26 March | Other

Kitco News: Chinese physical copper markets rally amid expectations of robust consumption growth

Kitco News: Chinese physical copper markets rally amid expectations of robust consumption growth

Shanghai copper prices currently trade at a premium to long-term contracts amid expectations of rising Chinese demand. As reported by Kitco News, traders are accelerating refined copper shipments to the US to capitalize on potential arbitrage opportunities ahead of anticipated American tariff measures.

 The current backwardation is minor. It does not cause serious concerns about the supply of copper. Market analysts attribute the price divergence primarily to surging Chinese demand for the industrial metal, according to industry experts cited in the report.

The price dynamics is also driven by the higher exports of refined raw materials from China and smelters' repair works in March due to scarcity of copper concentrate.

Chinese customs data shows a 119% year-on-year rise in export shipments of refined metal in the first 2 months of this year.

Shanghai refined copper inventories declined 4% week-over-week to 333,600 tons as of March 24, according to Shanghai Metals Market (SMM) data. The current stockpile represents a 13.9% year-on-year reduction.

Period: 01.05.2025 Expectation: 1000 pips
GBPUSD to test level of 1.34 again
25 April 2025 55
Brent sell
Period: 01.05.2025 Expectation: 660 pips
Trade uncertainty and excess OPEC+ supply are dragging down Brent
25 April 2025 40
Period: 29.04.2025 Expectation: 600 pips
USDCAD to head towards 1.39400 after rebounding from 1.38200
25 April 2025 35
Period: 02.05.2025 Expectation: 1669 pips
AUDCAD gains on potential easing of trade tensions between US and China
25 April 2025 35
Period: 30.04.2025 Expectation: 12000 pips
ETHUSD set to test upper boundary of downtrend channel
24 April 2025 90
Period: 25.04.2025 Expectation: 500 pips
AUDUSD to fall to 0.63000
24 April 2025 45
Go to forecasts