China to auction first batch of state metal reserves on July 5-6

[BEIJING] China's state reserves administration on Tuesday said it would publicly auction a total of 100,000 tonnes of non-ferrous metals early next month in the first round of a rare and highly anticipated release of its stockpiles.

The National Food and Strategic Reserves Administration said in three separate notices it would auction 20,000 tonnes of copper, 30,000 tonnes of zinc and 50,000 tonnes of aluminium on July 5-6.

The amount of zinc being sold is equivalent to 5.7 per cent of China's monthly production, based on official data for May. For copper, the auctioned volume is 2.3 per cent of May's refined output and for aluminium it is 1.5 per cent.

All three metals were trading higher in Tuesday's night session on the Shanghai Futures Exchange.

The release of state metal reserves in China, the world's biggest metals consumer, is one of a number of attempts by Beijing to cool a stellar rally in commodity prices that has squeezed manufacturers' margins.

The copper and zinc sales will take place on an online platform belonging to state-owned miner and metals trader China Minmetals Corp, while the aluminium auction will be on a site operated by another state-run firm, Norinco, the notices show.

REUTERS