Week in Review: China’s property market; oil prices; aerospace aluminum demand

Before we head into the weekend, let’s take a look back at the week that was and some of the metals storylines here on MetalMiner, including whether oil prices can hit $100 per barrel this year, a potentially rapid recovery for aerospace aluminum demand and much more:

Week of Oct. 25-29 (China’s property market, oil prices and more)

• Stuart Burns weighed in on the ongoing turmoil in China’s property market and the potential impact on commodities.
• Chinese auto sales rose by 14.9% on a month-over-month basis in September, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers reported.
• A potential surge in aerospace aluminum demand, on top of recovering automotive demand, would spell bad news for other aluminum consumers looking to secure supply.
• Global copper mine production increased by 3.6% through the first seven months of the year.
• South African miner Sibanye-Stillwater announced plans to acquire copper and nickel mines in Brazil.
• U.S. steel capacity utilization last week fell to 84.7%.
• Nippon Steel has filed lawsuits against Toyota and Chinese steelmaking giant Baosteel, alleging patent infringement.
• The U.S. trade deficit in September rose to $96.3 billion, up from $88.2 billion in August, the Census Bureau reported.
• Oil prices have showed momentum over the last couple of months, leading Burns to wonder about the case for $100 per barrel by the end of the year.
• Global crude steel production fell for the fourth straight month in September.
• U.S. real GDP rose by 2.0% in the third quarter, according to an estimate released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis.
• Novelis plans to invest $375 million to expand its automotive sheet production and recycling operations in China.

More MetalMiner is available on LinkedIn.