China Knowledge quoted according to the latest statistics released by the National Development and Reform Commission, the combined output of the ten nonferrous metals rose 6.6% YoY last month accelerating from a 6.1% growth in the same month of 2011.

In the first five months, the country ten nonferrous metal output amounted to 14.26 million tonnes up by 5.1% YoY. The growth rate was 3.7 percentage points lower than that in the corresponding period of last year.

The output of aluminum electrolytic rose 10.5% YoY to 7.82 million tonnes in the first five months after rising only 4.0% in the same period of 2011. The output of copper and alumina continue to see slower growth of 8.1% and 9.2% respectively. The output of lead and zinc saw decline of 5.2% and 7% YoY in the period after recording YoY growth of 26.1% and 5.1% in the first five months of 2011.

In May, the prices of major nonferrous metals saw decreases compared with March. The average prices of copper and zinc futures on the Shanghai Futures Exchange stood at CNY 57,637 and CNY 15,271 per tonne down by 2.8% and 0.9% from the previous month or down by 17.3% and 10.9% YoY respectively. The average price of aluminum electrolytic was steady at CNY 16,046 per tonne up by 0.3% MoM but down 3.4% YoY.

In the first four months, the nonferrous metal industry realized CNY 52.4 billion in profit reflecting a decline of 11.2% YoY. The profit of nonferrous metal mining and dressing sector rose 7.3% YoY to CNY 20.7 billion while that of the nonferrous metal smelting and processing sector fell 20.1% to CNY 31.7 billion.