Higher prices of futures deepen spot copper discounts

SHANGHAI, Oct 10 (SMM) – Spot copper was mostly offered at a discount of 70-30 yuan/mt over the SHFE October contract in Shanghai on Wednesday October 10. This compared with a discount of 40 yuan/mt to a premium of 30 yuan/mt Tuesday. 

Spot discounts grew as higher prices of copper futures deterred downstream consumers from purchasing. Traders favoured cheaper, standard-quality cargoes, and this accounted for majority of the transactions in the morning. 

Transactions of high-quality copper picked up when its discounts widened to around 50 yuan/mt before noon. Discounts for hydro-copper mostly stood at 100 yuan/mt. 

The SHFE 1810 contract faced pressure at 51,000 yuan/mt and settled at that level at the end of the morning trading session, up 490 yuan/mt from that time Tuesday. The October contract traded around 150 yuan/mt higher from the November one in the morning, compared with a gap of 160-170 yuan/mt a day before. 

At noon, high-grade copper traded at 50,870-50,970 yuan/mt and standard-quality copper traded at 50,850-50,950 yuan/mt.