According to foreign news on January 28, after the U.S. lifts the sanctions on Russian aluminium, global aluminium consumers will pay less for the purchase of aluminium, but the U.S. import tariff on aluminium means that the U.S. consumers will benefit only a limited amount.

On Sunday, the Foreign Asset Management Office of the U.S. Treasury Department announced the lifting of sanctions on En+, Alcoa and JSC Euro Sibenergo, which reduced the direct and indirect ownership of Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska and cut off his control over these companies, ensuring that most of the directors of En+, Alcoa and Alcoa will be independent directors, including Deripaska has no business, professional or family relationships with Americans or Europeans. At the same time, these companies agreed to provide unprecedented transparency to the U.S. Treasury through extensive and sustained auditing, certification and reporting requirements.

That sent the London Futures Exchange (LME) aluminium futures price down 2% to nearly $1880 a ton on Monday.

After the sanctions were imposed, aluminium prices fell 30% from a seven-year high of $2718 hit in April last year. Aluminum is widely used in transportation and packaging.

Julius Bear, an analyst at Carsten Menke, said: “Since the first sanctions were extended, the market has begun to think that sanctions will eventually be lifted.”

Earlier, the United States extended the deadline for dealing with Aluminum Russia several times.

Menke said, “The U.S. import tariff on aluminium means that American manufacturers will be more expensive than European manufacturers. But from a global supply point of view, as long as the export motive exists, U.S. tariffs do not matter.

Tariffs mean that producers need to sell aluminium to the United States driven by strong incentives, as can be seen from the high price of aluminium in the spot market compared with LME futures.

Aluminum shipments to the United States are about $0.19 per pound, or $420 per ton, double the $200 per pound in early 2008 and about 20 per cent higher than the tariff levels announced in early March last year.

By July 2020, the rise of aluminium in the United States had dropped to $350 per ton, which is the necessary price level to attract aluminium to the United States.

The United States is a major consumer of aluminium, consuming between 5 and 6 million tons of material this year, while global consumption is expected to be 68 million tons.

In 2017, Russian aluminium supply accounted for only about 10% of the U.S. market. Aluminum Canada, which accounts for half of the U.S. market, is the largest supplier of aluminium in the United States.

If, as some expected, tariffs were abolished, Canada was exempted or quotas were granted, the aluminium premium would fall sharply further.

In a report, Wood Mackenzie analysts said, “Any agreement with Canada will result in 2.5 million tons of raw aluminium entering the United States duty-free, and greatly dilute the proportion of aluminium imported by the United States from duty-paid countries.”

For European consumers, as traders in the region hold large quantities of aluminium stocks, the current $69/ton aluminium litre, which is down nearly 60% from the beginning of May last year, will fall further.

An aluminium sheet manufacturer said, “Aluminum that Russia cannot sell will begin to be shipped to Europe, and we may also see that a large amount of aluminium in Europe will flow into LME warehouses.”

After the United States officially announced the lifting of sanctions against Aluminum Russia, LME lifted the temporary ban on Aluminum Russia’s registered warehouses for storing metals on the exchange Monday, which came into effect immediately.

On January 27, the hydrofluoric acid commodity index was 113.05, which was the same as yesterday. It was 19.50% lower than the peak of 140.43 points in the cycle (2018-02-21), and 110.95% higher than the low of 53.59 points on November 30, 2016. (Note: Period refers to 2011-09-01 to date)

According to statistics, the domestic market price of hydrofluoric acid has been declining recently. The domestic market price of hydrofluoric acid is 12416.67 yuan/ton as of the 28th day. The domestic start-up rate of hydrofluoric acid is about 60%. Enterprises reflect that the supply of hydrofluoric acid on the spot is sufficient, the situation of goods on the spot is getting worse recently. Some enterprises have increased their stocks of hydrofluoric acid and slightly lowered their ex-factory prices, but due to the high level of raw material market. Supported by this, the price decline of hydrofluoric acid market is very limited. At present, the mainstream of hydrofluoric acid negotiations in the southern region is about 11500-12000 yuan/ton, while the price of hydrofluoric acid in the northern market is about 12000-13000 yuan/ton. Domestic hydrofluoric acid market price trend is slightly lower, spot supply is sufficient, due to the recent high prices of raw materials market, fluorite prices are in a high state, but the price of raw materials fluorite slightly declined, the market price of hydrofluoric acid slightly lower.

