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.

Resumption of production in Yunnan and Sichuan accounted for the rally in April’s operating rates. Silicon plants in Nujiang of Yunnan and Ngawa and Leshan of Sichuan reopened part of their capacity ahead of the arrival of rainy session, and this offset some capacity curtailment in Xinjiang and Chongqing due to losses and tight ore supply. 

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.

Last month, the capacity in operation reduced in Xinjiang, Sichuan and Shaanxi. Continued raw materials shortage kept major silicon plants in Xinjiang from resuming the capacity that has been shut down since February. Meanwhile, falling silicon prices prompted some medium-scale producers to cut output or undergo maintenance in the second half of March. 

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.

Overall inventories of silicon metal remained in a downward trend as of February 28, but inventory at ports increased as the resumption of motor traffic in south China accelerated the shipments of...

The volume of silicon deliveries from warehouses at ports rebounded this week as export trades picked up

The rate rose 1.7 percentage points from Sep to 46.9%, with production at 243,000 mt