Copper Scrap Offers Decline, Payabilities Remain Flat Amid Tight Supply and High Prices
Global copper scrap offers have declined in both volume and quality, causing payabilities to remain flat. Despite tight supply and high prices, suppliers are unwilling to lower their offers due to limited availability of high-grade material.
The number of global copper scrap offers has decreased significantly, and the overall quality of available material has deteriorated. High-grade material with stable composition and suitable specifications for Chinese buyers is becoming increasingly scarce.
China's import data show that imports of recycled copper raw materials fell by nearly 20% MoM in August 2026. This suggests that the effective overseas supply available to Chinese buyers has decreased, despite continued demand for compliant, VAT-invoiced imported material.
Elevated copper prices have increased buyers' procurement costs and working-capital requirements, limiting further gains in payabilities. Current payabilities are already near the upper end of what most downstream companies can accept, and any further increase would narrow the cost advantage of copper scrap over copper cathode and place additional pressure on processing margins.
As China enters the National Day holiday, downstream inquiries and procurement activity are expected to slow, potentially weakening overseas copper scrap trading further. SMM expects the decline in both volume and quality of overseas offers to continue supporting high-grade copper scrap payabilities.