Japan Official Copper Price Drops to 630,000 Yen/t

Nippon Mining & Smelting announced on Wednesday the firm revised down the official copper ingot price by 40,000 yen to 630,000 yen per tonne for domestic shipment in October. The firm previously revised down the price by 60,000 yen only 2 business days ago. The official price plunged by total 100,000 yen or 14% during 6 business days in October and by total 150,000 yen or 19.2% from the end of September. The latest ingot price hit the second lowest after 620,000 yen on 9 March, 2006. The monthly average would be 647,200 yen without any more revision within October.

Overseas copper markets, the indicator, sharply declined. On 6 October, 3-month future price at London Metal Exchange was US$ 5,500 per tonne and spot price at New York Commodity Exchange was US 250.40 cents per pound, both of which hit the bottom since February 2007. In the exchange market, yen sharply became strong against US dollar. The telegraphic transfer selling rate was 102.61 yen per US dollar on 8 October. Yen became the second strongest after 102.16 yen on 15 April, 2008.

Copper scrap market price followed the continuous decline of ingot price on 8 October. The market price of no.1 copper wire scrap declined to around 570 yen per kilogram at the trading price among dealers. The price became below 600 yen per kilogram for the first time since March 2006, which plunged by about 90 yen within October and by 325 yen or 36% from the yearly peak 900 yen in early July.