According to the latest statistics released by the National Development and Reform Commission, the combined output of the ten nonferrous metals rose 10.3% YoY last month, accelerating from a 2.3% growth in the same month of 2012,

In the first four months, the country's ten nonferrous metal output amounted to 12.81 million metric tonnes, up 11.4% YoY. The growth rate was 6.8 percentage points lower than that in the corresponding period of last year.

The output of aluminum electrolytic rose 10.3% YoY to 7.01 million metric tons in the first four months, after rising 10.7% in the same period of 2012. The output of copper and alumina continue to see faster growth of 11.3% and 12.4%, respectively.

The output of lead and zinc saw increase of 16.8% and 8.7% YoY in the period, after recording Y-o-Y decline of 8.8% and 7.3% in the first four months of 2012.

In April, 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 RMB 55,285 and RMB 14,681 per metric ton, down 3.5% and 3.8% from the previous month, or down 6.8% and 4.7% YoY, respectively. The average price of aluminum electrolytic fell 0.5% MoM or 9% YoY at RMB 14,560 per metric tonne compared with March, and the price of lead dropped 3% MoM or 8.5% YoY to RMB 14,315 per metric tonne.

In the first quarter, the nonferrous metal industry realized RMB 38.79 billion in profit, reflecting a decline of 3.1% YoY. The profit of nonferrous metal mining and dressing sector rose 1.9% YoY to RMB 14.77 billion, while that of the nonferrous metal smelting and processing sector fell 3.8% to RMB 24.02 billion.