Japan Official Copper Price Hits Yearly Highest at 970,000 Yen/t

Nippon Mining & Metals announced on Friday the firm revised up the official copper ingot price by 30,000 yen to 970,000 yen per tonne for domestic shipment in June. The latest price hit the highest since 980,000 yen on 22 October, 2007. The monthly average would be 930,400 yen without any more revision within June.The official price reflected the upsurge of overseas copper market and the weaker yen exchange rate against US dollar.The 3-month future price at London Metal Exchange was US$ 8,360 per tonne in afternoon trading on 19 June, which hit the highest since mid May due to the strike emergence at Southern Peru Copper of Peru. LME copper price soared by more than US$ 270 compared with the previous revision of Japanese official ingot price.The telegraphic transfer selling rate was 109.03 yen per US dollar on 20 June. Japanese yen became the weakest against US dollar since mid January.