Copper Inventory in Major Chinese markets Added 8,300 mt This Week

SHANGHAI, Jan 28 (SMM) – As of Friday, January 28, the copper inventories in major domestic markets increased 8,300 mt from Monday to 98,700 mt, and added 9,700 mt from a week earlier, growing for the third straight week.

The domestic inventories began to accumulate but the growth was less than the same period last year. The stock accumulation in the last week before the CNY holidays of 2021 stood at 16,000 mt. Compared with Monday, only the inventory in Tianjin dipped slightly, while the inventory grew across Shanghai, Guangdong and Jiangsu. The inventory in other areas changed little.

The stocks in Shanghai increased by 4,900 mt to 67,300 mt; stocks in Guangdong increased by 3,400 mt to 16,600 mt; stocks in Jiangsu increased by 1,000 mt to 10,300 mt; stocks in Tianjin decreased by 1,000 mt to 2,000 mt mt.

As Tianjin is still affected by the COVID and consumption is still poor, smelters in the north turned to ship cargoes to the south, causing the local inventories to decline this week. The increased arriving shipments and weaker consumption in east China and Guangdong drove the inventories to grow.

There will be fewer workers stay put during CNY holidays this year compared with last year, and the consumption will unlikely return to normal levels in the first week following CNY holidays. Therefore, the stock accumulation in the first week following CNY holidays may exceed that in the same period last year.