China will release more metal reserves to ease supply shortage – state planner

China will closely monitor market conditions and continue to release copper, aluminum and zinc from its state reserves, in an effort to overcome mismatches between supply and demand, the state planner told a briefing on Thursday.

“Currently, copper, aluminum, and zinc prices are still high,” said Li Hui, an official from the National Development and Reform Commission, adding that the authority will guide prices back to reasonable levels.

The world’s top metals consumer had released 420,000 tonnes of the metals in three batches so far this year via public auctions at prices “slightly lower than market” and had helped fabricators, Li said.

(By Min Zhang and Dominique Patton; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)