China’s Gansu to encourage firms to stockpile nonferrous metals of up to 436,000 mt

SHANGHAI, Apr 27 (SMM) – Northwest China’s Gansu province is mulling a plan to encourage local companies to stockpile up to 436,000 mt of nonferrous metals for at least seven months to support the market which has been hit by the COVID-19 pandemic crisis.

This round of nonferrous metals stockpiling will include 80,000 mt of copper, 300,000 mt of aluminium, 40,000 mt of zinc, 15,000 mt of nickel and 1,000 mt of cobalt, starting from May 1 to the end of this year.

Enterprises in Gansu are encouraged to buy nonferrous metals with collateral loans secured from banks, and they will enjoy subsidies for interests and warehousing fees from the provincial government.

Southwest China’s Yunnan province on Friday rolled out its own plan for encouraging firms to stockpile about 800,000 mt of nonferrous metals for one year, as part of its efforts to goose its economy and offset the fallout from the pandemic.