Copper Scrap Market Prices Lag Behind Copper Amid Invoicing Issues

Copper scrap market prices have seen an unusual pattern this week, where they only edged up when copper prices rose sharply and followed downward when copper prices retreated from highs.

The price difference between copper cathode and copper scrap widened steadily from 3,141 yuan/mt at the start of the week to a weekly high of 4,626 yuan/mt. When copper prices shot up to 111,570 yuan/mt, secondary copper rod enterprises were unable to bear the high raw material prices and kept their quotations unchanged, resulting in almost no transactions intraday.

Suppliers generally complained that high-priced inventory was difficult to digest, and the sales sentiment index fell from 2.71 to 2.61. The invoicing issues brought about by reverse invoicing erupted ahead of the holiday, limiting procurement volume at scrap utilization enterprises and constraining circulation on the supply side.

Looking ahead to next week, the copper scrap market is still expected to center on competition for tax-included cargo, with many scrap utilization enterprises saying their raw material procurement was insufficient, forcing them to suspend production during the holiday period.