Startup Develops New Technology to Recover Copper from E-Waste

[Shanghai Spot Copper] Looking ahead to tomorrow, the Shanghai spot copper market will officially quote against the 2604 contract. In terms of market structure, the Contango price spread between the 2604 and 2605 contracts was in the range of 110 yuan/mt to 60 yuan/mt. Suppliers showed strong willingness to sell, and with the import window wide open, expectations for continued inflows of cargo from outside China strengthened, putting spot premiums under pressure. Demand side, although copper prices pulled back again below the 100,000 yuan/mt mark, procurement enthusiasm among downstream enterprises did not improve significantly. Intraday trading was light on both buying and selling sides, and at current price levels, end-users still maintained wait-and-see sentiment toward the subsequent price trend, with procurement turning cautious. Supply side, SMM recorded social inventory at 547,300 mt, down 26,600 mt from the previous period, but the absolute level remained high. Coupled with stronger import expectations, overall supply pressure still persisted. Overall, with the contract rollover completed and import expectations strengthening, Shanghai spot copper is expected to remain under pressure tomorrow, and discounts may widen further.

During the day, the SHFE copper 2603 contract fell below 100,000 yuan/mt for the second time, opening at 99,500 yuan/mt and bottoming at 98,640 yuan/mt. Spot market trading activity today pulled back significantly from March 9, when the contract first fell below 100,000 yuan, with both buying and selling sides weak, SMM data showed. Shanghai spot market purchasing sentiment index stood at 2.53 and sales sentiment at 2.63 on March 14, down 0.29 from March 9. On March 9, some enterprises' restocking demand boosted spot trade to a post-holiday high, SMM noted. Today, possibly due to contract rollover, copper prices again traded below 100,000 yuan, but their appeal to downstream enterprises may have weakened.