{"id":1179942,"date":"2020-04-22T17:00:43","date_gmt":"2020-04-22T22:00:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/?p=1021332"},"modified":"2020-04-22T17:00:43","modified_gmt":"2020-04-22T22:00:43","slug":"pandemic-puts-china-metals-supply-chain-in-jeopardy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/?p=1179942","title":{"rendered":"Pandemic puts China metals supply chain in jeopardy"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>China, the world&#8217;s top metals consumer, is looking to reboot industrial activity across the country, after the pandemic lockdown hit its economy hard. <\/p>\n<div class='d-flex justify-content-center d-xs-block d-sm-block d-md-none'>\n<div id='div-gpt-ad-1561499308230-0'><script>googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-1561499308230-0');});<\/script><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>But potential shortages of key metal-making raw materials create risks to production of everything from home appliances to electric vehicle batteries.  <\/p>\n<p>China boosted copper imports year-on-year in March, but still faces challenges as key suppliers in Latin America are cutting output due to coronavirus restrictions.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-pullquote alignright\">\n<blockquote>\n<p> China last year relied on imports for almost 80% of its copper concentrate <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n<p>China&#8217;s economy last year relied on imports for almost 80% of its copper concentrate, based on <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"International Copper Study Group (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/www.icsg.org\/index.php\/the-world-of-copper\" >International Copper Study Group<\/a> data. <\/p>\n<p>Exports from top supplier Chile have been largely unaffected, despite a coronavirus state of emergency.<\/p>\n<p>Chile state copper miner Codelco, the world\u2019s largest, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/web\/codelco-to-suspend-3rd-party-contracts-amid-coronavirus-outbreak\/\"  rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"recently reported (opens in a new tab)\">recently reported<\/a> that its production continued in line with its plans despite the measures it has implemented to stave off the spread of coronavirus at its operations.<\/p>\n<p>The company told Reuters that it had also met 100% of its sales targets, even as many of its top customers, including China, have seen industry shuttered by the virus.<\/p>\n<p>In Peru, some miners have reduced shipments or even suspended operations altogether.<\/p>\n<p>Australia-based\u00a0MMG has\u00a0<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"withdrawn its 2020 production forecast for Las Bambas (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/mmg-withdraws-las-bambas-copper-guidance-amid-covid-19-crisis\/\" >withdrawn its 2020 production forecast for Las Bambas<\/a>, one of Peru\u2019s largest copper mines, after the country declared a state of emergency on March 16 to slow the spread of coronavirus. <\/p>\n<p>Chinese smelters are becoming &#8220;very nervous&#8221; about supplies, says a South American miner, while treatment charges are in freefall, pointing to a tighter market.<\/p>\n<p>Copper trading in New York was up by 2.4% to $2.284 a pound midday Wednesday, <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"after a three-week low on Tuesday (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/copper-price-plunges-2\/\" >after a three-week low on Tuesday<\/a>. <\/p>\n<h2>Nickel <\/h2>\n<p>Imports from Indonesia dwarfed China&#8217;s domestic output in 2019, but the Southeast Asian country <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"has banned nickel ore exports (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/web\/indonesia-nickel-miners-urge-end-to-export-ban-to-cushion-coronavirus-impact\/\" >has banned nickel ore exports<\/a> and inventories at Chinese ports are at their lowest since June 2018, data from research house Antaike shows.<\/p>\n<p>The Philippines\u2019 top nickel ore producers, Nickel Asia Corp and Global Ferronickel, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/web\/philippines-top-nickel-miners-halt-operations-to-contain-coronavirus\/\"  rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"suspended mining and export operations (opens in a new tab)\">suspended mining and export operations<\/a> to comply with coronavirus-containment measures. <\/p>\n<p>Tight supply will force producers of stainless steel raw material nickel pig iron (NPI) in China to &#8220;consider cutting output,&#8221; says Antaike chief nickel analyst Xu Aidong.<\/p>\n<p>Benchmark nickel on the London Metal Exchange (LME) was at $12,085 per tonne on Wednesday.<\/p>\n<h2>Bauxite<\/h2>\n<p>Bauxite imports accounted for around 40% of China&#8217;s 2019 production of alumina, used to make aluminum, estimates CRU analyst Wan Ling.<\/p>\n<p>Top supplier Guinea has seen no disruption so far and Australian spot bauxite prices remain low.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;There have been some confirmed cases in the bauxite mines in Guinea and there could be more,&#8221; Wan says. <\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We need to see what the government will do in terms of controlling the coronavirus.&#8221;<\/p>\n<h2>Tin<\/h2>\n<p>China relies on imports for 30%-35% of its tin concentrate, says Cui Lin, the International Tin Association&#8217;s chief China representative, with the vast majority coming from neighbouring Myanmar.<\/p>\n<p>Inbound shipments, which fell year-on-year in January and February, have not been directly impacted by coronavirus-related disruptions, but mines in Myanmar are short of Chinese workers willing to cross the border to maintain ore processing operations, says Cui. <\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We think maybe it will be better from May.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Large Chinese smelters have enough concentrate in stock to last three-four months, but private producers face a difficult time in April and the first half of next month, Cui adds. <\/p>\n<p>Benchmark tin on the London Metal Exchange (LME) was at $14,730 per tonne Wednesday afternoon. <\/p>\n<p><em>(With files from Reuters)<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>China boosted copper imports in March, but still faces challenges as key suppliers are cutting output.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":92,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[2849,369,4,2640],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1179942"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/92"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1179942"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1179942\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1179950,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1179942\/revisions\/1179950"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1179942"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1179942"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1179942"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}