Smelter Deliveries and Import Inflows Exert Inventory Buildup Pressure on Shanghai Spot Copper

Published: Jun 22, 2026 13:31

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Looking ahead to tomorrow, today's Shanghai social inventory recorded 139,400 mt, up 7,400 mt WoW from last Thursday; Jiangsu's inventory recorded 44,400 mt, up 2,500 mt WoW, showing a slight inventory buildup trend. According to SMM, the buildup was mainly due to arrivals from some domestic smelters combined with inflows of imported cargo, increasing supply-side pressure somewhat. In terms of market performance, intraday trading was overall sluggish. Suppliers quoted premiums from parity to a premium of 30 yuan/mt in early trading, but transactions failed to follow up, leading to successive downward revisions of quotes. By the second session, actual transactions for standard-quality copper had fallen to around a discount of 50-30 yuan/mt. Some suppliers were offloading cargo, further dragging down the center of market premiums. Overall demand was weak, with downstream users only making just-in-time procurement, lacking the willingness to chase higher prices. Overall, under the combined pressure of inventory buildup and increased willingness to sell among suppliers, Shanghai spot copper prices against the SHFE copper 2607 contract are expected to remain at current levels tomorrow.

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