Shanghai, May 11 (SMM) – 35% of Chinese copper wire rod producers in expect copper prices to rise further, partly because CFTC reported net long positions in Comex copper increased 327 to 13,923 for the week ending April 28, SMM's latest survey of 20 producers shows.
Technical indicators for both LME and SHFE copper prices are pointing upwards, these producers pointed out.
25% of them believe that copper prices will remain in the current range, influenced by the range-bound gold and crude oil prices. In China, copper trades will continue to decline with investors switching to stocks markets. In addition, SHFE copper rose more slowly than LME copper with positions down sharply, which was interpreted as a sign that there are still doubts about the sustainability of the rally. These factors, combined with increasing spot supply following the price hike will curb the rebound in copper prices.
Only 10% of producers expect copper prices to fall citing limited downward room for the dollar and poor China manufacturing PMI which indicates downward pressure on Chinese economy.
The remaining 30% consider it difficult to predict copper price trends.
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