Only 40% Lead-Zinc Mines in Fujian in Production as Environmental Protection Overshadows, SMM Reports

Total zinc ingots inventories across seven major markets in China stood at 284,100 mt as of April 15, up 6,100 mt from April 8, down 3,700 mt from April 11.

Shanghai base metals mostly trended lower on Tuesday morning after US dollar rallied significantly. Meanwhile, their counterparts on LME performed similarly.

Shanghai nonferrous metals mostly closed in the positive territory as the market was cheered up by the macro front, as China released its December official manufacturing and non-manufacturing PMI readings, which topped market expectation.

SHFE and LME zinc prices once again hit new highs in two months, mainly owing to the continuously rising electricity and natural gas prices which rose by more than 20% amid intensifying energy shortages in the eurozone, according to SMM. Meanwhile, the costs of smelters also climbed due to low zinc concentrate TCs as a result of tight supply.

Lead prices have fluctuated greatly since Q3. After continuously experiencing sharp decrease in August and September, lead prices have just ushered in a turnaround in October, but trended lower in November. As of November 30, the most-traded SHFE lead contract closed at 15,340 yuan/mt, down 2.17%.

Market focus this week includes the readings of the manufacturing PMI in the Eurozone in November and the Markit manufacturing PMI in the United States in November; the one-year loan market interest rate as of November 22 in China. On the events front, the Federal Reserve FOMC will release the minutes of the monetary policy meeting this Thursday; Bank of England Governor Bailey will deliver a speech this Friday.

At the 2021 (11th) China Secondary Lead Battery Industry Summit and China Lead-acid Battery Scrap Recycling Industry Summit held by SMM, Lin Haibo, a professor at the School of Chemistry of Jilin University, gave an explanation on the research on externally applied lead-carbon batteries, and gave his forecast on its development prospects.

The most traded SHFE lead contract kept rising after hitting the lowest level since June 2020 at 14,055 yuan/mt on September 23. SHFE lead reached a nearly three-month high at 16,330 yuan/mt in the overnight trading on September 20. In the intraday trading on September 21, the most traded SHFE lead contract closed 1.5% higher at 15,945 yuan/mt, up 1,890 yuan/mt or 13.4% from September 23.

Shanghai base metals basically trended higher on Tuesday morning amid extended power rationing. Meanwhile, their counterparts on LME mostly fell.

A number of policies on environmental protection that have come out since the start of this year would see steel and coke production affected in north China.