Indian copper prices showed a declining trend in the past week (19-25 March). SteelMint’s assessment for copper armature scrap prices stood at INR 745,000/t ($9,720/t) today, falling by INR 7,000/t ($91/t) w-o-w. This reflected in primary copper wire rod prices which were at INR 838,000/t ($10,933/t), down by INR 20,000/t ($261/t) w-o-w. Secondary copper wire rod prices were also down by INR 9,000/t ($117/t) on a w-o-w basis to INR 796,000/t ($10,385/t).
Overall, London Metal Exchange (LME) three-month copper contract prices remained range-bound owing to fluctuating stock levels last week. LME-registered warehouses recorded stocks of 93,975 t at the beginning of April. Stocks increased significantly by around 16% to 137,775 t on 22 April.
Today, LME three-month copper prices were down 1.2% in the morning trading session. This comes amid a broad-based sell-off in the base metals. The sell-off was driven by long liquidation judging by a 0.9% drop in the open interest.
Copper futures dropped by 2.55% w-o-w on 22 April, which is the worst weekly performance since prices started spiralling up in January.
The futures prices tumbled on concerns of US Federal signalling aggressive hike in interest rates in May or June and the uncontrolled spread of Covid in China. It is anticipated that the current negative demand adjustment is only temporary. However, market participants continue to believe that demand will outstrip supply in 2022, which should push prices higher by the end of the year.
.jpg)
Leave a Reply