Money managers have significantly increased net long positions in CME copper futures, reaching the highest level since 2021. Investors are positioning for stronger demand and potential trade-policy impacts on copper markets.

[SMM Secondary Copper Rod Flash] In midday trading today, the front-month contract closed at 103,930 yuan/mt, down 220 yuan/mt from the previous trading day. Secondary copper rod quotations in Hubei were at a discount of 80 yuan/mt against the average price of the front-month contract. Recently, copper futures prices pulled back significantly, but the decline in copper scrap was relatively limited. The market showed a strong intention to hold prices firm, with some quotations already close to the futures level or even at a slight premium.

Driven by wild swings in copper prices, the copper scrap market this week operated under their dominance; the sharp fluctuations in futures and spot prices profoundly affected the mentality and behavior of all links in the industry chain, and the market exhibited typical “price-driven, tug-of-war between sellers and buyers, and pulse-like transactions” characteristics.

[SMM Shanghai Spot Copper] SHFE copper futures center shifted upward. Shanghai spot copper remained around 106,500 yuan/mt. End-user cargo pick-up speed slowed down. Some copper semis processing enterprises in east China planned to shut down furnaces and cut production due to the buildup of finished product inventories.

Copper prices experienced wild swings this week, with a cumulative decline of over 400 yuan/mt. During the period, news of delayed production resumptions at an Indonesian copper mine triggered a single-day surge of 1,630 yuan/mt, which quickly pulled back. The wild swings dominated overall sentiment across the secondary copper industry chain

[SMM Copper News] As copper prices stopped falling and moved higher recently, Shanghai spot copper remained at a discount. Intraday SHFE copper futures warrants were observed to increase by 798 mt to 100,664 mt, with the increase mainly in Shanghai (449 mt) and Jiangsu (500 mt), while Guangdong decreased by 151 mt.