Copper prices fluctuated downwards in China's futures and spot markets on August 14, while rebounded at the LME. Though market expectations of a U.S. Fed interest rate increase eased as the core inflation data met forecasts, the Middle East conflicts and other macro uncertainties continued weighing on market sentiment.
China's refined copper trading continued falling on August 14, due to the approaching contract rollover and the deep backwardation structure in near-month futures contracts. Spot premiums stayed generally stable, but may drop in the near term due to sluggish downstream demand. Copper scrap transactions were similarly weak, amid limited spot supply and cautious downstream procurement.
Mysteel's clean copper concentrate spot treatment charge (TC) index stood at -$176.22/dmt as of August 14, continuing falling week on week, with the suspension of PT Smelting's Gresik smelter in Indonesia adding further supply-side disruptions. However, PT Freeport Indonesia also announced that its Manyar smelter is scheduled to resume production in September as copper concentrate output from the Grasberg mine gradually recovers, though the full capacity of Grasberg is unlikely to fully come online until late 2027.
Trading in China's copper semis markets remained subdued on August 14, with the sluggish end-user demand and nearing contract rollover leading to cautious procurement. Meanwhile, invoice quota issues continued to affect scrap processors' raw material availability, constraining output of some copper semis and further limiting overall transactions.
