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.

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.

SHFE nonferrous metals rose across the board on Friday, as market sentiment was rallied after China’s Ministry of Finance pledged to make an early allocation of the special-purpose bond quotas for transportation infrastructure construction. 

Crude oil prices jumped on Thursday, following their biggest-ever quarterly losses, as US President Donald Trump said he expected Saudi Arabia and Russia to reach a deal soon to end their oil price war.

The impact from the coronavirus pandemic on China’s aluminium exports is mounting as greater part of the world comes under lockdown to stop the spread of the virus. On Wednesday, Vietnam, a major buyer of Chinese aluminium, entered into a 15-day period of nationwide isolation. Residents are required to stay at home and can only go outside for “essential needs,” such as food, medicines, urgent medical services or to go to work at companies permitted by the government to remain open.

Shanghai base metals opened mostly higher on Wednesday morning, as Beijing said that it will roll out a set of fiscal and financial policies to expand domestic demand, assist businesses reopening, sustain employment, and help all types of businesses to weather this difficult time.

SMM data showed that stocks across eight consumption areas in China, including SHFE warrants, decreased 3,000 mt from last Thursday March 26 to 1.664 million mt as of Monday 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%.

According to a statement by Jiangsu’s ecology and environment department released on February 27, the project, located in Jianhu Shanggang Industrial Park, will be developed in two stages.