On the Fourth Batch of Government Stockpiles of Copper, Zinc and Aluminium

On the one hand, Teck Resources has signed an annual zinc concentrate contract with a 45% increase in TCs to $230/dmt. An escalation clause was included: if the prices of zinc exceed $3,800/mt, TCs will rise by $0.05/mt for every $1/mt increase in the prices of LME zinc, but if the zinc prices fall, TCs will remain unchanged (the same as the 20%/80% price sharing scheme in China).

Last week, the US Fed announced that it may begin to shrink the balance sheet at the next meeting in May. The pace will be accelerated to a monthly reduction of $95 billion.

Total zinc ingots inventories across seven major markets in China stood at 278,000 mt as of April 8, up 5,200 mt from April 1, down 300 mt from March 6. Domestic inventories increased.

The public bidding of zinc ingots by the National Food and Strategic Reserves Administration commenced at 9:00 today.

Mainstream bidding price for #0 zinc stood at 21,500-21,800 yuan/mt, up 200 yuan/mt from the second batch and up 400-600 yuan/mt from the first batch.

Traders continued to lower offers in China’s spot zinc market on Thursday May 10 as supply of imported zinc increased, SMM learned.

In China's spot zinc market on Wednesday May 9, smelters continued to lower offers after thinner transactions from the previous day

Aluminium spot trading across east and south China was brisk on the morning of Friday May 4 as downstream consumers stockpiled for the upcoming weekend, SMM learned.

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