Explainer: What’s in China’s new five-year plan for commodity markets

China unveiled its 15th five-year plan on Thursday at its annual parliamentary meeting, outlining Beijing’s priorities for the economy and sectors slated for policy support and funding.

Here’s a summary of what matters for commodity markets:

METALS ​AND CRITICAL MINERALS

• China singled out its competitive edge in rare earths for the first time in ‌a five-year plan, pledging to maintain its lead and upgrade the industry.
• Beijing also said it would improve its export control system, which has caused shortages of critical minerals overseas.
• For metals more broadly, China’s push to expand clean energy may boost copper and aluminium ​demand via the massive grid build-out, some of which has already been flagged.
• China is heavily reliant on ​imports like copper and iron ore, and Beijing said it would push for more domestic ⁠exploration and mining, although it gave no examples.

OVERCAPACITY

• China again vowed to tackle overcapacity in heavy industry like steel, ​petrochemicals and copper smelting, although it stopped short of setting goals or calling for cuts to output.
• However Beijing did ​set targets for energy savings to help accelerate restructuring in these carbon-intensive industries.

• China will aim to cut carbon intensity, or how much carbon is released in economic activity, by 17%, slightly below the 18% target set the previous year. Actual carbon ​intensity only fell 12% over the last five years. By focusing only on carbon intensity, emissions can still increase ​as growth does.

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