Copper Prices Rise on Last Day of SHFE 2608 Contract Amid Inventory Buildup
Copper prices rose on the last trading day of the SHFE copper 2608 contract, but overall trading was sluggish.
According to SMM data, social inventory in Shanghai stood at 80,900 mt, up 1,600 mt WoW from last Thursday, while social inventory in Jiangsu stood at 23,200 mt, up 7,800 mt MoM. The combined inventory buildup in the two regions was 9,400 mt.
The buildup was mainly driven by the return flow of some imports and arrivals of domestic supply, but part of the inventory has been registered as warrants, leaving limited growth in actually available spot cargo.
Copper prices touched a high of 110,000 yuan/mt during intraday trading, with some downstream processing enterprises having scheduled production halts for maintenance. Orders shrank noticeably, and end-users' acceptance of the current high copper prices continued to weaken.