There was an air of optimism among copper participants attending a conference in the Chinese city of Qiqihar on Thursday September 5, with many there telling Fastmarkets they had heard deals and offers for copper cathode at higher levels than in recent weeks due to improving market fundamentals.
The higher offers and deals for copper cathode basis cif and in-warehouse Shanghai heard on Thursday follow a narrowing of import losses between London and Shanghai since last month and tighter availability of certain brands of cathode in Shanghai.
“Top Chilean electro-refined (ER) brands like CCCP and ENM have traded at premiums as high as $85 per tonne, while offers were heard higher still at around $88-89 per tonne this week – though no deals above $85 per tonne have been heard in the market,” a Shanghai-based trader said.
“The most important point is that Shanghai-bonded copper stocks are pretty low now and continue to decrease. Market participants can rarely find top brands like CCCP and ENM in the Shanghai-bonded zone at the moment,” the trader added.
Shanghai-bonded copper stocks stood at 360,000-365,000 tonnes at the end of August, marking a month-on-month decrease of 7.8% from 391,000-395,000 tonnes in July, according to…