Low-priced non-registered copper trades actively, while weak end-user demand suppresses SHFE copper premium [SMM Shanghai spot copper]
[SMM Shanghai spot copper] Looking ahead to tomorrow, as delivery approaches and the inter-month backwardation spread widens further, the cost of rolling over positions for some suppliers has risen noticeably, boosting their willingness to sell spot cargoes, which has pushed mainstream standard-quality copper quotes quickly down to a discount range. Meanwhile, against the relatively strong front-month contract price, some deliverable material is being shifted to warrants, leading to a divergence in spot cargo flows. As of August 11, SHFE copper registered warrants stood at approximately 23,200 mt; as of the morning close on August 12, open interest in the SHFE copper 2608 contract remained around 23,000 lots. The pace of open interest pullback and warrant changes ahead of delivery still warrants close attention. On the demand side, end-use consumption remains sluggish, with downstream purchases still largely need-based, and low-priced non-registered copper trading relatively actively on price advantage but not yet driving a noticeable improvement in overall procurement. Taken together, with the widening backwardation spread, increased willingness to sell among suppliers, and weak end-use demand, spot copper prices against the SHFE 2608 contract are expected to remain under pressure tomorrow, and the spot is likely to stay at a discount.