Sluggish Month-End Purchasing as Holders Hold Back from Selling; Tight Supply of Cargoes with Invoices Dated This Month Pushes Up SHFE Copper Premium [SMM Shanghai Spot Copper]

SMM April 29:

In the morning session, SHFE copper 2605 showed a one-sided strong upward trend. The opening price was 101,060 yuan/mt. Prices continued to rise after the opening, reaching a high of 101,850 yuan/mt, then pulled back slightly before the close, with a closing price of 101,750 yuan/mt. The inter-month Contango price spread between futures contracts ranged from 80 yuan/mt to 10 yuan/mt. The import profit margin for SHFE copper against the 2605 contract for the current month ranged from a profit of 50 yuan/mt to a profit of 150 yuan/mt.

Intraday, copper cathode trading sentiment in Shanghai rebounded. The selling sentiment was 2.59, down 0.07 MoM, and the purchasing sentiment was 2.58, up 0.05 MoM.. In the early morning session, suppliers offered standard-quality copper such as Lufang, JCC, and Xiangguang with cargoes with invoices dated next month at premiums of 40-50 yuan/mt. Zhongtiaoshan cargoes with invoices dated this month were quickly traded at a premium of 70 yuan/mt. Zhongtiaoshan PC, Zhongtiaoshan high-purity, and South Korean brands were quoted at premiums of 70 yuan/mt for cargoes with invoices dated the month after next. In the second trading session, low-priced cargoes were hard to find. Jinguan, Jintun PC, Jinfeng, Jinxin and other brands quoted factory-pickup cargoes with invoices dated this month at premiums of 60-80 yuan/mt. Lufang, JCC and others quoted cargoes with invoices dated next month at premiums of 50-60 yuan/mt. High-quality copper Jintun large cathodes were quoted at a premium of 150 yuan/mt for factory-pickup cargoes with invoices dated this month, and high-quality copper Guixi was quoted at a premium of 120 yuan/mt for cargoes with invoices dated next month.

Looking ahead to tomorrow, enterprises with pre-holiday stockpiling needs have largely completed their stockpiling, and market trading activity is expected to turn sluggish. Supplier side, with month-end settlement approaching, willingness to sell remains weak, asking prices for cargoes with invoices dated this month are relatively high, and available low-priced cargoes are limited, providing strong support for spot premiums. Supply side, the import window has opened, and expectations for inflows of ex-China cargoes are strengthening, but considering logistics and customs clearance delays, the short-term impact on the spot market is limited, and the pace of post-holiday arrivals warrants attention. Overall, Shanghai spot copper prices against the SHFE copper 2605 contract are expected to maintain premiums tomorrow.