Copper Inventories in Major Chinese Markets Add 18,700 mt from last Friday

SHANGHAI, Jan 16 (SMM) - As of Monday January 16, SMM copper inventory across major Chinese markets stood at 154,200 mt, up 18,700 mt from last Friday and 61,700 mt from the same period last year when the data was 92,500 mt. The inventory in all major markets rose except that in Zhejiang, Jiangxi and Chongqing. In detail, the inventory in Shanghai added 6,500 mt to 98,400 mt, the inventory in Guangdong rose 6,000 mt to 15,100 mt, the inventory in Jiangsu grew 6,000 mt to 33,600 mt, the inventory in Chengdu increased 100 mt to 600 mt, and the inventory in Tianjin grew 100 mt to 1,500 mt.

The higher inventory in Shanghai, Jiangsu and Guangdong over the weekend was contributed by the delivery of the SHFE 2301 copper contract. In addition, the downstream consumption continued to weaken as some downstream producers were on CNY holiday. In Guangdong, the nearby smelters increased the shipments with the end of maintenance, while the downstream consumption weakened, thus the growth of inventory was higher than that of the previous two weeks.

SMM learned that some goods still cannot be moved to the warehouses due to logistics suspension near the Chinese New Year. Therefore, the social inventory will grow only slightly this week.