China Unwrought Cobalt Imports Ballooned in January 2023

SHANGHAI, Jun 2 (SMM) – According to customs data, China exported 45,000 mt of silicon metal in April, a month-on-month decrease of 7% and year-on-year decrease of 18%.

The inventory of domestic zinc ingots continues to decline, while there have been large volumes of deliveries to LME warehouses. SHFE zinc is likely to continue to outperform LME zinc.

SHANGHAI, May 16 (SMM) – Customs data showed that China exported 2,940 mt of SiMn alloy in March, an increase of 21.63% month-on-month, but down 77.77% year-on-year.

China imported 129,000 mt of hydrometallurgical intermediate nickel products in March, an increase of 13% MoM, which is equivalent to 24,600 mt in Ni content, up 10% MoM. From January to March, a total of 318,900 mt of intermediate products were imported, which is equivalent to about 24,600 mt in Ni content (SMM data is calculated based on wet metric tonne, and the figure may be lower than the actual reading considering the import declaration differences).

According to the General Administration of Customs, China imported 2.11 million mt of manganese ore in March, a month-on-month decrease of 22% and a year-on-year decrease of 4%.

SHANGHAI, May 16 (SMM) – According to customs data, China imported 385 million mt of iron ore in the first four months of this year, an increase of 8.6% YoY. The import volume in April was 90.44 million mt, down 9.8% MoM.

SHANGHAI, May 16 (SMM) -In April, 2.67 million wmt of nickel ore arrived at Chinese ports, up 42.36% MoM, while 2.36 million wmt of nickel ore departed from the Philippines, also up 52.3% MoM.

Market concerns over an overseas recession lingered in April. The Fed’s Beige Book pointed out that the US economic growth had stagnated, and existing home sales in the US in March were lower than expected. Fundamentally, production resumption at European smelters, coupled with weaker overseas consumption, weighed on LME zinc prices.

In the first quarter of this year, the performance of electric passenger vehicles, lithium batteries and solar batteries continued to be hot, with a total export of 264.69 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 66.9%.

According to the customs data compiled by the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM), in August 2022, the import and export value of automobile commodities increased to varying degrees compared with the previous month and the same period last year.