Discover the key developments in the metal industry for August 2024. From market fluctuations and technological advancements to regulatory changes and major mergers, this summary covers the crucial events shaping the sector this month.
August 8: Baosteel Co., Ltd., Baowu Aluminum, and Kobe Steel formally agreed to establish Baosteel Kobe Automotive Aluminum Plate (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. (tentative name) and signed a joint venture agreement in Tokyo, Japan.
August 12-13: The Canadian International Trade Tribunal and the Canada Border Services Agency announced the initiation of the second anti-dumping sunset review on copper tubes originating from or imported from China, Brazil, Greece, South Korea, and Mexico. At the same time, a second countervailing sunset review investigation was launched on copper tubes originating from or imported from China.
August 14: The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) released a public consultation draft for the “Comprehensive Utilization of Waste Power Batteries in the New Energy Vehicle Industry Standards (2024 Edition).” The draft sets requirements for recycling companies, mandating that the recovery rates for copper and aluminum should be no less than 98%, the recovery rate of electrode powder after crushing and separation should be no less than 98%, and the impurity content of recovered aluminum and copper should be less than 1%.
August 15: The U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) voted to make an affirmative determination in the first anti-dumping and countervailing sunset review on aluminum alloy sheet imports from China. The ITC ruled that removing the existing anti-dumping and countervailing measures would likely lead to the continuation or recurrence of material injury to the U.S. domestic industry. As a result, the current anti-dumping and countervailing measures will remain in place.
August 20: The MIIT and the Ministry of Natural Resources issued a notice to China Rare Earth Group and Northern Rare Earth Group regarding the second batch of total control indicators for rare earth mining and smelting separation in 2024, set at 135,000 tons and 127,000 tons, respectively. The total control indicators for rare earth mining and smelting separation in the first two batches of 2024 are 270,000 tons and 254,000 tons, respectively.
August 23: The China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) approved the registration of lead, nickel, tin, and alumina options on the Shanghai Futures Exchange (SHFE). The CSRC will oversee the preparations to ensure the smooth launch and stable operation of these options. On the same day, SHFE announced the launch of futures options contracts for lead, nickel, tin, and alumina.
August 26: The Canadian government announced new restrictions, including increased tariffs on electric vehicles, steel, and aluminum products imported from China.
August 27: SHFE announced that lead, nickel, tin, and alumina options will be listed for trading from September 2, 2024 (Monday), with pre-market trading between 8:55-9:00 and the official market opening at 9:00. On the first day, options contracts for lead (PB2412, PB2501), nickel (NI2412, NI2501), tin (SN2412, SN2501), and alumina (AO2412, AO2501) will be listed. For these options contracts, the open interest threshold for the corresponding futures contracts is set at 10,000 lots (single-sided) per contract month.
August 27: Data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed that from January to July 2024, the non-ferrous metal smelting and rolling industry achieved operating revenue of RMB 4.82733 trillion, a year-on-year increase of 15.4%. Operating costs rose by 13.9% to RMB 4.52456 trillion, while total profit surged by 79.3% to RMB 172.17 billion.