SHANGHAI, May 4 (SMM) - The economic data released by the United States in early April indicated that the US economy is gradually going downward. The falling US dollar index stimulated the increase in copper prices in early April. As such, copper scrap suppliers shipped at high prices and the scrap supply increased accordingly. In addition, the slow recovery of downstream demand encouraged secondary copper rod enterprises to reduce the production, which reduced the demand for copper scrap. As a result, the overall copper scrap supply was sufficient in early April and the price spread between copper cathode and copper scrap remained above 2,200 yuan/mt.
Copper prices gradually moved down since mid-April and fell to around 67,000 yuan/mt in the second half of the month. Therefore, cargo holders of copper scrap were unwilling to sell and the supply tightened. At the same time, the rising operating rates of secondary copper rod enterprises and the pre-holiday restocking demand further tightened the scrap supply in mid to late April. The price spread between copper cathode and copper scrap narrowed from 2,200 yuan/mt to 1,500 yuan/mt at the end of April.
