A brief summary on the other keynote addresses at Shanghai Metals Market's 2020 Nonferrous Metals Industry Chain Annual Conference, which was held in Suzhou on December 3-4.

The rebound in copper prices was attributable to the recovery of demand and supply trends in China since Q2, said Rio Tinto's Laure Baratgin.

Aluminium demand is expected to decrease by 5.4% in 2020 and rebound by 6% in 2021, said Miles Prosser, Secretary General of the International Aluminium Institute.

In order to achieve a sustainable future, mining giant BHP urges for greater transparency in the pricing mechanisms in the copper market.

SMM is the first non-ferrous metal pricing platform in China that has passed the independent audit of the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) financial index standard in 2020. This is also the first year that the China leading pricing provider has achieved the ISOCO standards.

Despite the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and the possible impact of de-globalization, the metals market is likely to face new challenges, especially in the scrap sector, according to commodities veteran Andy Homes.

Consumption in the automotive sector remains optimistic in 2021, but may see limited growth in the construction sector, said Man Xu, Senior Analyst, SMM.

The long-term metals demand, specifically copper may be greatly underestimated by the market, said Javier Targhetta, Senior Vice President Marketing & Sales of Freeport-McMoRan and President, Atlantic Copper.

At the 2020 Nonferrous Metals Industry Chain Annual Conference in Suzhou, Yettie Yi from SMM Consulting shared her insights on exploring the essence of pricing and optimizing procurement operations, and introduced the SMM price forecast and procurement strategy service

Spot copper was mostly offered at a discount of 10 yuan/mt to a premium of 40 yuan/mt over the SHFE 1805 contract on Monday May 7 in the Shanghai market