Data: China's lead import, export in Feb

The Three-month LME nickel opened at $24,405/mt on Tuesday and gained 2.29% to close at $25,055/mt. While the most traded SHFE nickel contract opened at 180,000 yuan/mt, with an intraday increase of merely 0.87%. If US actually imposes sanctions on Russia, the NORNICKAL nickel plate that were previously exported to US may flow into China.

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.

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%.

Imports of cobalt intermediate products were 5,166 mt in metal content in October (calculated at 27% grade), down 30% MoM.

According to customs data, China’s ferromolybdenum and molybdenum oxide exports in October 2021 were 3,178 mt, an increase of 8.35% from September.

Ferro-silico-manganese imports stood at 8,356 mt in October, up 483.52% MoM and 457.07% YoY; the exports registered 7,129.7 mt, up 11.47% MoM and 105.64% YoY. Its exports total 93,090.53 mt from January to October, and the imports stood at 21,799 mt.

Alumina exports totalled 102,400 mt in January-September 2021. The accumulative imports stood at 2.69 million mt in January-September, down 9.42% on the year. The net imports stood at 2.59 million mt in January-September

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.