Copper Scrap Market Price Highly Levels Off Due to Tight Supply

Copper scrap market price stayed flat around Tokyo on Thursday. The scrap dealers were afraid whether offshore copper market prices keep the present uptrend when most copper mines in Chile restarted operations. The dealers expectation was weak for the upsurge of copper scrap market price though Nippon Mining & Metal’s copper ingot selling price, the market indicator, was possible to be raised by around 10,000 yen from present 700,000 yen per tonne, calculated from the offshore copper prices on Wednesday. Meanwhile, the scrap generation maintains very low and some dealers pay high price to secure the scrap procurement volume.

The scrap dealers around Tokyo were willing to purchase no.1 copper wire scrap at around 605-615 yen per kilogram on Wednesday. However, in fact, some dealers with few inventories paid as high as 625 yen. The purchasing price for middle-grade copper scrap was 530-545 yen while some dealers paid as high as 550 yen. Several dealers are suffered from few inventories in response to the stable demand from brass bar makers.

Around Osaka, the copper scrap market price was around 610-615 yen per kg while some dealers with low inventory paid above 620 yen. The scrap dealers’ purchasing price is gradually surging.