Recent downstream refrigerant product maintenance devices are more, the demand for upstream fluorite and hydrofluoric acid has weakened, the recent downstream refrigerant trading market has declined, and the price of hydrofluoric acid products has slightly decreased. Recent downstream refrigerant market transactions are cool, R22 refrigerant facility starts at 70%, R22 refrigerant facility start-up rate declines, the main production enterprise bulk water out-of-factory offer price drops to 17,000-18,000 yuan/ton, but the production enterprise does not have bulk water spot, mainly a small number of cylinders shipped. In addition, the actual demand side of the market has declined, and the shipment market trend is poor. The domestic market price of R134a is slightly lower, the start-up rate of production enterprises is lower, the market demand for refrigerants is weakened, and manufacturers mainly export their products. However, the on-site transaction price does not change much, and the merchants purchase on demand. Recently, due to the impact of equipment maintenance, the upstream market demand for hydrofluoric acid has weakened.

Refrigerant on-site transaction prices slightly lower, refrigerant industry equipment overhaul increased, the upstream market demand for hydrofluoric acid weakened, coupled with the upstream refrigerant industry to resist high prices of raw materials, Business Analyst Chen Ling believes that the hydrofluoric acid market will continue to decline, hydrofluoric acid prices will be around 12,000 yuan/ton.

On January 27, the PX commodity index was 68.80, unchanged from yesterday, down 32.81% from the peak of 102.40 points in the cycle (2013-02-28), and up 51.04% from the low of 45.55 points on February 15, 2016. (Note: Period refers to 2013-02-01 to date).

Recently, the domestic market price trend of p-xylene has been temporarily stable. Pengzhou Petrochemical Plant has been running steadily in the field. Urumqi Petrochemical Plant has started 50% of its operation. Fuhaichuang Aromatic Hydrocarbon Plant has been restarted. Other plants have been running steadily for the time being. The domestic market supply of p-xylene has increased, and the market price trend of p-xylene has been temporarily stable. The opening rate of PX plant in Asia rose to about 80%. On January 25, the closing price of p-xylene in Asia rose by 16 US dollars/ton. The closing price was US$1057-1059/ton FOB in Korea and US$1077-1079/ton CFR in China. More than 50% of domestic imports were needed. The decline of foreign prices had a negative impact on domestic market price of p-xylene, and the domestic market price maintained 8,600 yuan/ton.

On January 25, the price of WTI crude oil in March rose to 53.69 U.S. dollars per barrel, an increase of 0.56 U.S. dollars. Brent crude oil in March rose to 61.64 U.S. dollars per barrel, an increase of 0.55 U.S. dollars. crude oil price rose slightly, which has a supporting effect on the price of downstream petrochemical products. The price trend of xylene market is temporarily stable. Recently, the textile industry has been in a general market, PTA prices fluctuated on the 28th. The average offer price in East China was raised near 6600-6800 yuan/ton. As of the 25th day, the domestic PTA start-up rate was about 77%, the polyester industry start-up rate was about 77%. In addition, the hobby production and sales rate continued to decline, and the PTA Market price remained high. It is expected that the price of PX market will maintain 8600 yuan/ton in the later period.

With the rapid development of the third scientific and technological revolution, rare earth, known as “industrial vitamin”, as an important strategic resource, has become an important driving force for the development of international competition. China’s rare earth industrial reserves have absolute advantages in quantity, and the future market development also has great potential. As a medium and heavy rare earth base in the whole country and even in the whole world, Jiangxi is facing many challenges under the current situation of drastic changes in international relations and fierce competition, and there are a series of problems such as lack of enterprise innovation. Therefore, the author made a special investigation on the operation and development of Jiangxi rare earth enterprises.

