Chinese spot price of 1# refined copper (Cu:≥99.95%) fell by Yuan 343/tonne day on day to Yuan 68,063/tonne on July 12, according to Mysteel's assessment.
Specifically, spot prices of 1# refined copper in Shanghai under Mysteel's tracking decreased by Yuan 295/tonne day on day to average at Yuan 68,055/tonne, running in the range of Yuan 67,970-68,140/tonne. Moreover, its discount rose by Yuan 5/tonne day on day to Yuan 5/tonne.
Refined copper transactions in China kept weak. The back structure of the Shanghai Futures Exchange July and August contracts expanded to above Yuan 300/tonne, which drove spot premiums in Shanghai market to drop to a discount in the second trading session. However, due to approaching contract rolling and the big back, transactions are deadlocked. Both sellers and buyers are scarcer today.
The trading volume of refined copper rods in China especially in East China slightly increased with the fall in copper prices. Transactions in East China rose to 400-600 tonnes for small and medium producers and 1000-1600 tonnes for large enterprises. The trade volume of most refined copper rod processing enterprises in North China remained around 200 tonnes today, mainly due to the tight funding of downstream enterprises and the tight supply of raw materials.
The secondary copper rod transactions in major Chinese markets weakened today, mainly because the price spread between refined and secondary copper rods narrowed with the decline of copper prices. In addition, the shortage of raw materials still drove up the production costs of processing enterprises in East China. The trading volume of some processing enterprises in Southern China decreased to less than 200 tonnes today.
Scrap transactions in China remained weak. High temperatures restrained the speed of scrap dismantling, which also tightened the scrap supply. Meanwhile, processing enterprises faced a shortage of raw material supply and narrowed profits, and their willingness to purchase raw materials has decreased.
Written by Edenlis Huang, huangting@mysteel.com
Edited by Paula Xu, xuzhongping@mysteel.com