SHFE Copper Fell Below the 100,000 Mark, Boosting Downstream Buying Interest Intraday [SMM North China Spot Copper]

Published: Mar 16, 2026 11:16
In North China today, spot #1 copper cathode was quoted at parity to a premium of 120 yuan/mt against the front-month contract, with the average premium at 60 yuan/mt, up 20 yuan/mt from the previous trading day. The average transaction price was 99,125 yuan/mt, down 1,345 yuan/mt from the previous trading day.

SMM News, March 16:

Today, spot #1 copper cathode in North China was quoted at parity to a premium of 120 yuan/mt against the front-month contract, with the average premium at 60 yuan/mt, up 20 yuan/mt from the previous trading day. The average transaction price was 99,125 yuan/mt, down 1,345 yuan/mt from the previous trading day. On the day of contract rollover and delivery, spot premiums rose under the influence of the price spread between futures contracts. As copper prices again fell below the 100,000 yuan/mt threshold, downstream buying interest was boosted intraday. Today, the procurement sentiment for copper cathode in North China was 3.03, up 0.17 from the previous trading day, while shipments sentiment was 2.05, up 0.49 from the previous trading day ().

Data Source Statement: Except for publicly available information, all other data are processed by SMM based on publicly available information, market communication, and relying on SMM‘s internal database model. They are for reference only and do not constitute decision-making recommendations.

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