How Strictest-Ever Environmental Protection Laws Impact China Metals Market? SMM Interviews

Published: Mar 06, 2015 10:52 (GMT+8)

Save

How the latest environmental protection drive will impact China’s ferrous and non-ferrous market?

SHANGHAI, Mar. 6 (SMM) – Environmental protection issue has been a hot topic in recent days in China. The implementation of new strictest-ever environmental protection laws has begun to affect polluting enterprises in some regions.

How the latest environmental protection drive will impact China’s ferrous and non-ferrous market?

LME nickel rebounded following the news of closures at NPI producers in Shandong Province, China.

“The rally in nickel market will not be sustainable, and current supply remains sufficient,” SMM’s nickel analyst said.

"The impact on copper market will be small, as major copper smelters meet environmental protection standards," an analyst from Galaxy Futures told SMM in the interview.

The ferrous metals market will suffer the biggest impact from the environmental protection campaign.

Among the 45 closed producers in Linyi, steel companies composed of the larger part.

"The closures will reduce steel supply, and this will support steel prices, but the raw material market will also be affected by the new rule, which will undermine the support on steel prices," another analyst from Galaxy Futures said.

The enforcement of environmental protection measures will also affect its results of environmental protection campaign, interviewed analysts added.

The article is edited by SMM and is provided for information purpose only. SMM assumes no liability and does not warrant the accuracy, reliability or completeness of information contained or quoted in the article, either express or implied. SMM further disclaims any liability for losses in connection with the information contained or quoted in the article.

For news cooperation, please contact us by email: sallyzhang@smm.cn or service.en@smm.cn.

China environmental drive China metals prices SMM interview

Data Source Statement: Except for publicly available information, all other data are processed by SMM based on publicly available information, market communication, and relying on SMM's internal database model. They are for reference only and do not constitute decision-making recommendations.

For any inquiries or for more information, please contact: lemonzhao@smm.cn

For more information on how to access our research reports, please contact:service.en@smm.cn

Related News

Sep 25, 2026 14:32 (GMT+8)

【Flash | InP-Integrated AI Optical Engines Enter Volume Shipments】

NewPhotonics and Tower Semiconductor announced high-volume shipments of laser-integrated optical engines for AI infrastructure. The 800G and 1.6T PICs use Tower’s PH18DA silicon-photonics platform with heterogeneously integrated InP components, enabling lasers, SOAs, modulators and photodetectors on one chip. Volume shipments of 6.4T NPO chipsets are planned for H1 2027. SMM believes this signals that AI optical-interconnect demand is translating into InP device demand, supporting high-purity indium consumption. However, shipment volumes and InP intensity were not disclosed, so the near-term indium uplift cannot yet be quantified.

Sep 25, 2026 14:32 (GMT+8)

Sep 25, 2026 09:58 (GMT+8)

Blue Moon to acquire Turner copper-gold-zinc VMS deposit with historical zinc resource

Blue Moon Metals announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire 100% of the Turner copper-gold VMS deposit in Oregon from Gold Coast Mining. Consideration comprises US$4.7 million in cash, 4,778,761 Blue Moon shares valued at about US$27 million based on the 20-day VWAP, and up to US$7 million in milestones tied to underground exploration/development permitting, mining permits and commercial production. Closing is expected in November 2026, subject to TSX Venture Exchange approval and customary conditions. Turner is a past-producing Cyprus-type VMS deposit containing copper, gold, zinc, silver and cobalt. Its 2010 historical estimate reported 2.447 million short tons of Indicated material grading 2.65% zinc and 2.084 million short tons of Inferred material grading 2.78% zinc. The company expects permitting for exploration drilling and underground development to take 12–18 months.

Sep 25, 2026 09:58 (GMT+8)

Sep 24, 2026 17:22 (GMT+8)

End-use demand underperforms, zinc oxide operating rates edge down [SMM Zinc Oxide Weekly Review]

[Poor end-use demand performance, zinc oxide operating rate edges down] From the perspective of end-use demand performance, in the rubber-grade zinc oxide sector, tire enterprise orders are generally weak, and purchases of zinc oxide remain just-in-time; orders in the desulfurization field perform poorly, with demand remaining sluggish...

Sep 24, 2026 17:22 (GMT+8)