Spot copper discounts widen amid oversupply, lower futures price

SHANGHAI, Jun 25 (SMM) – Spot copper was mostly offered at a discount of 180-110 over the SHFE 1807 contract in the Shanghai market on Monday June 25. This compared with a discount of 160-110 yuan/mt on Friday June 22.

The SHFE 1807 contract gained 360 yuan/mt to a high at 51,930 yuan/mt in the morning as China's central bank said it will cut the required reserve ratio by 0.5 percentage point effective July 5, unlocking about 700 billion yuan of liquidity. However, the contract faced pressure at 52,000 yuan/mt and tumbled to close at a low of 51,510 yuan/mt. 

As futures price dipped, spot discounts widened amid oversupply in the market. While spot copper with June invoices dominated majority of the demand, cargoes with invoices in July saw discounts deepened to 180 yuan/mt for standard-quality copper, and to 130 yuan/mt for high-quality one. This was 10 yuan/mt and 20-30 yuan/mt wider from last Friday, respectively. 

Offers of hydro-copper were lowered from a discount of 220 yuan/mt to 260 yuan/mt during the day as downstream buyers made few purchases. 

At noon, high-grade copper traded at 51,660-51,800 yuan/mt and standard-quality copper traded at 51,640-51,760 yuan/mt.