Latest Update in the China Copper Scrap Market

In response to the recent hot events in the real estate industry, many Chinese regulatory agencies have recently intensively spoken out on different occasions.

The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) will do its best to ensure the stability of the supply and prices of bulk commodities, Jiang Yi, deputy director of the NDRC’s System Reform Department, stated at the NDRC press conference held on October 21.

The purchase of the lead-acid battery scrap by the secondary lead smelters recovered slowly as they suffered losses for a long time in late September.

The copper rod plants using copper scrap as the raw material have reduced the output amid tight supply of scrap and production losses. The end-users consumption has been suppressed by the global energy crisis, power rationing and rising prices of natural gas in China, pushing down the operating rates of scrap users. The market demand for copper scrap as raw materials declined, which is beneficial to the improvement of supply-demand of copper scrap. The restocking of raw materials by the copper rod plants generally declined. Similarly, the copper alloy companies in Jiangsu and Zhejiang have lowered their operating rates or temporarily suspended production due to power rationing, which alleviated the shortage of brass copper scrap supply to some extent.

In China, the domestic aluminium scrap accounted for 89% of the total raw materials of secondary aluminium, meaning that the production of secondary aluminium has been more independent. China’s secondary aluminium production capacity has reached 14 million mt, accounting for about 30% of the global total secondary aluminium production. And it has become the world's largest producer of secondary aluminium.

From January to August, domestic industrial enterprises above designated size achieved a total profit of around 5.6 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 49.5% (calculated on a comparable basis), an increase of 42.9% compared to the same period 2019. The average increase in two years stands at 19.5%.

The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) and the National Energy Administration mentioned in a recently released official document that the innovative energy storage industry shall transform from early commercialization to scaled development by 2025, which will play a significant role in realising carbon peak and carbon neutrality.

Discounts of high-grade NPI against stainless steel scrap averaged at 122 yuan/mtu, which was slightly lower than the previous week, but the price per mtu remained cost-effective.