Aluminum price soars as China cancels tax incentive on exports
The export tax rebate was also removed for copper and lowered for some refined oil, solar, battery and non-metallic mineral products.
China released Thursday its official measure of factory output for February showing the country had a slight decline.
The purchasing managers’ index (PMI) number was 50.1 for the month, down from 50.4 in January.
The country has been trying to recover from a downturn in its economy. Last year, China posted an annual growth of 7.8% — the worst since 1999.
Its failure to move above 51 shows economic expansion is only moderate. A reading below 50 indicates a contraction of manufacturing.
The government’s report lists a number of subscategories — like new orders, new export orders, finished goods inventories, imports, raw material inventories, employment, and supplier delivery times — which all showed a similar decline. Only the backlog of work had not changed since the previous month.
Some analysts said the Chinese new year holiday had affected the numbers.
Hat tip, Business Insider
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