China to release 70,000 tonnes of aluminium from state reserves in the next round of auction

The National Food and Strategic Reserves Administration said on Monday, September 27, that China would put another 150,000 tonnes of industrial metals on auction. China is continuing to release inventories from state reserves to lower metal prices. The next auction, which marks the fourth round this year, is scheduled on October 9, 2021.

As per the Nasdaq report, the Chinese administration will sell 70,000 tonnes of aluminium, 30,000 tonnes of copper, and the rest 50,000 tonnes of zinc on online platforms operated by Norinco and China Minmetals Corp.

The last auction was held on September 1, wherein the administration also released 150,000 tonnes of metals. The upcoming auction will bring the total amount of metal released in 2021 to 570,000 tonnes. Prior to this, the country had not sold off its state metal reserve for more than a decade.

The auctions are only open to manufacturers and fabricators.

All of the aluminium to be auctioned in the latest round is produced in China, which entered storage in the first half of 2019. That suggests China bought the metal at low prices in the wake of the global financial crisis.