Spot Copper Price Movement (2014-3-6)

SHANGHAI, Mar. 6 (SMM) – In the Shanghai physical market, copper was offered Thursday at discounts of RMB 80-160/mt over the most active SHFE copper contract. Traded prices were RMB 48,760-48,960/mt for standard-quality copper and RMB 48,800-49,060/mt for high-quality copper. SHFE continued to fall on Thursday to approach a low of RMB 49,000/mt, with massive sell-offs on the market. Discounts of high-quality copper were lowered to around RMB 100/mt, but standard-quality copper was still held firm. Price gap between high-quality copper and standard-quality copper even narrowed to RMB 20-30/mt, and trading for high-quality copper was brisk due to middlemen speculators. SHFE 1403 copper contract later fell below the RMB 49,000/mt mark, and an increasing number of downstream producers went bargain-hunting. Most investors sold off goods intensively on a bearish view towards copper prices, presaging that the overhang of copper supply is unlikely to improve in the near term. Spot copper looks set to trade at a premium next week.