Copper Inventory in Major Chinese Markets Added 9,100 mt This Week

SHANGHAI, Feb 17 — As of Friday February 17, copper stocks in mainstream Chinese Markets tracked by SMM increased by 9,100 mt to 325,400 mt from Monday, an increase of 12,500 mt from last Friday, and an increase of 128,800 mt from the level before Chinese New Year holidays. The post-holiday stock accumulation was slightly above the accumulation of 122,700 mt in the same period last year.  National Domestic inventory has accumulated for eight consecutive weeks since the end of December. Only Jiangsu saw inventory declines. Total inventory climbed 113,600 mt compared to 211,800 mt in the same period last year. The inventory was 66,500 mt higher than the same period last year in Shanghai, 5,200 mt higher than the same period last year in Guangdong, and 28,400 mt higher in Jiangsu. The inventory in Zhejiang exceeded the same period last year by 2,000 mt, and that in Chongqing was 6,200 mt more. Chengdu saw a 3,100 mt increase in inventory from the same period last year, and Tianjin reported a growth of 3,000 mt.

Specifically, the inventory in Shanghai increased by 7,400 mt to 192,600 mt compared with Monday. There were large volumes of arriving shipments of domestic copper especially those from smelters to warehouses due to the delivery early in the week. Arrivals of imported copper were limited, though. The inventory in Guangdong increased by 500 mt to 58,800 mt. This week, the consumption in Guangdong has diminished significantly. SMM understood that due to the previous excessive production and the slow stockpiling by downstream producers recently, the copper semis processing plants have high inventories and were forced to lower operating rates. This can also be reflected in the decline in the average daily shipments from Guangdong. The decline in inventory in Jiangsu was mainly due to the improvement in downstream stockpiling.

As far as we know, the arrivals of imported copper next week will remain limited, and the market supply will be mainly domestic copper. The total supply is expected to remain stable. Consumption next week would underperform this week due to the month-end cash flow issues and downstream consumption having not improved noticeably. To sum up, SMM expect that inventory will continue to increase next week.