China Cobalt Ore Imports Skyrocketed in February after Plunging in January

According to customs data, China's aluminium extrusion export volume (HS code 76041010, 76041090, 76042100, 76042910, 76042990) stood at 81,800 mt in August 2022, a month-on-month decrease of 11,500 mt or 12.4% and a year-on-year drop of 3.42%.

According to the General Administration of Customs, China imported a total of 51,037.4 of primary aluminium in July, with imports with HS code 76011010 and 76011090 standing at 85.4 mt and 50,951.9 mt respectively.

The import volume of nickel ore from the Philippines was limited mainly because downstream stainless steel plants and NPI plants reduced the production due to losses amid a sluggish domestic market, resulting in shrinking demand for nickel ore.

According to customs data, China exported 51,300 mt of copper plate and strip from January to June in 2022, a year-on-year increase of 56.45%. Exports in June stood at 10,027.16 mt, up 84.11% YoY. China imported 53,200 mt of copper plate and strip in the first half year, a year-on-year decrease of 18.01%.

To sum up, under the circumstances of normal supply in China, petcoke arriving at ports will fall 100,000-300,000 mt in July amid downstream purchases on rigid demand and poor industrial profitability.

SHANGHAI, Jun 24 (SMM) - According to customs data, China's petroleum coke imports hit a new high of 1.57 million mt in May, an increase of 2.8% month-on-month and 42.01% year-on-year.

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.

SHANGHAI, Jun 21 (SMM) - SMM data showed that a total of 76 ships arrived at major ports in China from June 13 to June 19, carrying 11.45 million mt of iron ore, up 1.24 million mt on a weekly basis, but down 1.7 million mt from a year ago.

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