Japan Official Copper Price Continues to Decline

Nippon Mining & Metals announced on Tuesday the firm decreased official copper ingot price by 20,000 yen to 840,000 yen per tonne for domestic shipment in June. The firm revised down the price 5 times since June 1 and the price decreased by as much as 150,000 yen within only 20 days from 990,000 yen at the end of May. The latest price is at the lowest level since April 25, 2006. The monthly averaged price became to 879,500 yen.Nippon Mining & Metals revised down the price due to the sharp decline of overseas copper markets. Copper settlement price at London Metal Exchange plunged from US$ 7,042 per tonne on Friday to US$ 6,891 on Monday with speculative selling under credit squeeze measures by the People’s Bank of China and stronger foreign exchange rate of US dollar. Copper spot price at Commodity Exchange of New York also plunged from US 338.65 cents per pound on Friday to US 325.25 cents on Monday, though copper prices sharply rebounded at both LME and COMEX toward the end of last week.