China's domestic spot prices for copper, aluminum and lead fell around 7% year on year in 2013 on weak demand, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said Thursday.
Lead posted the largest drop, falling 7.4% year on year to average Yuan 14,249/mt ($2,321/mt), followed by a 7.1% drop in aluminum to Yuan 14,556/mt. The domestic copper price fell 6.9% year on year to average Yuan 53,380/mt, MIIT said on its website.
The smallest change was seen in domestic zinc prices, which inched down 0.5% to average Yuan 15,178/mt.
"Due to lackluster demand in both China and overseas, and market supply having exceeded consumption, metal prices hovered around low levels last year," MIIT said.
Looking ahead, MIIT expects China's 2014 nonferrous metal prices to hover around the lower levels, with growing pressure on resources, energy and environment," MIIT said.
"[China's] 2014 nonferrous metals sector operations should be slightly better than 2013, but not considerably," it said.
CHINA'S END-2013 ALUMINUM SMELTING CAPACITY RISES OVER 4 MIL MT/YEAR
Separately, MITT said China's aluminum smelting capacity totaled 32 million mt/year at the end of 2013, which was a rise of more than 4 million mt/year from end-2012.
"Unfair power systems is the key factor for the chaotic aluminum smelting capacity expansion, and power system reforms are needed to create a fair competitive environment," it said.
The increase is mainly attributed to various new smelters and expansion projects in the western region of China in recent years, particularly in Xinjiang. An estimated 3-4 million mt/year of new capacity is available in the west, most of which were expected to be ready by 2013-2014, state-owned nonferrous metals information division Beijing Antaike had said previously.
Xinjiang's new smelting capacity made up 15-16% of China's overall smelting capacity in 2013, according to Antaike.
Despite prevailing weak domestic aluminum prices in recent years, numerous smelter startups and expansions have continued in the western regions due to abundant natural resources in those areas, which meant lower power and production costs for smelters.
The Chinese aluminum smelting sector's power consumption was 13,740 kWh per metric ton in 2013, down just 104 kWh/mt from 2012.
