SHANGHAI, Dec 28 (SMM) – The trades in the copper import market was muted as the import window was closed. And the import premiums weakened.

The import losses expanded and exceeded 800 yuan/mt against the January contract in the second half of the week. This, together with the falling quotes in the domestic spot market, depressed the import demand. The traders who wanted to liquidate stocks before the Chinese New Year lowered their quotes. Recently, the quotations of the mainstream pyro-copper slated to arrive in the near term stood at $95/mt at the beginning of the week, and fell to $90/mt at the end of the week. There were several deals of domestic pyro-copper brands under warrants with lower prices. Import premiums under warrants are currently quoted at $80-96/mt, down $14/mt from a week earlier on average, and quotes for B/L are $68-88/mt, a decline of $8/mt.

There will be only three trading days of the LME market this week. Trades are expected to cool further this week as market participants remain cautious and are actively liquidating the stocks. This will keep Yangshan copper premiums at a low level.