Copper market’s biggest whale fuels speculation of a major shift
The world’s single biggest buyer of copper, State Grid Corp. of China, has slowed its purchases of copper wire this year.
The premium for aluminum shipments to Japanese buyers for October to December was set at $99 a tonne, down 33% from the previous quarter, reflecting weak demand and ample inventories, five sources directly involved in the pricing talks said.
The figure is lower than the $148 per tonne paid in the July-September quarter and marks a fourth consecutive quarterly drop. The premium is below $100 for the first time since the October-December quarter of 2020.
It is also lower than producers’ initial offers of $115-$133.
Japan is Asia’s biggest importer of the light metal and the premiums for primary metal shipments it agrees to pay each quarter over the benchmark London Metal Exchange (LME) cash price set the benchmark for the region.
The latest quarterly pricing negotiations began in late August between Japanese buyers and global suppliers, including Rio Tinto Ltd and South32 Ltd.
The lower premium reflected a series of delays in the recovery of automobile manufacturing because of a global shortage of semiconductors.
“With repeated delays in the production recovery by automakers and increasing stockpiles, buyers have sought lower premium levels than our initial offer,” a source at a producer said.
Higher local inventories also underline an oversupply situation and have fuelled concerns of a global economic slowdown, a source at an end-user said.
Aluminum stocks at three major Japanese ports rose 9.8% to 399,800 tonnes at the end of August from 364,000 tonnes at the end of July, according to Marubeni Corp. That was the highest since November 2015.
“Spot deals that have been done at below $100 a tonne in recent weeks also forced the producers to make a compromise,” a source at a trader said.
The sources, who were directly involved in pricing talks, declined to be identified because of the sensitivity of the discussions.
(By Yuka Obayashi; Editing by Edmund Klamann and Christian Schmollinger)
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