SHANGHAI: China plans to add to its strategic reserves of key industrial metals this year, an effort to boost the resilience of critical minerals supply at time when energy-transition demand is increasing and geopolitical tensions are running high.
Cobalt, copper, nickel and lithium are among the metals the government plans to purchase, according to sources.
The National Food and Strategic Reserves Administration, which manages the country’s official commodities stockpiles, has made price inquiries and sought to bid for some of these metals, the, people said.
The National Development & Reform Commission (NDRC) – China’s top planning body, whose purview includes stockpiles – had signalled the plan in its report for the country’s annual parliament earlier this month, saying that the country would “move faster to fulfil the yearly task of stockpiling strategic goods.”
The NDRC didn’t respond to a faxed request for comment. China’s state stockpiler, previously known as the State Reserve Bureau, manages everything from inventories of crude oil to pork and copper, and the scale of its purchases means it can have material impact on market prices.
The agency has already been increasing metal stocks including cobalt in recent years, and has also replaced old copper inventories with newer ones in rotation.
It also aims to improve the management of reserves, and operational efficiency. — Bloomberg
