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MMG Limited, the Hong Kong-listed arm of China Minmetals Corp, posted 8-14% year-on-year declines in its overseas reserves of all the major base and precious metals including copper, zinc, lead, molybdenum, silver and gold amid the steady mining operations or production cost rises, according to the company release on December 5.
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The total value of China’s exports to the United States for November still grew 8.2% on month, a much faster rate than the 4.7% month-on-month growth which China’s total exports worldwide enjoyed last month and despite the ongoing trade friction between the world’s top two economies, the latest statistics from China’s General Administration of Customs show.
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China’s imports of copper ore and concentrates in November rebounded by 130,000 tonnes or 8.3% from October to 1.7 million tonnes, to take total imports during January to November higher by 2.57 million tonnes or 16.4% on year to 18.25 million tonnes, according to the latest data from China’s General Administration of Customs released on Saturday.
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China’s aluminum smelters have been obliged to cut down on their production as all their margins have been squeezed with this nonferrous metal price being now below the production cost after the recent free fall while alumina price has been holding firm, market sources said on December 6.
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The most-traded copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange (SHFE), that for February delivery, lost another Yuan 440/tonne ($64/t) or 0.9% on day on December 6 to end the daytime session at Yuan 48,980/t and marking for the third consecutive daily decline. Market sources admitted that the bounce that Chinese copper prices had enjoyed recently thanks to improved trade environment couldn’t last long, given the weak fundamentals for the metal.
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Copper demand in China softened this year, mainly due to the easing of demand for fabricated products from the country’s electric power industry, market watchers said. Demand growth still exists in other consuming markets, however.
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Xinjiang Joinworld, a diversified aluminum conglomerate based in Northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, plans to build a 1 million tonnes/year alumina refinery in the West African country of Guinea, a company official confirmed on Tuesday.
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Rio Tinto has shipped the first vessel of bauxite from the Amrun project in Queensland, Australia recently, which was six weeks ahead of schedule, destined to its alumina refinery in Gladstone, also in Queensland, Australia.
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China’s Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) for the country’s manufacturing industry decreased another 0.2 basis point on month to 50 in November, right at the threshold still suggesting of an expansion, and it had been above 50 for 28 successive months, according to the latest release by China’s National Bureau of Statistics on November 30, but it was slightly below the market expectation at 50.2.
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The most-traded zinc January contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange lost Yuan 485/tonne ($69.8/t) or 2.4% on day to close the daytime session at Yuan 20,055/t as of November 27, posting the most substantial contraction among all the core base metals on SHFE following the declines on the London Metal Exchanges (LME) overnight and reflecting the feeble demand from Chinese galvanized steel mills.
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Market sources feel no surprise on the plunge of China’s copper scrap imports over January-October by 35.6% on year, and the decline in aluminum scrap imports by 27.5% on year, according to the latest statistics released by the General Administration of Customs on November 23.
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Aluminum Corporation of China Limited (Chalco), the Shanghai-listed arm of China Aluminum Group, has announced it is joining the bidding to buy the 50% stake which state-owned Baotou Transportation Investment Group is selling in its withdrawal from bauxite miner and alumina refiner, Shanxi Huaxing Aluminum Co, according to a Chalco announcement on November 21.
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Jiangxi Copper Company, a major Chinese copper smelter located in East China’s Jiangxi province, has settled 2019 treatment and refining charges (TC/RCs) for copper concentrates with London-based Antofagasta Plc at $80.8/t and 8.08 cents/lb respectively, with the TCs being down $1.45/t compared with the previous year, an official from Jiangxi Copper confirmed on November 21. Antofagasta has extensive copper interests in Chile.
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China’s production of alumina in October reversed down by 2.7% on month to 5.65 million tonnes, according to the latest data released by China’s National Bureau of Statistics. The October result took total output during the first ten months to 56.58 million tonnes, though this was still up 3.9% on year, Mysteel notes.
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China’s copper output in October declined by 3.7% on month to 736,000 tonnes, though the total was 3.8% higher on year, according to the latest data released by China’s National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). Over January-October, China produced a total of 7.4 million tonnes of copper, representing an increase of 10.6% on year, the data show.
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Domestic copper prices in China have declined recently, mainly due to softening downstream demand for copper products and high levels of cathode production, market sources said. Mysteel’s national average price for 99.8% copper cathode moved down by a large Yuan 1,972/tonne ($284.1/t) or 3.9% on month to Yuan 50,901/t including the 16% VAT as of November 14.
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China’s production of primary aluminium rose by a healthy 6.8% on year to reach 2.72 million tonnes in October, according to the latest data released by the National Bureau of Statistics on November 14, with the October result taking total primary aluminum output during this year’s first ten months to 27.7 million tonnes, representing an increase of 4.4% on year.
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China’s fixed asset investment (excluding rural households) increased by 5.7% on year to Yuan 54.76 trillion ($7.9 trillion) during the January-October period, according to the latest data from China’s National Bureau of Statistics released on November 14. The yearly FAI growth was up by another 0.3 percentage point from that during the first nine months.
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East China’s Shandong province, the largest production base for primary aluminum in China, has announced a plan to restructure the province’s huge aluminum sector over the coming seven years which, if realised, will have a profound impact on China’s processing and fabrication sector.
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Of the 3,600 enterprises expected at China’s first-ever event organized to boost the country’s imports of goods and services – the China International Import Expo (CIIE) currently underway in Shanghai – are numerous foreign mining enterprises across the ferrous, nonferrous and energy industries, many of which have evidently already achieved their goal of furthering cooperation with China.