Present Situation of Rare Earth Industry in Jiangxi Province

(1) Advantages. First, the advantages of mineral resources. Jiangxi Province is rich in rare earth minerals with high quality and abundant reserves. It is one of the regions with the largest reserves of medium and heavy rare earth minerals in China, and also one of the mining and production bases of rare earth minerals in China and even in the world. The regional distribution of mineral resources is obvious, the degree of concentration is strong, and the advantages of geological conditions needed for mining are obvious, which is conducive to rare earth enterprises to engage in development work. Second, the advantages of R&D technology. Jiangxi Province has a relatively complete R&D system, many R&D institutions with strong R&D capabilities, and universities have set up strong R&D units for rare earth enterprises, which provide scientific and technological guarantee for rare earth enterprises. In rare earth mining and separation and smelting, 11 patents, such as ultraviolet light grafting to prepare ion exchange fibers, have been developed, which has strongly promoted the development of rare earth industry in Jiangxi Province. 。 Third, the advantages of policy support. Since 2016, Ganzhou City, known as the “rare earth kingdom”, has issued a series of rare earth support policies, which give financial support and preferential treatment to the rare earth enterprises in southern Jiangxi, and promote the sales revenue of rare earth products in the province to reach a historical peak, and the comprehensive strength of rare earth enterprises to reach the leading level in the country. Fourth, the advantages of industrial clusters. In recent years, the rare earth industry in Jiangxi Province has developed rapidly. The enterprises in Jiangxi tungsten industry, Ganzhou rare earth industry and Qiandong rare earth industry have grown in scale. Five rare earth industry chains, including rare earth luminescent materials, rare earth permanent magnetic materials and heavy rare earth alloy materials, have been focused on. With the improvement of production base matching and the appearance of industrial cluster effect, a number of advantages of characteristic industrial clusters have been formed and developed.

(2) Disadvantage. First, serious loss of resources, weak awareness of environmental protection and prominent pollution problems. The reserve-mining ratio of rare earth deposits in Jiangxi Province is decreasing, and the recovery rate of rare earth resources is also decreasing. In the process of rare earth mining and production, a large amount of wastewater, waste residue and exhaust gas discharged from the mine cause environmental pollution and ecological pollution. Second, the extension of the industrial chain is not enough. According to the survey, most of the rare earth enterprises in Jiangxi are limited to pursuing short-term economic benefits, with low investment in science and technology and insufficient ability to absorb R&D technology. As a result, the added value of products is not high. The focus of development is on the front end of the industry. The product convergence is single, and the extension ability of the industrial chain is limited. As a result, rare earth application products and downstream products with high added value are few and the enterprises have a strong development stamina. Not enough. Third, human resources and support are inadequate. The practitioners of rare earth enterprises in Jiangxi have low educational background and lack of high-end talents. At the same time, the effective incentive and restraint mechanism is not perfect, which is not conducive to the introduction and retention of talents by Jiangxi rare earth enterprises. This directly affects the management and development of rare earth enterprises in Jiangxi Province and hinders sustainable development. Fourth, industry supervision is weak. Due to the absence of local protectionism and unified supervision system, coupled with the poor self-discipline of rare earth enterprises, illegal exploitation and smuggling of non-governmental activities have repeatedly been prohibited, resulting in serious loss of rare earth resources and low utilization rate of resources, which seriously restricts the sustainable development of rare earth industry in Jiangxi Province.

(3) Opportunities. First, rare earth has broad prospects for development, and the demand for rare earth in high-tech fields has increased. Due to the non-renewable nature of rare earth and its special irreplaceability, the development of new energy, aerospace, national defense and military fields can not be separated from the use of rare earth products. The demand for rare earth increases year by year. Compared with 2016, the global demand for rare earth increased by 5624 tons in 2017. It is estimated that the global demand for rare earth will increase by about 12% in 2018, and the market demand for rare earth will continue to grow. 。 Second, globalization and the deepening level of international economic cooperation provide new opportunities for development. The diffusion and dissemination of advanced rare earth production technology from abroad to China is conducive to learning the experience of foreign enterprises in company management and R&D technology, upgrading the production and R&D technology level of Jiangxi rare earth enterprises, improving the structure of rare earth products and seizing the development opportunities. Three, the construction of “one belt and one road” provides a new pattern of development. The proposal of “one belt and one road” is aimed at strengthening political, economic and cultural exchanges among countries, providing new opportunities for all parties and creating a new pattern of opening up. Jiangxi rare earth enterprises should make good use of this macro-policy to adjust their structure, upgrade their industries and expand their product output to the output of the industrial chain. It can build up their brand image, improve their competitiveness and seize the market share of heavy ion rare earth in the world.

