China imported 6,600 mt (Co content) of cobalt raw materials in January 2021, down 28% on the month, but up 2% on the year, customs data showed. In February, imports stood at 6,400 mt (Co content), down 3% from January, but up 24% from a year ago. Imports totalled 12,900 mt (Co content) in the two months, up 12% from the same period last year. 

China produced 8,958 mt of tin ore and concentrate in December, up 24.3% on the month, but down 4.2% on the year, and output totalled 94,463 mt in 2020, up 10.4% from a year ago, data from National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed.

In January, the SMM copper concentrate index stood at $46.00/mt, an decrease of $2.74/mt from the previous month. As of January 29, the SMM copper concentrate index stood at $43.85/mt, a month-on-month decrease of $2.32/mt.

China imported 9,100 mt (Co content) of cobalt raw materials in December 2020, up 2% from November, but down 9% from a year ago, customs data showed. Imports totalled 90,000 mt (Co content) in 2020, basically the same as the previous year. 

South Africa has tightened its COVID-19 prevention measures imposing Level III lockdowns as the pandemic has worsened, triggering concerns about supply of cobalt raw materials.

China imported 1.83 million mt of copper ore and concentrate (hereinafter referred to as copper concentrate) in November 2020, a month-on-month increase of 8.3% and a year-on-year decrease of 15%, according to China Customs.

Overall supply of copper under long-term contracts for next year has declined compared with last year, and the proportion of orders adopting floating pricing has increased significantly.

China's refined nickel imports totalled 8,414 mt in October, down 37.65% on the month and 29.09% on the year. The import of unwrought unalloyed nickel with the Ni and Co total content over 99.99% and Co content less than 0.005% dropped 93 mt from September to 762 mt. The imports of other unwrought unalloyed nickel dropped 4,157 mt to 7,652 mt on the month, accounting for 90.94% of the total import. China's import of refined nickel from January to October cumulated 106,000 mt, down 37.98% on the year.

The stainless steel market remained stable with scarce transactions. The basic quotations of #304 cold rolled coils were between 12,900-13,400 yuan/mt. According to the survey from traders, due to the tight spot supply from Hongwang, some agents had suspended selling coils, and they are reserving the supply for later sale of plates.

China imported 75,113 mt of copper scrap in July, an increase of 9.26% from June but a decline of 41.1% from a year earlier. Year-to-date imports through July stood at 505,731 mt, down 47% on the year.