SMM Forecast for China Silicon Metal Output in Q1 2023

Domestic output of didymium oxide in January 2023 stood at 5,622 mt, up 9.5% MoM. Output increased across Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Jiangxi, Jiangsu and Shandong to varying degrees.

China's magnesium powder output stood at 6,000 mt in January, down 2% MoM. YTD output through January totalled 6,000 mt.

SMM data showed that China’s industrial silicon output stood at 273,800 mt in January 2022, down 8.97% month-on-month, but up 10.44% year-on-year.

China produced 36,000 mt (Ni content) of NPI in January 2023, an increase of 2.47% month-on-month and 13.75% year-on-year. Affected by the Chinese New Year holidays in January, stainless steel mills carried out large-scale annual maintenance, so the demand for NPI was weak.

The 39 steel makers in China had planned to produce a total of 13.13 million mt of HRC in February,

mestic refined tin output in January was 11,990 mt, down 24.61% MoM and 11.77% YoY, and the combined output from January to December 2022 increased 0.42% YoY, according to SMM research. The actual output was slightly lower than expected.

Huayou Cobalt issued an announcement on investment that the company plans to jointly build Huashan Nickel-Cobalt with an annual output of 120,000 mt of Ni content and nickel-cobalt hydroxide hydrometallurgy project with Glaucous through its wholly-owned subsidiary Huatuo International Development Pte. Ltd.

LME lead opened at $2,056/mt and rose by 2.34% to $2,098/mt overnight, after hitting the lowest point of $2,042/mt and the highest point of $2,099.5/mt. During the Asian trading hours, affected by the SHFE lead, LME lead fluctuated between $2,050-2070/mt while in the European trading hours,  LME lead hit one-month low amid the increase of US dollar and then rose up due to the increase of SHFE lead. The most traded SHFE 2207 lead contract opened at 14,960 yuan/mt overnight and rose up to 15,195 yuan/mt as the lead ingot warrant inventories declined by 8,000 mt, and finally closed at 15,180 yuan/mt, up 1.71%. The open interest decreased by 5,454 lots from the previous trading day to 44,274 lots.

Technology analyst company CCS Insight said in its latest global market forecast report that 5G mobile technology users will exceed 1 billion in 2022.

Manganese ore import prices differed significantly in May. The monthly average price of Australia lump remained at 62 yuan/mtu, flat MoM.