The weekly spreads for US domestic copper scrap trended sideways on Tuesday following fluctuations in Comex copper prices and stable demand.
Comex copper closed today at $4.29/lb up by 5¢/lb from Jun 22. Comex had slipped by 10¢/lb last week amid uncertainty from China’s announcement to sell around 20,000mt of copper reserves in its first round of auctions and a strengthening US dollar.
Still, domestic copper spreads trended flat on divergent cues. An announcement on the US infrastructure deal finally moving ahead has boosted sentiment on demand. However, a new COVID-19 variant’s spread in Australia has resulted in a fresh round of lockdowns in that country as well as other nations causing some uncertainty.
The Davis Index spread for #1 copper wire & tube trended flat, widening by 0.1¢/lb to 23.5¢/lb under the June Comex contract, with the grade’s weekly transaction price rising by 4¢/lb to $4.05/lb delivered.
Spreads for US bare bright copper scrap (barley) widened by 0.2¢/lb to 13.7¢/lb under the June Comex contract on Tuesday, with its transaction price increasing by 5¢/lb to $4.15/lb delivered US consumer.
For #2 light copper too, the spread widened by 0.2¢/lb to 62.2¢/lb under the June Comex contract while the transaction price for #2 light climbed by 5¢/lb to $3.67/lb delivered US consumer.
Demand remains strong in the domestic copper market, with mills looking for volumes to fill their inventories for July and August. Scrap flows remain healthy amid strong sales this week. That said, some of the volumes from deals done in the week of Jun 22 are still finding their way to mills amid high freight prices and an acute shortage of trucks.