(4) Challenges. The research and development of international rare earth substitutes has a great impact on China’s export of rare earth products. Changes in the international political and economic situation have resulted in large fluctuations in the rare earth market. The promotion of ecological civilization construction and the implementation of green financial policy put forward higher environmental protection requirements. China is constantly promoting the construction of ecological civilization, and environmental protection laws and regulations have been promulgated successively, which restrict the production, research and development of rare earth industry. The state vigorously pursues the green financial policy, requires financial institutions to provide credit and other financing, incorporates environmental assessment into the process, and constantly requires rare earth enterprises to strengthen investment in environmental protection and pollution control. The pressure on enterprises in financing will continue to increase.

Development path

(1) Implementing growth-oriented strategy, strengthening strengths, weakening weaknesses and promoting the healthy development of rare earth enterprises. First, we should strengthen scientific and Technological Development and expand the application of rare earth. Jiangxi rare earth enterprises should speed up the construction of independent innovation ability and enhance the innovation ability of enterprises by combining academia with industry. Scientific research institutions, universities and rare earth enterprises should form a complete channel of scientific research information circulation. In order to develop new products and processes, we should change the current production and operation mode, which mainly focuses on rare earth smelting and separation, change the scientific research mode, and improve the integration of technical resources. Second, we should maintain the advantages of resources and establish a brand image. Jiangxi rare earth enterprises should make full use of big data technology, improve the insufficiency of market information control, build a complete market information system, and clearly guide the orientation and development direction of enterprises. We should establish brand image, use appropriate brand extension strategy, and prevent the consumption of corporate image. In line with the market demand trend for application-oriented and high value-added products, we should increase R&D and extend the existing product lines. We should speed up the establishment of new brand lines, occupy a favorable market position and establish a good corporate image. Third, we should keep a close eye on policies and markets and open up domestic and foreign markets. The rare earth enterprises in Jiangxi Province should comprehensively analyze the internal and external environmental factors of enterprises from an international perspective, make the best use of various development opportunities provided by government policies and markets, actively open up overseas markets, strengthen cooperation with transnational corporations, make enterprises bigger and stronger, and enhance their ability to withstand risks, so as to be able to gradually dominate the market.

(2) Implementing the twist strategy, seizing opportunities, eliminating disadvantages and achieving steady development of the rare earth industry. First, we should vigorously cultivate outstanding scientific and technological personnel and managerial personnel. Enterprises should regularly train employees in rare earth mining, production, management and other aspects of knowledge and skills. We should attach great importance to the introduction and training of R&D personnel, vigorously build first-class technological innovation centers, and strive to develop products and equipment with independent intellectual property rights. Salesmen timely feedback customer demand information and opinions and suggestions, timely update rare earth products, adjust product structure, improve enterprise management and clear development direction. Managers need to have sustained motivation, the ability to discover the strengths of others and organizational drive. Second, we should attach importance to comprehensive utilization of resources and safeguards of environmental protection. We should recognize the challenges facing us in the current situation, actively change the development mode, and change and develop to the intensive and innovation-driven development mode. Attention should be paid to the comprehensive development and utilization of resources and the improvement of sewage and waste gas treatment facilities. We will improve the internal management of enterprises, enhance their ability to protect the ecological environment, assume responsibility for environmental pollution and recovery, and develop into a green and sustainable new type of industrialization. Third, green finance promotes sustainable healthy and high-quality development of rare earth industry. Under the guidance of green financial policy, we should guide capital and technical personnel to gather in rare earth enterprises and promote the upgrading and transformation of energy-saving and environmental protection. We should actively play the role of gathering and guiding financial service tools such as credit, funds and bonds, vigorously promote the transformation and development of rare earth enterprises into application-oriented and high value-added products, and realize the high-quality development of rare earth industry in Jiangxi.

In commodity investment, there is a class of interesting asset classes that deserve attention. They often inadvertently lead the market, which is called “small metals”.

Investors often call small metals such as lead, zinc, nickel, tin, vanadium, titanium, indium, zirconium and tungsten, which have smaller market capacity than copper and aluminium. In 2018, the “palladium gold” in the family of small metals, with an 18.6% increase, became one of the best performing commodities of the year. Meanwhile, in the past decade, the asset had the highest annual growth for four years, which is the most popular commodity.

