China's Output of 10 Major Nonferrous Metals Up 14% in October 2012 from Same Month Last Year

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources China (Beijing, China)--China's output of 10 major nonferrous metals reached 3.28 million metric tons in October 2012, an increase of 3.5% over the previous month, or 14% from October 2011, which was 10.3 percentage points higher than the growth rate in the same month last year, according to the "Operation Report for Iron and Steel Industry in October 2012," as announced by the National Development and Reform Commission on November 26, 2012. The output of aluminum ingot was up 2.8% over the previous month, or 20.3% from October 2011, while the growth rate in the same month last year was 0.3%; the output of copper was up 8.6% from October 2011; the output of lead was up 18.3%; and the output of zinc was down 6.2%.

From January to October 2012, the accumulative output of 10 major nonferrous metals reached 30.52 million metric tons, an increase of 7.7% from the same period last year, which was 2.7 percentage points lower than the growth rate that time; that of the output of aluminum ingot was 16.46 million metric tons, an increase of 11.3% from the same period last year, while the growth rate in that time was 9.5%; the output of copper was up 7.4% from the same period last year, but the growth rate was 8.8 percentage points lower than the previous year; the output of lead was up 11.5% from the same period last year, but the growth rate was 2 percentage points lower; the output of zinc was down 6.2% from the same period last year, while the growth rate in that time was up 3.5%; the output of alumina was up 10% from the same period last year, which was 6.2 points lower than that in January to October 2011.

Regarding the market situation, the price of major nonferrous metals rebounded. In October, the average price of copper and lead in the Shanghai Future Exchange was $9,282.81 and $2,495.47 per metric ton, up 5.2% and 5.1 compared with the previous month, or 1.7% and 6.3% from October 2011, respectively. The average price of aluminum ingot and zinc was $2,420.47 and $2,398.44 per metric ton, respectively, an increase of 0.2% and 4% compared with the previous month, or a drop of 8.8% and 0.9% year over year, respectively.

From January to September 2012, the profit of nonferrous industry reached $20.17 billion, a drop of 19.6% from the same period last year. The profit of the mining and processing of ferrous metal ores reached $7.875 billion, a drop of 4.4%; and the profit of smelting and processing in nonferrous metals industry was reduced to $12.30 billion, a drop of 27%.

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