China's domestic spot prices for copper, aluminum, lead and zinc fell between 1.2% and 11.9% year on year over January-February, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said Wednesday.
Copper posted the biggest drop, falling 11.9% year on year to average Yuan 51,109 ($8,312)/mt over the two-month period, followed aluminum, which fell 9.4% to Yuan 13,504/mt.
The domestic lead price fell 6% year on year to average Yuan 14,012/mt. The smallest change was seen in the domestic zinc price, which edged down 1.2% year on year to average Yuan 15,336/mt over January-February.
"[Chinese] aluminum prices are expected to remain at low levels with some new production lines gradually coming on stream [later this year]. But the price drop will be limited by smelters' cutting down their output due to weak market conditions," MIIT said on its website.
Separately, MIIT said output of China's 10 major nonferrous metals in 2014 is likely to increase by around 8% year on year tracking an uptick in consumption.
Output of the 10 major nonferrous metals in China rose 9.9% year on year to around 40.29 million mt in 2013, MIIT said.
