The weekly spreads for US domestic copper scrap grades widened by roughly a penny as the Comex market surged.
The Comex spot market closed at $2.913/lb on Tuesday, up from $2.7875/lb on July 7, pushing past its previous high of $2.87/lb in early January.
The spread for US bare bright copper scrap (barley) delivered US consumer, was weaker by 0.8¢/lb at 9.1¢/lb, under the July Comex contract on Tuesday, while the weekly Davis Index for the grade increased by 11.4¢/lb to $2.819/lb delivered US consumer.
The spread for #1 copper (berry/candy) widened by 0.2¢/lb to 15.2¢/lb under the July Comex contract, with the weekly index for the grade at $2.756/lb, better by 12¢/lb.
The spread for #2 copper chops was worse at 27¢/lb, down by 1.7¢/lb under the July Comex contract, while the index for the grade increased by 11¢/lb to $2.64/lb.
Demand is still soft, and with supply increasing, the strength in transactional prices is a direct result of the more robust Comex market.
More interest from China has left the domestic market concerned and not pushing harder on the spreads on the fear of shutting down scrap flows and running out of material for what little demand exists in the market.