This is a roundup of China's metals output in May 2021, from an exclusive survey of key producers by SMM analysts.

Rare earth prices weakened last week. Prices of praseodymium-neodymium products fell noticeably. Inquiries were brisk for terbium and dysprosium. Prices of didymium oxide and praseodymium-neodymium alloy are expected to remain at low levels this week, but price declines will slow. Praseodymium prices are expected to stabilise. Prices of terbium oxide and dysprosium oxide will strengthen, and prices of holmium, erbium and yttrium will trend lower.

China's rare earth oxide exports in April fell 16.12% month-on-month to 1,856.2 mt, an increase of 11.71% year-on-year, according to Customs data on May 20, 2021. Exports of unspecified rare earth oxide totalled 386.719 mt, accounting for 21%. Exports of single rare earth oxide totalled 1,469.481 mt, accounting for 79%.

Shanghai Futures Exchange announced on May 21 that the NIKKELVERK refined nickel (Ni content 99.8%) from Glencore was listed as a deliverable brand, which is called “Norwegian nickel plate”. In addition to the plate form, NIKKELVERK refined nickel is also bundled in barrels in cube form with side lengths at 25 mm, 50 mm and 100 mm.

Lead prices bottomed out after the settlement as bears sold out positions. Domestic lead concentrate supply remained tight, and the quotations were chaos, but the smelters did not reduce production significantly. The primary lead supply was sufficient.

According to the April 2021 edition of the IMF's Word Economic Outlook, the global economy is forecasted to expand at 6% in 2021, up from the 5.5% growth rate projected in January, due to the faster-than-expected recovery of advanced economies.

Bare bright copper supply was ample early last week as suppliers increased supply two weeks ago. Scrap users purchased aggressively. The big declines in copper prices at the end of the week bolstered speculations operations. Traders restocked in anticipation of price rebound.

The State Council of China established a task force to curb unreasonable price increases for commodities in a bid to prevent transmission to consumer prices. As such, SHFE copper prices fell for three consecutive days.

Operating rates across major aluminium processors increased 2.3 percentage points from a week ago to 77.1% last week. The overall growth was contributed by the significant increase in the extrusion segment.

The global new energy vehicle market is booming, and the growth rate will remain at around 25% in the next ten years, said Yettie Yi, SMM's head of New Energy division.