Copper Anode Supply Remained Tight despite Rising Imports in Jul

SHANGHAI, Aug 26 (SMM) - According to the General Administration of Customs, China imported 96,000 mt of copper anode in July 2022, an increase of 8.86% MoM and 0.6% YoY. The cumulative imports from January to July 2022 stood at 720,200 mt, an increase of 25.93% YoY.

By country or origin, the imports of copper anode from Zambia recorded 43,000 mt in July 2022, an increase of 42.35% MoM; the DRC 18,000 mt, a decrease of 2.06% MoM; and South Africa 8,000 mt, up 0.06% MoM.

According to SMM research, although the logistics conditions in Africa improved compared with the second half of last year, the situation of truck and sea transport was still unsmooth. Some traders reported that they could merely deliver the long-term orders of blister copper, and the spot transactions were even scarce. In May, the traders rented dry bulk ships to transport 10,000-20,000 mt of Zambia blister copper from the South Africa to China, hence the imports of copper anodes from Zambia posted palpable MoM growth in July.

In terms of spot blister copper imports, there were few transactions of imported spot blister copper recently, and the RCs for spot imports have been lower than for those under long-term orders since mid-May, which was extremely prominent starting from June.

Nonetheless, quickly falling copper prices have tightened the supply of copper scrap, which resulted in limited output of blister copper produced from scrap. Meanwhile, the demand for blister copper is expected to boom amid the maintenance of some smelters as well as the commissioning of some new projects led by Fuye and Jiangxi Hefeng.

In the overseas market, the supply in Africa has been tight as a whole. LCS is still under maintenance, while the logistics in Zambia is yet to recover. The boiler leakage incident of CCS has further intensified the short supply of blister copper.