[SMM lead data on May 19th]

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

China’s lithium carbonate output was 18,609 mt in February, a month-on-month decrease of 2% but a year-on-year increase of 51%.

Li Xinchuang, secretary of the party committee of the Metallurgical Industry Planning Research Institute and vice president of the China Iron and Steel Industry Association, said that from the recent response from industry participants, the crude steel production regulation policy is likely to continue in 2022.

In terms of SHFE zinc prices, the market should be concerned about zinc concentrate, which is still short of supply.

According to SMM survey, the operating rates of magnesium powder plants were suppressed under the impact of Beijing Winter Olympics. Some plants in Tianjin and Shanxi cut the production, and the overall output declined by 30%.

The nickel prices rose steadily last week. Before the Chinese New Year (CNY) holiday, the continuous falling nickel inventory in China and overseas pushed up the nickel prices sharply.

On the supply side, after three consecutive rounds of coke price hikes in January, the profits of coking enterprises have increased significantly, heightening the enthusiasm for production.

Intraday carbonate lithium prices recorded high ahead of the Chinese New Year holiday. The supply side was affected by the shutdown and maintenance of the upstream lithium salt manufacturers and the production reduction of the brine lake.

Nickel sulphate spot supplies have been tight currently as the production was cut on operating losses previously, according to SMM.

The SHFE nickel continued to rise strongly last week, as the LME and SHFE inventories both dropped to extremely low levels and are expected to keep falling.