Spot copper premiums lack support amid oversupply

Published: May 10, 2018 16:46

Save

Spot copper was mostly offered at a premium of 10-100 yuan/mt over the SHFE 1805 contract on Thursday May 10 in the Shanghai market. This compared with a premium of 20-100 yuan/mt on the previous day.

SHANGHAI, May 10 (SMM) – Spot copper was mostly offered at a premium of 10-100 yuan/mt over the SHFE 1805 contract on Thursday May 10 in the Shanghai market. This compared with a premium of 20-100 yuan/mt on the previous day.

Transactions of high-quality copper cooled from the previous days, with cargoes mostly offered at a premium of 80 yuan/mt, SMM learned. Trading of standard-quality copper started to pick up as premiums lowered from 30 yuan/mt to 10 yuan/mt at noon. Offers for hydro-copper stayed at a discount of 60 yuan/mt with limited trading.

The market showed signs of oversupply on Thursday. The SHFE 1805 contract was 200 yuan/mt lower than the 1806 contract, down from a gap of 210 yuan/mt on Wednesday. SMM does not expect spot premiums to remain firm at highs if the price gap continues to narrow.

However, cargoes are also unlikely to be offered at a discount before the delivery day on May 15. Premiums are likely to hover at 0-100 yuan/mt this week.

At noon, higher-grade copper mostly traded at 50,900-50,980 yuan/mt with standard-quality copper at 50,850-50,900 yuan/mt.

For editorial queries, please contact Daisy Tseng at daisy@smm.cn
For more information on how to access our research reports, please email service.en@smm.cn

copper spot market

Data Source Statement: Except for publicly available information, all other data are processed by SMM based on publicly available information, market communication, and relying on SMM‘s internal database model. They are for reference only and do not constitute decision-making recommendations.

For any inquiries or to learn more information, please contact: lemonzhao@smm.cn

For more information on how to access our research reports, please contact:service.en@smm.cn

Related News

1 hour ago

SHFE Copper Broke Below the 100,000 Mark Again, and Downstream Purchase Sentiment Cooled

Intraday, the SHFE copper 2603 contract fell below the 100,000-yuan mark for the second time after trading began. According to SMM, spot market activity today pulled back from March 9, when the contract first fell below 100,000 yuan, with overall trading sentiment remaining subdued on both buying and selling sides. On March 16, 2026, SMM's sentiment index for procurement in the Shanghai spot market was 2.53, while the sales sentiment index was 2.63, both down 0.29 from March 9. Historical data is available in the database. According to SMM, when copper prices fell below 100,000 yuan on March 9, some enterprises had restocking demand, which briefly boosted spot trade and brought it to a post-Chinese New Year trading high. But based on market feedback today, the contract rollover in futures may have had an impact. With copper prices again trading below the 100,000-yuan threshold, downstream enterprises showed signs of weaker acceptance.

1 hour ago

Data: SHFE, DCE market movement (Mar 16)

The following table shows the ferrous and nonferrous metals movement on the SHFE and DCE on 16 Mar , 2026

1 hour ago

3 hours ago

Weekend Destocking of Copper Inventories Continued in Major Regions Across China [SMM Weekly Data]

3 hours ago