Latest Update in the China Lithium-ion Battery Market

A weekly update on the trending stories from the Copper Industry.

The following table shows the ferrous and nonferrous metals movement on the SHFE and DCE on July 27, 2021

The General Administration of Customs released detailed data on China's rare earth imports and exports in June. China's imports of unlisted rare earth oxide in June increased by 64.9% year on year to 2,635.271 mt, down 12% from the previous month; imports in January-June were 14,626.32 mt, up 36.1% on the year.

Henan is still under the disastrous impact of the floods, and typhoon “In-Fa” has swept many regions in China, including Shaoxing, Zhoushan, Hangzhou, Ningbo, Shanghai, and Suzhou. Metal industry, as well as a wide range of other industries across the country, have been affected by the typhoon. SMM has investigated and analysed the impact on the metal industries.

According to data tracked by SMM, 80 ships arrived at domestic main ports from July 18-24. Arrivals of cargoes are estimated to stand at 11.98 million mt, down 650,000 mt from the previous week, and a decrease of 2.98 million mt from the same period last year.

In 1H 2021, the China economy experienced steady and enhanced growth and was on a positive development trajectory. Industrial production demand further recovered with improved business operations, leading to stable profits and rapid growth.

On July 21, the State Bureau of Grain and Material Reserves decided to start the bidding of the second batch of national reserves of zinc, putting 50,000 mt of zinc ingots for public tender, a significant increase compared to the first batch of 30,000 mt.

According to National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), in May, the national crude steel production was 99.45 million mt, up 6.6% year on year, and the growth rate increased by 2.4 percentage points; steel production increased by 7.9%, an increase of 1.7 percentage points. Coke production increased by 0.3%, which declined 3.2% in the same period last year. Ferroalloy production increased by 10.6%, which declined 3.5% in the same period last year. Steel exports were 5.27 million mt (according the customs), down 2.7 million mt than the previous month; imports were 1.21 million mt, an increase of 40,000 tons over the previous month.