Japan Official Copper Price Rebounds to 650,000y/t

Nippon Mining & Metals announced on Wednesday it raised the official copper ingot price by 30,000 yen to 650,000 yen per tonne for domestic shipment in February. The monthly averaged price is 640,500 yen per tonne. The price rebounded to 650,000 yen for the first time since February 3 and to the level as high as early March in 1980.Copper settlement price at London Metal Exchange (LME) rebounded from US$ 4,804 per tonne on last Thursday to US$ 4,983 on Tuesday. It reached near US$ 5,000 with short covering by speculative funds. The telegraphic transfer selling (TTS) rate was 119.78 yen per one US dollar on Wednesday. The exchange rate of yen weakened against US dollar for 4 straight business days and became as cheap as 2 weeks ago. Japanese official copper price was revised up with the LME copper price recovery and the weaker exchange rate of yen.The break even point of copper ingot with imported ore is estimated to be more than 639,000 yen per tonne including 43,000 yen of import cost and premium, based on LME copper settlement price on Tuesday. Copper price continued to increase in curb dealing on the same day to the level of US$ 5,048 in LME copper spot price. The break even point reaches over 647,500 yen calculated by the curb dealing price. Nippon Mining & Metals seemed to raise the official copper price by 30,000 yen with the surging curb dealing price, which impacts on LME copper price on Wednesday.