Operations at Chinese manufacturers of flat-rolled copper products slowed in April, as backlogged orders had been fulfilled and as the COVID-19 lockdown restrictions dealt a blow to the demand that have already been weak.

Crude steel output across major mills in China averaged 2.05 million mt per day in the first 10 days of May.

While production expands, inventory pressure at steel plants continued to reduce on the back of growing consumption, and this may provide upward momentum in near-term steel prices. 

Inventories of hot-rolled coils of steel sheets used to produce home appliances and cars in China fell for an eighth straight week this week, as demand remained robust. SMM data showed that HRC stocks across social warehouses and steelmakers decreased 2.31% in the week ended May 7 to 4.45 million mt. That was smaller than a 4.6% fall in the previous week due to the Labour Day holiday and improved arrivals.

Guangxi Tianyuan New Energy Material has put its 10,000 mt/year lithium carbonate production line into operation, SMM learned.

Southwest China’s Sichuan province lowered electricity tariffs to the normal season mode on Saturday. There were barely any silicon producers in the region stepping up production, SMM research found, due to weak silicon prices and limited power supply caused by continued drought.

The US will continue to levy countervailing duties on carbon and certain alloy steel wire rod from China, according to the final determination on the first five-year sunset review on the CVD order by the Department of Commerce released on March 30.

JFE, Japan’s second biggest steelmaker, said on Friday that it will close a blast furnace and other facilities at the East Japan Works (Keihin) to optimise its domestic operations. Those facilities are expected to be shut down by FY2023 (ending March 2024), bringing the company’s operating blast furnaces in Japan to seven and reducing its crude steel capacity by around 4 million mt or 13%.

Malaysia has launched an antidumping investigation into flat-rolled products of non-alloy steel plated or coated with aluminum and zinc originating in or imported from China, South Korea and Vietnam.

It is understood that about 60,000 mt of seaborne steel billet will enter China as steel prices in the international market kept declining amid the coronavirus impact. While this grew investors’ concerns that greater inflows of cheap materials could threaten domestic spot prices, the latest SMM survey suggests that the impact will be limited.