SHANGHAI, Apr. 1 (SMM) – Spot premiums for imported copper nearly halved from a month ago in China as a result of being pressured by an increase in deliveries to Shanghai's bonded warehouses from Chinese smelters.

Yangshan copper premiums, published by Shanghai Metals Market daily, plunged to $70-85 per tonne today, from as high as $140 per tonne in early March.

A persistent increase in Shanghai’s bonded stocks is pressuring down spot premiums for imported material as market talks abound that Chinese smelters are making hefty deliveries there between Mar. 15 to Apr. 15., according to SMM’s research team.

China's six large copper smelters led by Jiangxi Copper Co. planned to triple their exports of refined metal to a total of about 150,000 tonnes per month, Reuter reported in March, while SMM foresaw them deliveriing to Shanghai’s bonded warehouses instead of to London Metal Exchange-registered warehouses in Asia.