne ($18.3/t) from the settlement price of Monday to close at Yuan 14,540/t as of July 31.
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Anglo American, a major nonferrous and ferrous mining company in the world, has decided to develop a copper mine at 300,000 tonnes/year in metal in Quellaveco, South Peru, according to a company release on July 26.
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Yunnan Shenhuo Aluminum Co (Yunnan Shenhuo), the wholly subsidiary of Shenzhen-listed Henan Shenhuo Coal Industry and Electricity Power Co, has begun building a new 900,000 tonnes/year primary aluminum smelter in Southwest China’s Yunnan province, tapping the province’s huge (and cheap) hydroelectric power resources, Mysteel has learned. The new smelter complex will replace higher-cost capacity the company is stopping in Hennan province in Central China.
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Copper prices in China are increasing at quick pace after continuously retreating for the most of July and are now catching up with the higher levels they reached a month ago, market watchers said Wednesday. The most-traded copper futures contract on Shanghai Futures Exchange, that for September, surged almost to the Yuan 50,000/tonne ($7,353/t) level on July 25, closing at Yuan 49,910/t, up by Yuan 710/t over the settlement price the previous day.
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The aluminum futures price on the Shanghai Futures Exchange continued to rise on Wednesday, despite market chatter that Washington may revoke sanctions on Rusal, the world’s second largest aluminum producer, and thus free up global aluminum supply.
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China imported 110,000 tonnes of aluminum scrap in June, representing a sharp decline of 41% on year, according to the latest data from the General Administration of Customs released on July 23. The June result took the total for the first half of this year to 840,000 tonnes, a drop of 22% from last year.
