Price Difference Between Copper Cathode and Copper Scrap Widens by Over 2,000 Yuan, Spurring Arbitrage Purchases to Dominate Transactions [SMM Analysis]
[SMM Analysis: Price Spread Between Copper Cathode and Copper Scrap Widens by Over 2,000 Yuan, Driving Dominance of Hedging-Based Procurement] This week (July 13 – July 16), the copper scrap market operated under a triple framework of retreat after rapid rise in copper prices, ongoing compliance constraints from reverse invoicing, and intensifying high-temperature off-season. The most-traded SHFE copper contract surged to 105,020 yuan/mt mid-week, gaining nearly 2,000 yuan/mt for the full week compared to the start of the week. However, copper scrap was supported by compliance costs and suppliers holding prices firm, with full-week price fluctuations of less than 1,000 yuan/mt. The price spread between copper cathode and copper scrap widened from 2,445 yuan/mt at the start of the week to 3,923 yuan/mt, a WoW increase of over 2,200 yuan/mt, entirely driven by the unilateral rise in copper cathode prices. The resilience of copper scrap itself was the key supply-side feature this week, which directly gave rise to hedging-based procurement demand from secondary copper rod enterprises.....