[SMM Price] April 3, 2020 copper spot discount in Shanghai market

[SMM Brass Bar Flash News] Affected by tight recycled brass raw materials supply, brass billet enterprises' raw material inventory remained at a medium level of 4.4 days; finished product inventories edged up to 5.25 days due to a slowdown in downstream cargo pick-up.

As of Thursday, the average spot premiums in Shandong stood at a discount of 30 yuan/mt. Spot supply in Shandong was generally tight this week, and the spread between high and low quotes in the market was significant; the pullback in the center of copper prices drove some recovery in provincial demand, suppliers showed a strong willingness to hold prices firm, and spot prices moved closer to those in Shanghai.

[SMM Brass Bar Flash] Affected by the sharp correction in copper prices, some terminal clients saw intensified wait-and-see sentiment, and the pace of order placement slowed somewhat, causing certain disruptions to new orders for brass billet. Overall, however, most large and medium-sized enterprises currently had sufficient orders on hand and were stepping up production to rush deliveries, driving the operating rate of the brass billet industry up 2.18 percentage points WoW to 54.13% this week (3.13-3.19).