With Tight Supply of Low-Priced Copper Scrap, Copper Scrap Sellers Held Prices Firm [SMM Analysis]

Last week, copper prices narrowly fluctuated upwards, with an increase of 400 yuan/mt, while copper scrap prices remained relatively stable, rising by 100 yuan/mt. Secondary copper rod plants reported that procuring copper scrap remained challenging, leading to intermittent production. Additionally, due to the low operating rate of dismantling plants, copper scrap holders held prices firm. Secondary copper rod plants indicated that there was not much low-priced copper scrap in the market, and although sufficient copper scrap could be procured at a premium, the sales profit could not cover production costs. Therefore, secondary copper rod plants primarily procured low-priced copper scrap.

The price of imported copper scrap has been reported at a discount of 400-500 yuan/mt to the spot copper price for three consecutive weeks. Secondary copper rod plants stated that producing with imported copper scrap resulted in a loss of at least 1,000 yuan/mt, hence they did not consider imported sources. Although some secondary copper rod makers reported domestic tax-inclusive bare bright copper prices at 72,200-72,400 yuan/mt, transactions were minimal.

Last week, the CIF price for #1 secondary copper was quoted at a discount of 18-19 cents/lb to the December COMEX copper contract price, and the CIF price for #2 secondary copper was quoted at a discount of 25-26 cents/lb to the December COMEX copper contract price. COMEX brass (66-66.5% against LME) was priced at $6,000-6,050/mt (with limited transactions). The CIF price for copper granules (Cu 98.5%) was quoted at 95.75-96% against LME, and the CIF price for bare bright copper was quoted at 97.5-98% against LME.

Looking ahead to this week, the tight supply of copper scrap has not yet improved, and it is expected that the market will need to pay a premium to procure sufficient copper scrap for production.