Data: SHFE, DCE market movement (Mar 12)

SMM Morning Meeting Summary: Overnight, LME copper opened at $13,044/mt. It touched a high of $13,063.5/mt in early trading, then the center moved lower to a low of $12,929/mt, and finally closed at $12,948.5/mt, down 0.77%. Trading volume came in at 17,000 lots, down 235 lots from the previous trading day; open interest stood at 304,000 lots, up 279 lots from the previous trading day, mainly reflecting an increase in bears' positions overall. Overnight, the most-traded SHFE copper 2604 contract opened at 101,240 yuan/mt. It touched a high of 101,240 yuan/mt at the open, then the center moved lower to a low of 100,560 yuan/mt, and finally closed at 100,860 yuan/mt, down 0.15%. Trading volume came in at 26,000 lots, down 62,000 lots from the previous trading day; open interest stood at 189,000 lots, down 3,320 lots from the previous trading day, mainly reflecting a reduction in bulls' positions overall.

[SMM Copper Anode] After the holiday, scrap-derived copper anode producers in China had all resumed normal operations. From March 6 to March 12, the operating rate of SMM scrap-derived copper anode producers was 58.81%, up 10.43 percentage points MoM. As the price difference between primary metal and scrap narrowed and copper anode RCs remained high, the operating rate is expected to fall to 58.72% next week.

At the Phase II construction site of Yukun Materials Technology Co., Ltd.'s recycled copper ingot project, it can be seen that the main structure of the plant has been completed. The entire project is expected to be fully finished in the second quarter. With a total investment of 1.08 billion yuan for Phase II, the annual production capacity of recycled copper ingots is projected to reach 100,000 tons once it reaches full operation.