The Chinese language Securities Times paper has reported that the country may be considering selling their existing inventories of metals in an effort to raise supply and bring prices down. The move would mark an end to China’s stockpiling strategy. However the paper failed to quote a source for the information and China is notoriously secretive when it comes to its metal industry, so it is uncertain as to whether or not the rumours are true.

The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology have apparently reviewed a plan on the development on the nonferrous metals industry, leading to the conclusion that stockpiling should be suspended on metals with elevated prices in an effort to drive the market prices down. There were no details as to which metals would apparently be part of the scheme however.

“It is not a good time for the reserve management agency to sell as lots of producers are already running in the red,” Che Hongyun, chief analyst at Galaxy Futures Co., said by phone from Beijing. “As a country short of minerals with huge demand, metal stockpiling should continue to be the key tone.”