Chinese spot price of 1# refined copper (Cu:≥99.95%) fell by Yuan 31/tonne day on day to Yuan 68,178/tonne on February 9, according to Mysteel's assessment.
Specifically, spot prices of 1# refined copper in Shanghai under Mysteel's tracking increased slightly by Yuan 5/tonne day on day to average at Yuan 68,230/tonne, running in the range of Yuan 68,160-68,300/tonne. Moreover, its discount narrowed by Yuan 15/tonne day on day to flat today.
Refined copper transactions in East and North China continuously improved with the recent decline in copper prices. Shanghai Futures Exchange (SHFE) copper price contango remained at Yuan 120/tonne, which boosted the confidence of market participants. Most processing enterprises have resumed production with increasing raw materials purchases. While the raw materials inventory of processing enterprises in South China was relatively insufficient. Therefore, stronger purchasing willingness in South China made the premium increase more obvious.
China's refined copper rod transactions were weak today. Downstream customers responded to Mysteel that they were still not optimistic about copper prices, so they had poor purchasing intentions. Turnover of large processing enterprises in East China and South China was only about 300 tonnes and 200 tonnes today, with a significant decline day on day. Due to limited raw materials inventories, secondary copper rod processing enterprises raised the price today to reduce sales volume, which narrowed the price advantage of secondary copper rods, so the market transaction was extremely cold.
China's copper scrap transactions were poor today. The traders said their inventory was sufficient and intend to actively sell as the copper price was high. However, downstream processing enterprises wouldn't like to accept. So, they only maintained the purchase on demand and were unwilling to pay higher premiums.
Written by Edenlis Huang, huangting@mysteel.com
Edited by Paula Xu, xuzhongping@mysteel.com