Chinese copper rod market sees steady prices
2024-03-28 11:05:14 [Print]
BEIJING (Asian Metal) 28 Mar 24 - This week, the consumption for copper rod increases slightly in the Chinese market as most downstream cable producers keep purchasing the material and copper cathode prices tend to be steady. TCs for Chinese copper rod stand at RMB550-650/t (USD76.10-89.94/t) today with mainstream prices at RMB72,550-72,650/t (USD10,038-10,052/t) delivered, basically the same as yesterday. Insiders expect that mainstream delivered prices for Chinese copper rod would go up slightly in the following days.
A Jiangsu-based producer said, "Copper cathode prices in the futures market basically stabilize at about RMB72,000/t (USD9,962/t) this week. Today our TC of drawable copper rod is RMB600/t (USD83.01/t) and that of ordinary copper rod is RMB550/t (USD76.10/t). We sell 1,050t and 1,000t of copper rod today and yesterday respectively at the same price." According to the producer, most copper rod producers keep their operating rates at 60%-70% now and are still watching the market outlook with no plan to raise output.
With an annual production capacity of about 400,000t, the producer expects that their operating rate would be 70% this month and the output would reach 24,000t, up by 2,000t MoM. They hold 1,500t of stocks today, 700t higher than the end of last month.
"Orders increase slightly at present, but are still much fewer than imagined as most buyers are still waiting on the sidelines. We sell about 650t of copper rod at the TC of about RMB570/t (USD78.86/t) today, unchanged from yesterday when we sold 600t of the material. As for long-term orders, the TC could be RMB600/t (USD83.01/t)," a producer in Anhui disclosed.
With an annual production capacity of about 400,000t, the producer expects that their operating rate would be 55% in March and the output would reach 18,000t, up by 8,000t from February. They don't hold any stocks today, in comparison to 600t at the end of last month.
A Jiangsu-based producer said, "Copper cathode prices in the futures market basically stabilize at about RMB72,000/t (USD9,962/t) this week. Today our TC of drawable copper rod is RMB600/t (USD83.01/t) and that of ordinary copper rod is RMB550/t (USD76.10/t). We sell 1,050t and 1,000t of copper rod today and yesterday respectively at the same price." According to the producer, most copper rod producers keep their operating rates at 60%-70% now and are still watching the market outlook with no plan to raise output.
With an annual production capacity of about 400,000t, the producer expects that their operating rate would be 70% this month and the output would reach 24,000t, up by 2,000t MoM. They hold 1,500t of stocks today, 700t higher than the end of last month.
"Orders increase slightly at present, but are still much fewer than imagined as most buyers are still waiting on the sidelines. We sell about 650t of copper rod at the TC of about RMB570/t (USD78.86/t) today, unchanged from yesterday when we sold 600t of the material. As for long-term orders, the TC could be RMB600/t (USD83.01/t)," a producer in Anhui disclosed.
With an annual production capacity of about 400,000t, the producer expects that their operating rate would be 55% in March and the output would reach 18,000t, up by 8,000t from February. They don't hold any stocks today, in comparison to 600t at the end of last month.
