Shanghai Futures Exchange copper eased 0.6 percent to 46,550 yuan ($6,733) a tonne on Friday. "The slide in commodities, triggered by rising stockpiles earlier this week, continued as investors cut bullish bets built up over the course of the year," ANZ said in a report.
In the short term, trade was quiet, as markets awaited US nonfarm payrolls data for February. Meanwhile, BHP Billiton may try to restart production at the world's No.1 copper mine, Escondida in Chile, using temporary workers once a strike surpasses 30 days, while Freeport-McMoRan Inc said it aimed to resume copper concentrate output at its Indonesian Grasberg mine on March 21.
Elsewhere, US aluminium foil producers have filed petitions with their government accusing Chinese manufacturers of dumping the product in the United States. China will move forward with restructuring central government enterprises this year, and focus on the steel, coal, heavy equipment and coal-fired power sectors.
It still has work to do cleaning up its skies, with poor enforcement of environmental laws and inadequate monitoring, the environment minister said on Thursday. A more severe crackdown could impede its production of metals. A steep drop in China's aggregate financing, seen as a proxy for credit available to store metals, spooked traders who worry that Beijing may be clamping down on the type of credit used by the metals industry.
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