Chinese National Bureau of Grains and Material Reserves announced its plans to invest in national reserves of copper, aluminium and zinc to ensure supply and price stability of bulk commodities in the domestic market. State Bureau of Grain and Material Reserves has so far released a total of 270,000mt of copper, aluminium, and zinc in two batches on July 5 and 29.a
At present, copper, aluminium and zinc prices continue to remain high in China due to which the production and operations at some downstream small and medium-sized enterprises are challenged, local media reports stated citing an official from the National Bureau.
The average price of aluminium in the domestic spot market was CNY17,421/mt($2,681.64/mt) in H1 2021, up by 31.6pc from the prior-year period, according to data released by China Non-Ferrous Association.
Spurred by the further expansion of power rationing in the Southern Power Grid, aluminium prices rebound in late July to highs seen in May, stated the association. The average aluminium price in the domestic spot market reached CNY19,702/mt($3,032.80/mt) in mid-May and in late June it adjusted back to CNY18,735/mt($2,884.11/mt), a drop of CNY967/mt or a decrease of 4.9pc from mid-May.
($1=CNY6.49)