The intraday brand price spread remains unchanged, with Shanghai spot copper transactions closing in on parity [SMM Shanghai spot copper]

SMM News on June 6:

       Today, spot #1 copper cathode against the front-month 2506 contract was quoted at parity to a premium of 150 yuan/mt, with an average quoted premium of 75 yuan/mt, down 15 yuan/mt from the previous trading day. The SMM #1 copper cathode price was 78,760-78,990 yuan/mt. In the morning session, the front-month SHFE copper contract moved relatively steadily, fluctuating rangebound between 78,750-78,850 yuan/mt during the main trading hours. The price spread between futures contracts (BACK) for the next month fluctuated around 100 yuan/mt, and import losses continued to widen, prompting domestic smelters to increase export efforts.

       In the morning session, suppliers quoted high-quality copper at a premium of 120-180 yuan/mt. Copper from producers such as Tiefeng, Dajiang, and South Korea was quoted at a discount of 20 yuan/mt to a premium of 10 yuan/mt. Imported Jinchuan PC and JCC Qingyuan were initially quoted at a premium of 20-50 yuan/mt. Copper from Xiangguang, Lufang, and JCC remained in tight supply throughout the day, with transactions concluded at premiums of 70-130 yuan/mt. However, due to recent trade circulation needs, such supply has been difficult to flow in large quantities into the spot market. Therefore, when SMM determines the price of standard-quality copper, it temporarily does not consider excessively high premiums or small-volume transactions (e.g., non-hundred-tonne increments or only 100 mt). Towards the end of the morning trading session, a few traders suddenly began purchasing, with sources such as Jintun PC being traded at a premium of 10 yuan/mt.

       Looking ahead to next week, as the contract rollover approaches, there is still a gap between the current open interest and the available warrants. With the price spread between futures contracts (BACK) for the next month at only 100 yuan/mt and smelters expressing export intentions, the deliverable supply that can be organized in the market next week will be limited. Caution is advised against the risk of the price spread widening further.