Inventories of aluminium billet in China fell for the seventh consecutive week as of April 23 as consumption was brisk in Guangdong and Shanghai.

Inventories of aluminium billet in China fell for the sixth consecutive week as of April 16 as arrivals remained limited. 

China’s copper cathode output in March increased even as secondary copper production continued to contract due to the unfavourable price spread between copper cathode and copper scrap, in addition to copper scrap supply issues. The global outbreak of COVID-19 took a toll on copper scrap supply from Malaysia.

Social inventories of lead ingots in China continued to trend downsides this week, but the decline slowed down from a week ago due to rising supplies of secondary lead.

SHFE nonferrous metals, except for tin and nickel, traded lower on Monday, giving up the rebound from last Friday as investors remained cautious about the economic toll of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Zinc inventories in China continued to fall over the weekend, propelled by declines in east and north China where downstream consumers were keen to make purchases. SMM data showed that social inventories of refined zinc ingots across Shanghai, Tianjin, Guangdong, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Shandong and Hebei stood at 304,000 mt as of Monday March 30, down 3,000 mt from Friday March 27 and 20,000 mt from Monday March 23.

Inventories of steel rebar across Chinese steelmakers and social warehouses fell for the second consecutive week as of March 26 on the back of improved downstream purchases. However, the overall inventories remained significantly higher than the same period after the Chinese New Year holiday last year, which threatens some downside risk in spot rebar prices. SMM expects the overall inventories to return to levels of the previous year only around mid-May.

London and Shanghai base metals cruised broadly higher in early morning trade on Friday, as a series of stimulus steps around the world, including a gigantic US package, calmed a panic over a global recession following the coronavirus outbreak.

Inventories of aluminium billet in China fell for the third consecutive week as of March 26, due to stable deliveries and reduced arrivals.

Social inventories of long steel (including wire rods and rebar) in Guangzhou fell 4.24% in the week ended March 25 to 2.3 million mt, 25.49% higher than the same period after the Lunar New Year holiday last year, showed SMM data.