Snapshot: Copper spot market in Shanghai

[SMM Analysis: opper Concentrate Tightness Spreads to Scrap Market—Why Are Copper Scrap Prices Staying High?] Tight copper concentrate supply and deeply negative TCs are pushing smelters and fabricators toward recycled feedstock. Low global inventories, slow scrap generation and shortages of compliant material in China are supporting high payabilities. SMM expects import demand to remain firm, although any release of accumulated tax-excluded scrap in China could pressure prices.

Sinomine Resource Group (002738.SZ) reported further construction progress at its integrated Kitumba copper mining, processing and metallurgical project in Zambia. As of August 2026, the project’s 38-km water pipeline had been fully commissioned, while the primary crushing plant successfully completed its first integrated trial run with ore. The core supporting infrastructure and front-end crushing system are now ready for commissioning, marking the project’s entry into the final stage of construction. Kitumba is designed to process 3.5 million tonnes of ore annually, with a metallurgical capacity of 35,000 tonnes of copper cathode per year. At steady state, the project is expected to produce an average of 33,000 tonnes of copper cathode and 55,000 tonnes of copper concentrate annually. It has a designed operating life of 15 years and is expected to produce a total of 570,200 tonnes of contained copper over that period.

The following table shows the ferrous and nonferrous metals movement on the SHFE and DCE on 26 Aug , 2026