China copper smelters plan to cut output after margins fall
The output cuts underscore the industry’s struggle with a shortage of feedstocks caused by recent mine production setbacks.
The aluminum price in China hit its lowest in over a month on Friday on tumbling Chinese coal prices.
The most-traded November aluminum contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange shed as much as 8% to 21,405 yuan ($3,348.40) a tonne, its lowest since September 6.
[Click here for interactive aluminum price chart]
Rising aluminum inventories in China also weighed on prices, with ShFE stocks up for four straight weeks and social stocks in China at their highest since May 27 of 957,000 tonnes.
In London, LME aluminum rose 0.7% to $2,930 a tonne after sliding by 5.2% a day earlier.
China’s thermal coal futures plunged on Friday and turned in their worst week in five months, following Beijing’s strongest intervention in years to boost supply and cool runaway prices of the commodity amid a widespread power crunch.
The most-traded contract on Zhengzhou Commodity Exchange, for delivery in January, hit the lower daily trading limit of 14% and settled at 1,408.4 yuan ($220) a tonne.
(With files from Reuters and Bloomberg)
