The Shanghai Futures Exchange's (SHFE) warehouse warrants for copper futures fell by 2,104 tonnes day on day to 28,252 tonnes on March 23, leading to a week-on-week decrease of 28,252 tonnes or 24.38%, and a decrease of 46,199 tonnes or 34.53% month on month.
SHFE copper price rose back to about Yuan 68,400/tonne today, while premiums of refined copper in Shanghai market increased by Yuan 15/tonne. Federal Reserve officials unanimously agreed to increase the Federal Funds Rate by 25 basis points to 4.75-5% in March today. At the same time, in its statement, the Federal Reserve deleted viewpoints supporting continued interest rate hikes, which were interpreted by market participants as the beginning of monetary policy easing. The recent easing of the banking crisis has also reduced risk aversion in the market. The People's Bank of China will lower the deposit-reserve ratio by 0.25 percentage points next week, which will further support domestic consumption.
China's copper demand continued to rebound, reflecting a sharp decline in Chinese copper social inventory and warehouse warrants this week, while the operating rate and orders received by copper semis processing enterprises are still increasing. The peak consumption season for industries such as new energy vehicles and refrigeration equipment has already arrived.
In summary, the easing of the macroeconomic crisis and the deterministic growth of demand in both the short and long term will continue to support copper prices.
Data Source: SHFE
Data Source: SHFE
Written by Edenlis Huang, huangting@mysteel.com
Edited by Ting Ao, aoting@mysteel.com