Output of zinc smelters drops in December

China’s lithium carbonate output was 18,609 mt in February, a month-on-month decrease of 2% but a year-on-year increase of 51%.

According to SMM survey, the operating rates of magnesium powder plants were suppressed under the impact of Beijing Winter Olympics. Some plants in Tianjin and Shanxi cut the production, and the overall output declined by 30%.

Shanghai base metals mostly closed with gains on Thursday night. LME metals performed similarly on Thursday.

In the SHFE market, the downstream users gradually took holidays last week for the CNY. At the same time, the downstream purchases weakened significantly as the zinc prices rose above 25,000 yuan/mt, and the restocking for the CNY was about to end.

SMM data shows that domestic polysilicon output stood at 42,800 mt in November, an increase of 5.9% month on month and 20.2% year on year.

Shanghai nonferrous metals closed with mixed performance as the hawkish rhetoric from US Federal Reserve Chair Powell supressed the market, while the November Caixin PMI in China was relatively positive than before.

Shanghai base metals basically trended lower on Monday morning amid risk aversion sentiments after the discovery of a super strong variant of COVID-19 was discover last Friday. Meanwhile, their counterparts on LME all cruised higher.

In October 2021, global crude steel output in the 64 countries and regions included in the WSA statistics totalled 145.7 million mt, down 10.6% compared to October 2020. 1,607 million mt of crude steel were produced globally in the January-October, up 5.9% year-on-year.

Shanghai nonferrous metals closed with mixed performance. Zinc surged amid supply fears after Glencore said that it is shutting down some zinc production capacity in Europe due to high energy prices, and the steeply rising ferrous products also boosted the SHFE board.

The focus of this week includes the September seasonally adjusted trade account in the Eurozone; the November New York Federal Reserve manufacturing index; the October unemployment claims and unemployment rate in the United Kingdom; the Eurozone’s Q3 GDP annual rate readings and seasonally adjusted quarterly rate of employment; US retail sales monthly rate in October.