What is the reason for the unique charm of such assets? How does a small periodic table of elements become a “treasure map” of capital market?

The first is the shift in commodity bull-bear cycles. Both basic metals and small metals can not escape the price cycle driven by supply and demand gap, and its operation cycle naturally follows the macroeconomic cycle. After 2015, the effect of global monetary easing began to show, the United States took the lead in stabilizing and recovering the economy, Europe and China also experienced a cyclical rebound, commodities bottomed out, metal plates stepped out of the cyclical inflection point at the same time, and “small metals” took advantage of the trend to rebound. In the early period of the collapse, the shrinkage of the supply of basic metals by major international commodity giants also affected the output of small metals, making small metals such as small supply elasticity, and most of the associated varieties prone to unexpected market.

Secondly, domestic policy support. In recent years, factors such as supply-side structural reform, environmental protection and production restriction, as well as industrial transformation promoting consumption increase, have driven metal prices from both ends of supply and demand. In order to protect the limited precious resources, China has integrated the rare earth industry substantially since 2009. In terms of policy, it has also strictly controlled the access, mining, smelting, export and other links: export quota has been reduced substantially, emission standards for rare earth industrial pollutants have been promulgated, and taxes and fees for rare earth resources have been raised 10 times. The situation of tightening export and protecting the industry is obvious. In the field of small metals, domestic production accounts for the vast majority of global production.

The second is the effect of money rush. In recent years, under the background of favorable macroeconomic policies, the metal market has been divided. Compared with the varieties of large-scale industries, the price fluctuation of small metals with small market capacity and short industry cycle is relatively frequent and considerable, which often becomes an important logic of fund “hoarding”.

It is worth noting that in recent years, the development of new energy economy and clean energy has shown an explosive growth trend, especially in the automobile industry. The industrial demand for lithium, palladium, cobalt and other small metals has increased dramatically, and prices have been boosted.

These factors directly or indirectly affect the spot price fluctuation of “small metals”. From the point of view of domestic investment, listed companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen have the production and processing enterprises of the above-mentioned small metal resources deposits, which are called small metal concept stocks, and their share prices often fluctuate with the current price changes. When the wind blows, funds and institutions often come in heavily.

On January 22, the rare earth index was 345 points, unchanged from yesterday, down 65.50% from the cyclical peak of 1000 points (2011-12-06), and up 27.31% from the lowest point of 271 on September 13, 2015. (Note: Period refers to 2011-12-01 to date).

The average price of neodymium, dysprosium and praseodymium in rare earth metals is 398,000 yuan/ton, 1,655,000 yuan/ton and 660,000 yuan/ton respectively. The average price of praseodymium and neodymium oxide in rare earth oxides is 315,000 yuan/ton; dysprosium oxide is 1.21 million yuan/ton; praseodymium oxide is 397,500 yuan/ton; and neodymium oxide is 315,000 yuan/ton. The price of praseodymium and neodymium alloys in rare earth alloys is 399.5 million yuan per ton, and the average price of dysprosium and iron alloys is 1.22 million yuan per ton.

Recently, 12 departments have seriously dealt with illegal enterprises such as reselling illegal rare earth minerals, resulting in the cold trade in the domestic rare earth market. Some commodity prices in the rare earth market have declined, mainly concentrated in Praseodymium-Neodymium alloys and neodymium oxides. The price fluctuation of rare earth market is related to environmental protection supervision in the whole country. Rare earth production has its particularity, especially the radiation hazard of some products, which makes environmental protection supervision stricter. Under stringent environmental protection, rare earth separation enterprises in many provinces have stopped production, resulting in a decline in the market of rare earth oxides, making the price of rare earth products firm. Especially for some mainstream rare earth oxides, the supply performance is tight, the price trend of some commodities in the rare earth market is stable, the willingness of large enterprise groups to limit production in the near future, the market of rare earth has improved, but for the pricing of products, major manufacturers are cautious to wait and see. Recent rare earth export market is general, resulting in a decline in imports, which has a negative impact on the rare earth market. However, due to the limited volume, the price trend of some rare earth products has declined, but the price trend of most products is temporarily stable.

