China’s rare earth mining and smelting/separation quotas stood at 168,000 mt and 162,000 mt respectively in 2021, according to the Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT).

The average price of Ni 1.5% Philippine laterite nickel ore stood at $82/wmt last week, flat on the week.

This is a roundup of news in the steel industry for last week.

The profits of the mining and raw material manufacturing industry increased by 1.84-fold and 39.6% year-on-year, respectively, in August, which were well above the average level of industries above designated size, said Zhu Hong, a senior statistician at the Department of Industry of the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

SHFE nickel prices are expected to fluctuate between 141,000-148,000 yuan/mt, and LME nickel prices are expected to move between $18,800-19,600/mt this week.

The average price of SMM 8-12% high-grade NPI was 1,390 yuan/mtu (ex-factory including tax) as of August 20

SMM believes that the current increment of the tungsten ore mining quotas is the highest over the past three years.

In order to achieve a sustainable future, mining giant BHP urges for greater transparency in the pricing mechanisms in the copper market.

Stainless steel consumption has improved significantly month-on-month in July, but remained weaker than the same period last year. Inventories extended declines, suggesting robust sales in major markets, but remained higher compared to July 2019, according to the recent SMM survey.

Those metals cruised higher across the board in overnight trading. Zinc surged 1.7%, aluminium climbed 1.4%, lead advanced 0.7%, copper gained 0.3% and tin edged up 0.2%, while nickel failed to fully recover from opening losses and was down 0.3%.