Chinese spot price of 1# refined copper (Cu:≥99.95%) decreased by Yuan 116/tonne day on day to Yuan 69,073/tonne on January 2, according to Mysteel's assessment.
Specifically, spot prices of 1# refined copper in Shanghai under Mysteel's tracking decreased by Yuan 100/tonne day on day to average at Yuan 69,135/tonne, running in the range of Yuan 69,080-69,190/tonne. Moreover, its spot premium rose by Yuan 85/tonne day on day to a premium of Yuan 270/tonne.
Refined copper transactions remained tepid in China today. As today is the first trading day of the year, traders were cautious about quotations in the Shanghai market during the early trading period. Standard copper (e.g. JCC) was quoted at a premium of Yuan 340-350/tonne. However, in the face of the sudden rise in spot premiums, the downstream held a wait-and-see attitude. Therefore, traders had no choice but to reduce quotations. For example, standard copper was lowered to a premium of Yuan 280/tonne, while premium copper (e.g. ENM, 3C-P) was quoted at a premium of Yuan 280-320/tonne, but both sold poorly. In the second trading session of the morning, mainstream copper brands were cut again to a premium of Yuan 250-260/tonne, then the transaction perked up slightly.
The transactions of refined copper rods were subdued in China's main markets today. After New Year's Day, market transactions resumed slightly. However, some small and medium-sized copper rod enterprises were still under maintenance, so their trading enthusiasm was limited. In addition, downstream enterprises had low acceptance of the current high copper prices and premiums. According to Mysteel's survey, small and medium-sized processing enterprises in East China received orders of about 300-500 tonnes today, while large-sized enterprises sold about 1,000 tonnes.
Secondary copper rod transactions in South China warmed up slightly while in East and North China remained lackluster today. The price spread between refined and secondary copper rods did not change significantly. Downstream purchasing sentiment picked up in South China, but transaction volume was low. According to Mysteel's survey, most processing enterprises in South China received new orders of less than 100 tonnes today.
Copper scrap transactions in China were sluggish today. As the spot inventory of suppliers was heavily consumed by previous orders, their willingness to trade was obviously weakened today, resulting in supply shortages in the market. In addition, owing to the continued decline in copper prices and the impact of polluted weather, downstream enterprises' purchasing demand also softened. As a result, they only purchased for rigid demand.
Written by Claudia Jin, jinzheyuan@mysteel.com
Edited by Paula Xu, xuzhongping@mysteel.com