Tsingshan’s stainless steel mill in south China’s Fujian province has just made another large purchase of high-grade nickel pig iron (NPI), bringing its cumulative procurement for this month to 100,000 mt which is estimated to secure its production until at least July.

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 base metals closed mixed on Wednesday, as the historic oil price plunge continued.

Spot nickel trades in east China’s Shanghai were brisk on Wednesday morning, as Shanghai nickel futures suffered a second straight day of steep losses amid a relentless plunge in oil prices.

SHFE nonferrous metals closed higher across the board on Friday, as fresh optimism over the coronavirus pandemic helped investors shrug off dismal economic data. Aluminium extended its rally, advancing 3.2% on the day to the biggest gainer, and registered its best week since August 2017. Nickel surged 2.7%, tin jumped 2.1%, copper climbed 1.9%, zinc rose 1.3%, and lead increased 0.5%.

SHFE nonferrous metals fell for the most part on Thursday morning, giving up gains from early this week, as record drops in the US retail sales and industrial production intensified investors fears about the damage caused by the coronavirus lockdowns. 

Copper added 1.5% on the day to lead the gains, tin rose 1.2%, zinc and lead climbed more than 0.9%, while aluminium dipped less than 0.1% and nickel fell 0.7%.

SHFE base metals drifted mostly higher in early morning trade on Friday, after OPEC and its allies, known as OPEC+, on Thursday agreed to historic production cuts that will take 10 million barrels per day offline. Tin jumped more than 3% at one point, tracking Thursday’s substantial gains in its LME counterpart.