Eight inspecting groups composed of Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, Development and Reform Commission, Ministry of Natural Resources and other ministries went to various places and launched special inspecting actions against eight provinces and regions of Inner Mongolia, Jiangxi, Jiangsu, Fujian, Hunan, Guangdong, Guangxi and Sichuan, which are the main producing areas of rare earths. Prior to this, six departments of Jiangxi Province, a major producer of rare earth, jointly issued a special action document on cracking down on rare earth blacks, and conducted special supervision from September 2018 to January 2019. Due to the increasingly obvious regulatory effect, the supply of raw ore resources in the upstream of the rare earth industry has shrunk, and the trading market of the rare earth industry has been cold.

Rare earth analysts of business associations expect that the domestic environmental stringent inspection will not decrease in the near future, and the domestic reorganization of the order of the inhalation industry will have a certain positive impact on the rare earth industry. However, near the Spring Festival, the turnover of the rare earth industry is limited, and the turnover of the rare earth industry is cold. The price trend of the rare earth market is expected to decline steadily.

The Information Office of the State Council held a press conference at 10 a.m. on January 21, 2019. Ning Jichao, Director of the National Bureau of Statistics, introduced the operation of the national economy in 2018 and answered questions from reporters.

Ningji Zhe said that in 2018, under the complicated international and domestic environment, the economic operation has achieved overall stability, stability and progress, and the main expected goals of economic and social development have been well achieved.

Among them, the “three go, one fall and one supplement” continued to work, exceeding the target of reducing steel production capacity by more than 30 million tons and withdrawing coal production capacity by more than 150 million tons in advance.

The following is a partial record:

Structural reform on the supply side has been deepened, and “three go, one fall and one supplement” has continued to bear fruit. One is to complete the capacity task ahead of schedule. We will persist in market-oriented and legalized means to reduce production capacity, fulfill ahead of schedule the target task of reducing steel production capacity by more than 30 million tons and withdrawing coal production capacity by more than 150 million tons. Second, deleveraging has been steadily promoted, and macro-leverage ratio is stable. Micro-leverage ratio is measured by asset-liability ratio of Industrial Enterprises above the scale. At the end of November 2018, it dropped by 0.4 percentage points compared with the same period last year. Third, the effect of inventory removal is obvious. At the end of the year, the area for sale of commercial housing decreased by 65.1 million square meters compared with that at the end of last year, and the inventory of commercial housing decreased by 170 million square meters in the past two years. Fourth, cost reduction will continue to be effective. Costs in the main business income of Industrial Enterprises above the scale of 100 yuan continue to decline. The total scale of burden reduction of enterprises and individuals nationwide exceeds the expected 1.1 trillion yuan at the beginning of this year, and now reaches more than 1.3 trillion yuan. Fifthly, we should make more efforts to mend the shortcomings. Investment in eco-environmental protection, agriculture and social fields has accelerated. Sixth, the overall efficiency of enterprises has increased. From January to November, the total profits of Industrial Enterprises above the scale increased by 11.8% year on year.

Foreign media reported on January 22 that Barrick Gold Corp. of Canada said Monday that it was exploring possibilities for its Lumwana copper mine in Zambia and that the government’s proposed new mining tax would pose challenges to shareholder returns.

Barrick recently completed a $6 billion acquisition of Randgold Resources in South Africa. The company said it was still communicating with the Zambian government to find a win-win solution for Lumwana Copper Mine under the new tax policy.

“Given the extremely challenging situation facing the mine, all options need to be considered,” the company said in a statement.

Zambia is the second largest copper producer in Africa. The country intends to raise the royalty tax on mining areas by 1.5 percentage points from January 1 this year (the previous tax rates ranged from 4% to 6%). In addition, when copper prices exceed $7,500 tons, an additional 10% tax is levied.

Barrick estimates that Lumwana’s copper production in 2018 will be between 19 and 225 million pounds. According to preliminary statistics, Barrick produced 383 million pounds of copper last year.

Willem Jacobs, chief operating officer of Barrick’s Africa and Middle East operations, said the new tax would weaken Lumwana Copper Mine’s ability to generate shareholder returns. The mine has submitted specific proposals for cooperation to the government.

Barrick said that the initial value of gold production in 2019 was 4.53 million ounces, and in the fourth quarter it was 1.26 million ounces.

