Tech Firms Push Closed-Loop Recycled Copper Supply Chains

[SMM Shanghai Spot Copper] The widening contango price spread between futures contracts for nearby months continued to strengthen suppliers’ willingness to ship to delivery warehouses, further tightening the availability of freely tradable spot copper and providing solid support for spot premiums. Against this backdrop, suppliers showed strong sentiment to hold prices firm during the day, with offers remaining firm. Demand side, downstream buyers maintained just-in-time procurement, providing some support for prices; supply side, although social inventory remained at a high level, more than half of the cargoes had already been converted into warrants, and spot circulation stayed tight. Shanghai added 1,759 mt of warrants yesterday, further intensifying the tightness in freely tradable cargo availability. Overall, under the dominance of delivery logic, Shanghai spot copper premiums are expected to remain in premium territory tomorrow.

[SMM North China Copper Cathode Spot Market] As consumption in the northern copper cathode market has warmed noticeably in recent days, downstream buyers made concentrated purchases, causing spot supply in the market to become tight, and spot premiums continued to rise.