Spot Copper Price Movement (2014-3-11)

SHANGHAI, Mar. 11 (SMM) – In the Shanghai physical market, copper was offered on Tuesday at a discount of RMB 20-160/mt over SHFE current-month copper contract. Traded prices were RMB 45,680-46,200/mt for standard-quality copper and RMB 45,740-46,300/mt for high-quality copper. As SHFE copper stabilized, hedged copper supply continued to flock into physical markets, leaving spot copper still trading at a discount. With brisk inquiries in the morning, trading activity recovered. Price gap between standard-quality copper and high-quality copper widened to around RMB 100/mt, and investors favored standard-quality copper and hydro-copper. SHFE copper prices later rebounded by nearly RMB 300/mt, and price gap between SHFE distant-month contracts and SHFE current-month contracts expanded to more than RMB 100/mt, causing cargo holders to hold prices firm. Middlemen thus purchase spot copper and sell off futures contract actively, while downstream producers were increasingly willing to hunt for bargains, with a pickup in trading activity. Spot copper prices hovered between RMB 45,000-46,000/mt on Tuesday.