Recycled Brass Raw Materials Prices Remained Elevated, Cost Pressure on Copper Billet Enterprises Became More Pronounced

Zijin Mining released its 2025 annual report. The report showed that in 2025, the company’s mines produced 357,453 mt of zinc in zinc concentrates, down 12.19% YoY (same period last year: 407,077 mt); smelting output of zinc ingot was 397,679 mt, up 7.17% YoY (same period last year: 371,057 mt). Lead content in lead concentrates output was 41,065 mt, down 7.51% YoY (same period last year: 44,397 mt). Among them, the Bisha zinc mine produced 83,000 mt of ore-derived zinc and 23,000 mt of copper in 2025, and plans to produce 91,000 mt of ore-derived zinc and 30,000 mt of copper in 2026; Zijin Zinc’s Wulagen zinc (lead) mine produced 136,000 mt of ore-derived zinc and 20,000 mt of ore-derived lead in 2025, and plans to produce 134,000 mt of ore-derived zinc and 18,000 mt of ore-derived lead i

[SMM Shanghai Spot Copper] Looking ahead to tomorrow, the Shanghai spot copper market is expected to see a phased recovery. Demand side, as a new monthly procurement cycle begins, the previously pent-up purchasing demand of downstream enterprises will be gradually released. Coupled with the stockpiling window ahead of the Qingming Festival, market inquiry activity is expected to rebound, and trading conditions may improve significantly from month-end levels, providing some support for spot discounts. From the market structure perspective, the price spread between high-quality copper and standard-quality copper has remained at a relatively narrow level, reflecting that actual consumption demand still dominates the market, while brand premiums have weakened. Supply side, imported cargoes have continued to arrive recently, and the destocking speed of social inventory in Shanghai has slowed, leaving overall circulating supply relatively ample and limiting the room for discount recovery. Overall, driven by early-month procurement and pre-holiday stockpiling, spot prices against the SHFE copper 2604 contract are expected to see some narrowing in discounts tomorrow.