Stockpiling News Fails to Boost Copper; February Market Still Bearish, SMM Interviews

SHANGHAI, Jan. 30 (SMM) – Copper prices remained weak lately although three industry sources said China’s State Reserve Bureau planned to purchase about 200,000 tonnes of copper this year. Now that copper prices on the Shanghai Futures Exchange have neared a 5.5-year low, how do Chinese futures analysts see February’s copper market?

“Poor outlook for the global growth and the continuous falls in crude oil will still pressure copper prices,” an analyst from Minmetals Futures told SMM in the latest interview.

“With respect to market fundamentals, a lack of buying activities during an offseason and waning demand for finance-driven copper both bode ill for prices, while supply is likely to grow with blister copper output on the rise,” the analyst added.

Analyst from Wanda Futures also sees copper prices to fall further in February, citing anemic consumption.

“There will be only three trading days left in February after the Chinese New Year holiday, and we hold that copper prices will remain depressed before the holiday when copper market is still in the low-demand season,” the analyst said, “besides, although some expect an RRR cut around the holiday, the funds are likely to flow into industrial companies, as a result, copper prices may not rebound before any substantial improvement in demand.”
 

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