Intraday, the SHFE copper 2603 contract fell below the 100,000-yuan mark for the second time after trading began. According to SMM, spot market activity today pulled back from March 9, when the contract first fell below 100,000 yuan, with overall trading sentiment remaining subdued on both buying and selling sides. On March 16, 2026, SMM's sentiment index for procurement in the Shanghai spot market was 2.53, while the sales sentiment index was 2.63, both down 0.29 from March 9. Historical data is available in the database. According to SMM, when copper prices fell below 100,000 yuan on March 9, some enterprises had restocking demand, which briefly boosted spot trade and brought it to a post-Chinese New Year trading high. But based on market feedback today, the contract rollover in futures may have had an impact. With copper prices again trading below the 100,000-yuan threshold, downstream enterprises showed signs of weaker acceptance.

》Check SMM metal quotes, data, and market analysis 》Subscribe to view historical price trends of SMM metal spot cargo >During the week, the supply of imported copper continued to replenish, with various sources of goods circulating in the Shanghai spot market. However, the mainstream supply was tight due to trade circulation needs, leading to a significant price spread between different brands of spot copper transactions during the week. Nevertheless, both inventory and futures warrants continued to show destocking. The downstream sector's ability to purchase at low premiums was moderate, which could also be verified by the recent operation rates of copper semis. Looking ahead to next week, as the contract rollover of SHFE copper 2506 approaches, there is still a gap between the current open interest and the existing warrants. Moreover, with a BACK price spread between futures contracts of only 100 yuan/mt and smelters having export intentions, the deliverable supply that can be organized in the market next week will be limited. Be cautious of the risk of the price spread between futures contracts widening again. 》Check SMM metal industry chain database

[Ningbo Zinc: Limited Shipments in Ningbo, Downstream Restocking Based on Immediate Needs] The transaction prices for mainstream brand 0# zinc in the Ningbo market ranged from approximately 22,835 to 23,030 yuan/mt. The regular brands in Ningbo rolled over to the July 2025 (2506) contract, with a premium of 460 yuan/mt against the contract, and were on par with spot cargo in Shanghai. The Ningbo region has started quoting prices against the July 2025 (2506) contract...

SMM Commentary: "Reciprocal Tariffs" Exceed Expectations, Driving Down Copper Prices; Can Continued Inventory Decline Bring a Turnaround to the Copper Market? On April 2, Trump announced "reciprocal tariffs," the scale of which exceeded market expectations, intensifying concerns over the risk of "stagflation" in the US economy and the escalation of global trade conflicts. This has cast a shadow over the demand prospects for non-ferrous metals such as copper. On April 3, copper futures across the three major exchanges all declined. As of 15:08 on April 3, LME copper fell by 2.25% to $9,502.5/mt, with its weekly decline temporarily at 2.98%; SHFE copper dropped by 1.28% to 78,860 yuan/mt.

During the Dragon Boat Festival holiday, due to US non-farm payrolls far exceeding expectations, the seasonally-adjusted non-farm payrolls for May were 272,000, much higher than the previous value of 165,000 and the expected value of 185,000.