Cooler demand, sufficient supplies to widen spot copper discounts 

SHANGHAI, Oct 24 (SMM) – Spot copper was mostly offered at a discount of 30 yuan/mt to a premium of 20 yuan/mt over the SHFE November contract in Shanghai on Wednesday October 24. This compared with a discount of 20 yuan/mt on October 23. 

As transactions for long-term contracts ended, cooler demand widened spot discounts to 30-20 yuan/mt for standard-quality copper and to 150 yuan/mt for hydro-copper before noon. These were 10-30 yuan/mt deeper from earlier in the morning. 

The market also heard offers for cargoes with a November invoice, at a discount of 50-40 yuan/mt for standard quality copper. But products with an October invoice accounted for most of the trades.

Sufficient supplies of cargoes with November invoices are likely to further weigh on spot discounts tomorrow, SMM expects. 

The SHFE 1811 contract struggled around the 50,000 yuan/mt level and settled at 50,160 yuan/mt at the end of the morning trading session, down 170 yuan/mt from that timeon Tuesday. 

At noon on October 24, high-grade copper traded at 50,050-50,120 yuan/mt and standard-quality copper traded at 50,020-50,080 yuan/mt.