The weekly spreads for US domestic copper widened due to muted demand and a stronger Comex copper market.
The Comex copper spot market soared by 18¢/lb from last week to settle at $4.22/lb today. The market has risen by 22¢/lb from $4.03/lb at the beginning of April on strong long-term fundamentals and a softening US dollar. Still, copper scrap spreads weakened on the back of high freight costs and weak market demand.
The Davis Index spread for US bare bright copper scrap (barley) widened by 1.6¢/lb to 16.3¢/lb under the April Comex contract on Tuesday, with the transaction price for this grade soaring by 16.2¢/lb to $4.06/lb delivered US consumer.
The spread for #1 copper wire & tube widened by 1.5¢/lb to 25.1¢/lb under the April Comex contract, with its weekly transaction price increasing by 16.4¢/lb to $3.97/lb delivered.
The spread for #2 light copper widened by 2.4¢/lb to 53.6¢/lb under the April Comex contract while the transaction price for #2 light rose by 15¢/lb to $3.68/lb delivered US consumer.
Copper scrap spreads widened this week following sluggish trading in the domestic market. Buyers plan to remain out of the market until May, with most citing enough inventory to last them through the end of the month. High freight costs are also impacting the domestic and export copper scrap market. Higher prices due to the strong Comex and LME copper markets is also keeping buyers away this week.