Chinese spot price of 1# refined copper (Cu:≥99.95%) fell by Yuan 401/tonne day on day to Yuan 69,772/tonne on September 5, according to Mysteel's assessment.
Specifically, spot prices of 1# refined copper in Shanghai under Mysteel's tracking decreased by Yuan 400/tonne day on day to average at Yuan 69,805/tonne, running in the range of Yuan 69,760-69,850tonne. Moreover, its premium fell by Yuan 115/tonne day on day to Yuan 130/tonne.
Refined copper transactions in China slightly improved. The spot premium in Shanghai market was quoted at Yuan 230-250/tonne at the beginning of the morning session. As both imported and domestic copper arrived, traders reduced the spot premium sharply to Yuan 110/tonne. Downstream procurements increased after spot premiums fell. Meanwhile, the price spread between Shanghai Futures Exchange September and October contracts turned steady at around Yuan 300/tonne.
The trading volume of refined copper rods in East China increased while other regions kept flat.
Transactions in East China rose to 500-800 tonnes for small and medium producers and 1,600-1,800 tonnes for large enterprises while delivery in South China remained at 200-300 tonnes. The price decline stimulated end users in East China but cable producers in North China reflected that the orderbooks failed to improve obviously in demand peak season.
Secondary copper rod transactions in China remained weak. Although the price advantage of secondary copper rods kept at Yuan 1,300/tonne in recent days, with the supply tightness of raw materials, the prices of secondary rods remained high, which depressed end users' demand. The delivery time period in Jiangxi market reached 5 days and the trading volume achieved 100-200 tonnes.
Scrap transactions in China began to decrease. Scrap holders held low inventory after consecutive delivery and processing enterprises purchased based on orderbooks due to the difficulty of sourcing raw material.
Written by Ting Ao, aoting@mysteel.com
Edited by Paula Xu, xuzhongping@mysteel.com
