SMM China Copper Inventory across Major Market Dropped 1,000 mt on Week

SHANGHAI, Apr 15 (SMM) – As of April 15 Friday, SMM China copper inventory across major markets in China added 4,000 mt from Monday April 11 to 139,300 mt, down slightly by 1,000 mt from last Friday. The weekly inventory dropped again after a short increase last week. Compared with the domestic inventory recorded on Monday, the local stocks all added except for Shanghai during this period.

In details, the inventory in Shanghai dropped 2,200 mt to 81,500 mt from Monday April 11, added 4,500 mt to 45,300 mt in Guangdong, rose 1,500 mt to 5,700 mt in Jiangsu, and climbed 200 mt to 2,000 mt in Tianjin.

Since the Ministry of Transport issued a document in the middle of the week, the logistics blockage situation has slightly improved, especially in east China which has been greatly hit by the pandemic. According to SMM understanding since Wednesday, buyers could pick up goods at warehouses in Shanghai, but a 24-hour negative nucleic acid testing is required with other strict rules. Although buyers can pick up goods, the freight costs have skyrocketed. The normal shipping per tonne of copper from Shanghai to Changzhou and Wuxi is 70 yuan original, which has been around 300 yuan at present. Downstream manufacturers rarely take goods from Shanghai unless they are making urgent purchases. The stocks in Jiangsu and Guangdong regions are seeing an increase due to improved arrivals by railway, and more goods are shipped to social warehouses approaching the delivery of SHFE 2204 contract.

Looking forward, the social inventory is expected to fall again after the transport returns to normal, when downstream processing companies will resume their production.