MNI China Daily Summary: Thursday, February 13
EXCLUSIVE:Copper prices are expected to reach about CNY80,000 per tonne this year, up from January’s CNY72,000, as supply tightens and Chinese demand remains firm, local analysts told MNI.
POLICY: The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) said it will enhance the resilience of the foreign exchange market and correct any pro-cyclical market behavior, according to the central bank’s Q4 monetary policy report.
POLICY: The PBOC will strengthen counter-cyclical efforts and keep liquidity ample through available tools including interest rates and reserve requirement ratio reductions, according to the latest Monetary Policy Report posted on the Bank’s website.
LIQUIDITY: The PBOC conducted CNY125.8 billion via 7-day reverse repos, with the rate unchanged at 1.50%. The operation led to a net drain of CNY149.7 billion after offsetting the maturity of CNY275.5 billion today, according to Wind Information.
RATES: The seven-day weighted average interbank repo rate for depository institutions (DR007) rose to 1.8199% from 1.8500% previously, Wind Information showed. The overnight repo average increased to 1.8635% from the previous 1.8147%.
YUAN: The currency strengthened to 7.2927 against the dollar from the previous 7.3089. The PBOC set the dollar-yuan central parity rate higher at 7.1719, compared with 7.1710 set on Wednesday. The fixing was estimated at 7.3105 by Bloomberg survey today.
BONDS: The yield on 10-year China Government Bonds was last at 1.6290%, up from the previous close of 1.6268%, according to Wind Information.
STOCKS: The Shanghai Composite Index fell 0.42% to 3,332.48, while the CSI300 index edged down 0.38% to 3,905.14. The Hang Seng Index was down 0.20% to 21,814.37.
FROM THE PRESS: Washington’s decision to remove eventually de minimis exemptions for small packages will increase Chinese e-commerce use of sea freight and U.S. warehousing services, while lowering demand for air freighters, according to Ni Xiaorong, president at freight forwarding firm Deutsche Bahn in China. Current tariff levels will not reduce China’s overseas demand significantly, according to the head of a large freight enterprise company Yicai interviewed. (Source: Yicai)
China will make efforts to increase domestic copper resources by 5-10% to improve supply chain resilience by 2027, Economic Daily reported, citing a document released by 11 ministries including National Development and Reform Commission. China will increase copper reserves and build several large and medium-sized copper mines, the document said. China has become the world's largest producer and consumer of copper products, with the output of refined and processed copper materials reaching 13.6 and 23.5 million tonnes in 2024, the newspaper said.
China’s E-commerce Logistics Index reached 109.2 points in January, down 3.5 points from December as merchants suspended operations during the Spring Festival, data from the China Federation of Logistics showed. However, Securities Daily noted the State Post Bureau delivered 1.1 billion express packages during the holiday, up 31% versus 2024.