The trade figures out from China this week also indicated that Chinese nonferrous metal imports are on
the rise. Fastmarkets reports that Chinese copper imports in January rose 2.9% for the month to 350,958
tons while aluminum imports increased 4.4% to 69,024 tons. While China is on holiday for the Lunar New
Year celebrations next week, Macquarie reports that their January China Copper Survey shows copper
industry sentiment is “…the strongest we have seen in China since the survey began, which suggests
orders could improve strongly after Chinese New Year” as stocks at the smelters are 50% less than
normal and copper fabricators are planning to increase inventories.
Copper prices at the London Metal Exchange ranged mostly between $8,250-$8,300/mt this week and
LME 3-mo. copper reportedly last traded at $8,276.50/mt today, a gain of $66.50/ton on the day. Since
the end of 2012, LME official 3-mo. copper prices were up 4% as of this morning, outperforming lead
(+3%) and aluminum (+2%) gains, but trailing zinc and tin, which are both up around 6% so far this year.
After finishing 2012 with an official 3-mo. asking price of $17,160/mt, LME 3-mo. nickel prices have
posted the largest gain among the nonferrous metals so far in 2013, rising 7% year-to-date to reach
$18,300/mt as of this morning:
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