As of Friday October 27, copper inventories in the domestic bonded zones decreased 8,400 mt from October 20 to 23,100 mt, according to the latest SMM survey. Copper inventories in the Shanghai bonded zone fell 7,600 mt to 18,600 mt, while inventories in the Guangdong bonded zone dipped 800 mt to 4,500 mt. Since after the National Day holidays, the import window for spot copper in Shanghai has remained open, resulting in a rapid decline in domestic bonded zone inventories.
This week, premiums in China’s domestic spot markets continued to rise, with import profit against spot copper in Shanghai exceeding 400 yuan/mt. This incentivised shipments under warrants to grow further. The long poor financing trade environment, combined with the open import window, sent bonded zone inventories hitting a record low, which were more than 600,000 mt five years ago.
