It was rumoured that Xinzhou city would halt explosives supply from January 15 on environmental concerns for the 14th Five-Year Conference.

On December 31, 2020, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, the National Development and Reform Commission, the General Administration of Customs, the Ministry of Commerce, and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology jointly issued the "Announcement on Regulating the Import Management of Secondary Steel Materials" , which has taken effect from January 1, 2021.

China’s copper cathode output increased month on month in October, as there was basically no maintenance at smelters and as large-scale smelters maintained high production in Q4. Although domestic copper scrap was in short supply in October, smelters kept relatively ample stocks of blister copper. Furthermore, as the new secondary copper policy took effect from November 1, concerns over copper scrap supply were eased.

The US Department of Commerce announced Tuesday that it has self-initiated an inquiry to determine if imports of stainless steel sheet and strip from Vietnam are circumventing existing US antidumping and countervailing duties on these products from China.

This is a roundup of China's base metals output in April 2020, from an exclusive survey of key producers by SMM analysts.

A total of 86 vessels carrying 12.84 million mt of iron ore arrived at major Chinese ports during April 26-May 2, SMM estimates. This was up 1.63 million mt from the prior week, but down 990,000 mt from the same period last year.

The iron ore market may continue to face supply pressure in the medium-to-long term. Mining company BHP said on Tuesday that it plans to expand its iron ore export capacity from Australia's Port Hedland shipping hub, by as much as 14% to 330 million mt/year. Its forecast shipments for 2020 stand at 273-286 million mt. 

While prices of the material will continue to see some upsides potential in April, the pessimistic outlook for downstream demand at home and abroad under the cloud of the coronavirus will depress upward momentum of battery-grade nickel sulphate prices in the month ahead.

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.