MIIT: 84.1% of car production bases in China have resumed work

Li Keqiang presided over an executive meeting of the State Council, demanding that cross-cycle adjustments should be carried out in an orderly manner to ensure the smooth running of the economy.

The "2020 (10th) Tin Industry Chain Summit”—held by SMM and exclusively named by Gejiu Qiandao Metal—took place during October 20-30. During the summit, SMM interviewed Zhang huanqun, general manager of Gejiu Qiandao Metal, to discuss topics about upstream sectors of tin.

China’s sales of new energy passenger cars increased 25% month on month to 83,000 units in June, according to data from the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA) released on Thursday. 

Prices of Chinese cobalt products may slow their downside trend in the short term as uncertainties around raw materials imports remain even as top supplier South Africa has eased coronavirus lockdown measures to level 4 which allowed freight transport to resume. 

Copper scrap supply in China is estimated to have shrunk nearly 200,000 mt in the first three months of 2020, as escalated virus-control measures disrupted global trade flows and as Chinese suppliers held back on sales following a slump in copper prices. A total of 225,083 mt of copper scrap was imported to China in January-to-March, down close to 140,000 mt, or more than 38% from the same period last year, according to data from China customs. SMM estimates that those copper scrap imports, with average Cu content of 78.49%, contained 176,676 mt of copper, down more than 37% from the quarter ended March 2019.

Prices of ternary materials and precursors in China will see further downside risk before May as inventories continued to pile up, driven by slowed or delayed purchases by downstream producers of power batteries amid falling orders. 

China's ternary precursor market will likely face continued headwinds of falling export orders for digital batteries and delays in recovery of new energy vehicle demand, as the global spread of the coronavirus has yet to show signs of slowing. This is expected to expand the downside room in ternary precursor prices this week. 

Hubei previously said March 11 was the earliest businesses in the province could resume work. Authorities Wednesday issued a notice that laid out industry categories that could or could not resume operations based on the level of health risk in the region.

Guangzhou will offer subsidies for car purchases, in a bid to revive auto sales, which have been hit by the fallout from the COVID-19 epidemic outbreak.

Operating rates across electrical arc furnace (EAF) steelmakers in China remained capped by substantial losses as of March 3, but the rates were slightly higher than February when nearly all EAF...