Southeast Asian Recycled Copper Firms Reassess Operations, with Some Eyeing a Return to Malaysia

Southern Copper reported second-quarter net sales of US$4.289 billion, up 40.6% year on year to a record, with first-half sales up 38.4% to US$8.54 billion. Second-quarter net income was US$1.670 billion, up 71.6%, and first-half income rose 69.2%. Copper output was 230,662 tonnes in the quarter, down 3.5% sequentially, and 461,206 tonnes in the half, down 3.8% year on year as Peruvian mines fell about 12%. The company lifted its 2026 copper guidance to 917,000 tonnes from 910,000. The LME copper average was US$6.04 per pound, up 30%.

On August 28, Guangdong Kingboard Laminates Sales Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of Kingboard Group, issued another price increase notice: due to tight supply and sharp price increases of core raw materials such as fiberglass cloth and copper foil, effective immediately, FR-4 full-thickness specifications will be raised by 10%; PP prepreg thick cloth (7628 and above) will be raised by 10%, and thin cloth (below 7628) will be raised by 20%. Currently, demand in end-use sectors such as AI computing power is performing well, and CCL enterprises have sufficient orders. Against the backdrop of rising raw material costs combined with downstream demand support, price-hike sentiment in the copper clad laminate (CCL) industry continues to heat up, and SMM will continue to track follow-up actions by peer producers.

The following table shows the ferrous and nonferrous metals movement on the SHFE and DCE on 28 Aug , 2026