Spot copper sellers hold back on low inventory

SHANGHAI, Aug 13 (SMM) – Spot copper was mostly offered at a premium of 40-70 yuan/mt over the SHFE 1808 contract in Shanghai on Monday August 13. This compared with a premium of 20-70 yuan/mt on Friday August 10.

With low inventories, sellers were not keen to release cargoes on lower prices. Inventories stood at low levels as deliveries from smelters failed to arrive on a large scale during the weekend. 

A  premium of 50-80 yuan/mt deterred some buyers earlier in the morning. Offers for high-quality copper were lowered to a premium of 60-70 yuan/mt to 40 yuan/mt for standard-quality cargo. Hydro-copper was offered up to a premium of 20 yuan/mt over the SHFE 1808 contract, but traded at a discount of 10 yuan/mt.

The SHFE 1808 contract hovered around 49,500 yuan/mt and closed at 49,540 yuan/mt at the end of the morning trading session, down 80 yuan from the same time last Friday. 

The SHFE 1809 contract traded at  40 yuan/mt higher than the 1808 contract this morning. The price spread narrowed from 90-100 yuan on August 10.

At noon, high-grade copper traded at 49,540-49,580 yuan/mt and standard-quality copper traded at 49,520-49,560 yuan/mt.