China's SRB starts to sell, but not copperPosted by tjdetai on July 16th, 2015
More auctions seem set to follow, although Tang Yan, an official with China's top planning body, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), said full liquidation of the stocks of both metals would not be "that fast", a form of words open to almost infinite interpretation. SRB sales will have limited impact, other than psychological, on either local or international aluminium and zinc markets. The SRB's holdings of copper, however, are a whole different ball-game. The difference lies in the Bureau's classification of what is strategic and what is not. Copper is. Aluminium and zinc are not. Copper is a strategic holding because China is structurally short of a metal that is essential for its industrialisation programme. It is a point rammed home with each month's import figures. There is no similar structural domestic shortage of either aluminium or zinc. Indeed, the country has substantial amounts of excess production capacity. Related Tags:aluminum pipe, 3003 aluminum pipe, 2024 aluminum pipe Like it? Share it!More by this author |