Spot copper premiums fall further amid hesitant buyers

SHANGHAI, Aug 9 (SMM) – Spot copper was mostly offered at a premium of 20-60 yuan/mt over the SHFE 1808 contract in Shanghai on Thursday August 9. This compared with a premium of 40-90 yuan/mt on Wednesday.

Although the SHFE 1808 contract extended its increase on August 9 after two straight days of rise, downstream doubted the sustainability and mostly took a wait-and-watch stance. 

Trading activity picked up a bit when offers for high-quality copper dipped from a premium of 70 yuan/mt to 40-50 yuan/mt in the morning. While offers for standard-quality copper stood at a premium of just above 40 yuan/mt earlier in the morning, traded prices fell to a premium of 20-30 yuan/mt before noon. Offers of hydro-copper slumped to a discount of 20 yuan/mt to flat over the SHFE 1808 contract. 

The SHFE 1808 contract traded robustly and closed at 49,690 yuan/mt at the end of the morning trading session, up 250 yuan from the same time a day earlier. 

The SHFE 1809 contract traded at around 60 yuan/mt higher than the 1808 contract this morning. The price spread was little changed from August 8. 

At noon, high-grade copper traded at 49,420-49,650 yuan/mt and standard-quality copper traded at 49,400-49,630 yuan/mt.