Price spread between futures contracts widened significantly, prompting suppliers to aggressively cut prices to sell, but trading remained unsatisfactory [SMM South China spot copper]

Published: Aug 12, 2026 11:31

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SMM August 12 news:

Today, spot prices of Guangdong #1 copper cathode against the front-month contract: high-quality copper was quoted at a premium of 20 yuan/mt, down 80 yuan/mt from the previous trading day; standard-quality copper was at a discount of 80 yuan/mt, down 90 yuan/mt; SX-EW copper was at a discount of 140 yuan/mt, down 90 yuan/mt. The average price of #1 copper cathode in Guangdong was 108,410 yuan/mt, down 155 yuan/mt from the previous trading day, while the average price of SX-EW copper was 108,300 yuan/mt, down 160 yuan/mt.

Spot market: Guangdong’s inventory ended a two-session increase and declined again, as the earlier concentrated arrivals ended and arrivals decreased again. As the price spread between futures contracts widened further to 400 yuan/mt today, downstream consumers were reluctant to purchase, and suppliers had to continuously lower premiums to sell. The price of standard-quality copper dropped from an initial 0 yuan/mt to a discount of 80 yuan/mt, where only a small number of deals were made. Today, the purchasing sentiment for copper cathode in Guangdong was 2.24, down 0.07 from the previous trading day, and the selling sentiment was 2.99, up 0.07 (historical data can be accessed by logging into the database).

Overall, the price spread widened significantly, prompting suppliers to rush to sell and cut prices sharply, but transactions remained unsatisfactory.

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