LONDON, Jan. 18 (Reuters) – London Metal Exchange (LME) copper, nickel and zinc prices hit several weeks high on Friday amid signs that trade disputes between the United States and China may be easing, triggering a rise in basic metal prices.

The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday, citing people familiar with internal discussions, that U.S. Treasury Secretary Nouchin discussed the partial or total elimination of tariffs imposed on Chinese imports to the United States during the trade negotiations scheduled for January 30.

But the U.S. Treasury later denied the discussion, but the report still boosted global markets, including metals.

“Macroscopic news is driving copper prices up. The basic face of price trends does not provide any meaningful impact, “said Vivienne Lloyd, an analyst at Macquarie.” Market supply is not very tight, it will not push up prices, and there is no oversupply.

“Before being driven by a major macro factor, copper prices will remain range-bound, and we tend to move up.”

LME copper closed up 1% at $6,052 a tonne after hitting a peak of $6,071 since December 28. Copper futures posted its biggest one-week gain in nine weeks.

Zinc futures closed up 1.3% at $2,580, after hitting a peak of $2,595 since December 13. This week rose 3.6%, the biggest increase since the week ended September 28.

“Domestic and foreign zinc ingot inventory growth is lower than expected, which supports prices,” China’s brokerage Xingye Futures said in a report.

Major stock indices around the world are rising, and US stock markets are expected to rise for the fourth consecutive week, boosted by optimism that the Sino-US trade conflict may end.

Nickel rose 2% to close at $11,820 a tonne, the highest level since November 7.

Futures aluminium closed up 0.7% at $1,870.

Lead climbed 1.8% to $1,998.

Futures Tin closed without a deal. The final offer was $20,600, up 0.1%.

Sorokin, Russia’s Deputy energy minister, said near the end of Wednesday’s crude oil futures market, Russia is expected to achieve OPEC + production reduction targets by April. Since then, international oil prices have risen in the short run.

Brent’s crude oil futures rose 1.14% in February to break below $61 and ended up 1.12% at $61.32 a barrel.

U.S. oil also rose sharply before closing, with WTI crude oil futures prices reaching $52.40 in February, ending up 0.38% at $52.31 a barrel and expanding to more than 0.4% after closing.

Earlier on Wednesday, U.S. officials released record crude oil production data, and international oil prices fell all the way, almost falling again after two consecutive days of decline.

On Wednesday, the U.S. Energy Information Agency (EIA) released a weekly report showing that crude oil output in the week of January 11 increased by about 200,000 barrels a day from the previous week, reaching a record high of 11.9 million barrels a day; gasoline and refined oil stocks rose for the third consecutive week, and gasoline stocks in the Gulf of Mexico reached an all-time high.

After the data were released, international oil prices fell rapidly, with WTI oil prices falling by 1.5% and distribution oil prices falling by nearly 1% in a day.

Carsten Fritsch, senior commodity analyst at Commerce Bank of Germany, commented that the growth in U.S. crude oil output may mean that OPEC + led by Saudi Arabia and Russia needs to prolong production cuts or even further reduce production.

On the previous day and Tuesday, the international oil price ended two consecutive days of decline, with U.S. oil rising by more than 3%, and oil distribution rose by 2.8%, reaching $60, breaking through the two crossings of $51 and $52.

Following Wall Street news, the article mentioned that mainstream foreign media on Tuesday cited good news from China or expanding the scale of fiscal stimulus as helping to consolidate global oil demand growth. However, analysts believe that oil price increases in the first half of this year are not very sustained, because OPEC’s crude oil demand expectations continue to be lower than the output planned by the organization.

In addition, in addition to increasing supply in the United States, market concerns about the global economic outlook are also putting pressure on the oil market.

The Wall Street article mentioned at the end of last month that the crude oil slump at the end of 2018 was affected by the closure of the U.S. government, higher interest rates, international trade disputes and worries about global economic growth. Most Wall Street agencies expect crude oil to rebound in the first half of this year, with an average annual distribution price of $68-73 per barrel and $59-66 per barrel for U.S. oil. But they warned that oil prices could rise and fall more than expected, with risks including macroeconomic factors such as China’s trade and underestimating the threat of Asian refining.