China weekly inventory summary and data wrap (Jun 11)

SHANGHAI, Jun 11 (SMM) – This is a roundup of China's metals weekly inventory as of June 11.

Shanghai bonded copper stocks rose 6,800 mt on week

Stocks of copper in Shanghai bonded areas increased on larger arrivals.

SMM data showed that the stocks rose 6,800 mt from the prior week to 419,000 mt as of Friday June 11.

Terms of trade has not been opened up to now. The spot import losses in the week mostly stood at around 500 yuan/mt, which was difficult to stimulate the import demand for customs declaration. The market trading was extremely weak due to the holiday. Some traders took unsold inbound goods into bonded warehouses, so stocks of bonded areas showed a month-on-month increase. The long-term closure of terms of trade also reduced the pressure on the supply of domestic imported goods, which was conducive to the further decreasing of domestic social stocks.

Primary aluminium inventories: Down 35,000 mt to 919,000 mt

SMM data showed that China's social inventories of aluminium across eight consumption areas fell 35,000 mt from the previous week to 919,000 mt as of June 10. The stocks kept falling in Nanhai, Shanghai, Wuxi, Gongyi, and Chongqing.

Lead ingot social inventory hit a new high at 125,600 mt

Social inventories of lead ingots across Shanghai, Guangdong, Zhejiang, Jiangsu and Tianjin increased 14,900 mt from the prior week and rose 7,100 mt from June 7 to 125,600 mt as of Friday June 11, hitting a record high since May 2015, an SMM survey showed.

Primary lead supply increased steadily as some smelters finished maintenance. Lead prices bottomed out, and the price spread expanded to about 200 yuan/mt. Spot holders are more willing to deliver goods to social warehouses as the settlement day is only 4 days away. Lead prices stood between 15,000 yuan/mt, and some downstream users made purchase at lower prices, but social inventories continued to increase.

Some large plants will maintain normal production during the Dragon Boat Festival, while most plants will have holidays for 1-3 days. Downstream plants are not likely to restock lead ingot immediately after the holiday. June 15 is the settlement day of SHFE 2106 contract, and more lead ingots may arrive at social warehouses during the holiday.

Zinc social inventories shrank 16,100 mt on week

Zinc inventories in China fell this week.

SMM data showed that social inventories of refined zinc ingots across Shanghai, Tianjin, Guangdong, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Shandong and Hebei decreased 16,100 mt in the week ended June 11 to 136,100 mt. The stocks fell 6,600 mt from Monday June 7.

Stocks in Shanghai decreased slightly as arrivals of import zinc increased and the downstream still had stockpiling demand before the holiday. In south China's Guangdong, the proportion of direct delivery to the downstream of smelters decreased, while the delivery of goods from warehouses in the downstream increased, which led to the continuous decrease in stocks. Stocks in Tianjin fell as zinc prices fell sharply yesterday, and the downstream purchases at low prices increased.

Stocks across the three major trading hubs (Shanghai, Tianjin and Guangdong) fell 15,800 mt this week, after a 2,600 mt decrease last week.

Shanghai bonded refined nickel stocks remained unchanged on week

Inventories of refined nickel in the Shanghai bonded areas remained unchanged from a week ago and stood at 9,700 mt as of June 11, showed SMM data.

The tradable goods in the bonded area were limited, and the import window changed little compared with last week, so there are few spot offers and few transactions. This accounted for the stable situation in the nickel bonded stocks this week.

For more inventories and operating rates:

Silicon metal social inventory hit a new low at 25,000 mt

China HRC inventory rose 97,900 mt on week

China steel rebar inventory up 0.5% on week amid decreasing apparent demand

Operating rates of blast furnaces across Chinese steelmakers rose 1.2 percentage points on week