Latest news on China steel and other commodity markets

Monthly: China's Sept air-con copper consumption analysis

1. Sample description Mysteel surveyed samples of air conditioner companies of major Chinese brands, accounting for about 80% of China's total air conditioner production capacity, and their output accounted for 78-85% of China's total. Copper consumption data is based on measuring the consumption of

Mysteel Monthly: Aug China copper consumption in air conditioner was 97.6kt

Mysteel investigated August China copper consumption of main air conditioner brands, The sample accounts for 80% of total capacity and 78-85% of domestic output. Copper consumption is estimated through intensity of different specifications of air conditioners and calculated through a model whose val

Mysteel Monthly: Aug China copper tube production 116kt, -3.3% MoM

According to Mysteel survey, August China copper tube/pipe production was 116kt and utilization rate was 53.77%, -3.33% MoM. Decline was driven by weak end users' demand. Some producers chose to reduce price to strive for orders.   Big tube/pipe producers' utilization rate was 62.42% in August, whic

Mysteel Monthly: Copper plate/strip, copper tube, copper bar Aug production all fell MoM

August China copper plate/strip production was 225.5 kt, -3.3% MoM and +5.0% YoY. Jan-Aug production was 1,732.9 kt, +3.9% YoY. August copper plate/strip utilization rate was 74.0%.   August China copper tube production was 115.7 kt, -5.9% MoM and -3.8% YoY. Jan-Aug production was 1,001.8 kt, -5.3%

Mysteel Monthly: Copper tube demand declined

Copper tube price fell to the bottom in Jul and recovered in Aug. in Zhejiang market, mainstream brand copper tube price was Yuan 67,600/t on 31 Aug, +Yuan 1,300/t (+1.92%) compared with early Aug. Price rise in short term can stimulate end-users' wiliness to restock. However, end-users demand decli

China's metal smelters' profits slip 11.9% over Jan-Feb

Chinese non-ferrous metal smelters posted profits totaling Yuan 17.8 billion ($2.8 billion) over January and February, down 11.9% on year, according to the latest statistics released by China's National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on March 27.

Japan's Kobe Steel CEO to resign over data scandal

Hiroya Kawasaki, CEO of Japan's third largest steelmaker Kobe Steel, will announce his resignation on March 6 in connection with the data fabrication scandal which rocked the company over the past few months, the Japanese media widely reported on Tuesday morning.

Hailiang to build 30,000 t/y Cu tube plant in Chongqing

Zhejiang Hailiang Co., a top copper fabricator in Shaoxing city, East China's Zhejiang province, will build a 300,000 tonnes/year copper tube plant in Southwest China's Chongqing Municipality, a company official confirmed on January 31.

Copper to stay strong in 2018 in China: market sources

China's copper market is expected to remain strong, continuing with the rebound in 2017 amid the strong demand and miners' adjustment of their operations according to market conditions, according to Chinese market sources.

SHFE Cu ends 2017 with a 2-month high

SHFE copper price ended the year of 2017 on a high note with its most-traded February copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange (SHFE) hitting a two-month high on December 29, closing at Yuan 55,420/tonne ($8,520/t), partly due to the market concern on copper supply with the recent speculated