China produced 848,500 mt of copper cathode in March, up 8.42% MoM and down 5.79% YoY, according to SMM statistics.

SMM data showed that China’s alumina output was 6.20 million mt in September, including 5.99 million mt of metallurgical grade alumina. The daily average output of metallurgical grade alumina was 199,500 mt, up 0.46% on the month and 5.05% on the year.

Domestic zinc output stood at 508900 mt in August 2021, down 1.22% or 6300 mt on the month and 0.04% on the year, according to SMM. Cumulative output in January-August totalled 4.042 million mt, a year-on-year increase of 4.47%. Alloy output at domestic zinc smelters in SMM’s survey sample was 75,500 mt in August, up 80 mt on the month.

The Group for Air Pollution Prevention and Control in Handan City, Hebei, issued a plan on September 1 for limiting production in key industries from September 1 to October 31, which further strengthened the production restrictions.

China’s polysilicon output hit a new high at 43,100 mt in August, up 3.9% on the month and 62% on the year.

SMM data showed that China’s copper cathode output stood at 819,400 mt in August, down 1.3% month on month, but up 1.1% year on year.

Lead prices bottomed out after the settlement as bears sold out positions. Domestic lead concentrate supply remained tight, and the quotations were chaos, but the smelters did not reduce production significantly. The primary lead supply was sufficient.

The State Council of China established a task force to curb unreasonable price increases for commodities in a bid to prevent transmission to consumer prices. As such, SHFE copper prices fell for three consecutive days.

US CPI far exceeded market expectations, triggering market concerns that the US will tighten liquidity ahead of schedule. As a result, the US dollar index stopped falling and rebounded. The decline in the US dollar index is likely to be limited, weighing on copper prices in the short term. Informal financing in China fell short of expectations in April

The most-traded SHFE aluminium contract opened at 19,800 yuan/mt last week and closed at 19,315 yuan/mt, down 540 yuan/mt or 2.72%. Longs reduced positions by 92,000 lots to 179,000 lots. LME aluminium dropped 3.79% last week. The outlook for market liquidity is not as optimistic as earlier. The Fed has maintained its stance over monetary easing policy. However, the increase in US PPI in April was higher than expected, triggering market concerns of inflation. Commodity prices fell last Friday after the State Council sent a signal that it would effectively respond to the overheating in commodity prices.