China stainless steel mogul fights to avoid a second collapse
A debt crisis is threatening the future of one of the world’s top stainless steel producers, Jiangsu Delong Nickel Industry.
Copper prices fell on Tuesday as investors are waiting for details later this week of a large US infrastructure bill that could boost metals demand.
Copper for delivery in May was down 1.47% by midday, with futures at $3.97 per pound ($8,734 a tonne) on the Comex market in New York.
Click here for an interactive chart of copper prices
LME copper was been trading in range-bound for most of March, easing 2% so far this month, as rising exchange inventories and falling premiums in China pressured a price rally that pushed prices to near a record high in February.
China’s imports of copper scrap surged over the first two months of 2021, jumping by 60% year-on-year to 191,720 tonnes.
“A new scrap surge is imminent, given London Metal Exchange copper has more than doubled in price since last March’s covid-19 low point of $4,371 per tonne,” Reuters columnist Andy Home wrote.
For analysts such as Morgan Stanley this is a reason for caution about copper’s prospects over the course of 2021. The bank has a fourth-quarter forecast of $8,488 per tonne, below the current LME price of $8,780.
Citi, which is calling for a “copper supercycle”, is not convinced scrap availability can expand enough to fill its forecast 500,000-tonne supply deficit this year.
(With files from Reuters)
