SHFE Tin Ends Up RMB 120/mt (Aug. 19, 2015)

[SMM Copper Import and Export Market] On August 13, SMM Chinese bonded warehouse copper cathode inventories stood at 35,200 mt, up 4,100 mt WoW. According to SMM, the increase in bonded warehouse inventories was mainly due to: 1. the recent opening of the export window, which created export arbitrage opportunities for some copper cathode and led to a concentration of cargoes in the bonded warehouse; 2. the earlier successive arrivals of cancelled warrants from LME Asian warehouses, which further lifted inventory levels.

According to the National Bureau of Statistics, national sulfuric acid (100% basis) output in June 2026 reached approximately 7.923 million tons (vs. 8.365 million in May, 8.948 million in April, and 9.637 million in March, showing a month‑on‑month decline). The year‑on‑year change for the month was about ‑10%. For the first half of the year (January–June), cumulative production totaled roughly 52.223 million tons, a year‑on‑year decrease of about ‑0.1% (down from +1.9% in the January–May period, mainly due to the sharp 10% drop in June). Production remains heavily concentrated in smelting and phosphate‑fertilizer provinces such as Yunnan, Inner Mongolia, Guangxi, Anhui, Henan, and Shandong—with Yunnan ranking first at about 1.24 million tons per month. Smelter acid (by‑product from copper/zinc processing) forms the supply backbone, while acid for phosphate fertilizer drives the bulk of demand.