Report Title - Copper Weekly Report: Resurgence of Disturbances at the Mine End, Copper Prices Prone to Rise and Hard to Fall [1] Report Date - September 29, 2025 [1] Report Industry Investment Rating - Not provided Core Viewpoint of the Report - The accident at the Grasberg mine in Indonesia has deepened the short - term expectation of copper mine tightness, and the copper price has broken through and risen sharply. The long - term central price of copper will continue to rise. Although the impact of the accident has been digested in the short term and the price has fallen due to profit - taking, the impact on copper supply, demand, and price is likely to be long - term. Copper prices are likely to rise easily and fall hard, and may continue to fluctuate at a high level in the short term [7] Summary by Directory 1. Main Viewpoints and Strategies - Supply Side: The Freeport Indonesia mine has suspended production due to a mudslide accident, and the copper production and sales of the Grasberg mine in Q4 2025 are expected to decline significantly. As of September 26, the spot rough smelting fee for copper concentrate was - $40.35/ton, remaining at a historical low. The domestic copper concentrate port inventory was 478,000 tons, a week - on - week decrease of 18.01%, still at a low level over the years. In August, China's electrolytic copper production was 1.1715 million tons, a month - on - month decrease of 0.24% and a year - on - year increase of 15.59%. The growth rate of domestic refined copper production remained stable. In September, smelters entered the peak of shutdown and maintenance, and combined with the impact of policies on anode copper supply, electrolytic copper production is expected to decrease [5][31] - Demand Side: Pre - holiday stocking has slightly increased the operating rate. As of September 26, the weekly operating rate of major domestic refined copper rod enterprises rose to 73.78%, a week - on - week increase of 3.28 percentage points and a year - on - year decrease of 11.14 percentage points. This week, enterprises mainly stocked up before the holiday, driving the overall operating rate to recover. In terms of actual consumption, although the copper price dropped slightly at the beginning of the week, downstream buyers mostly adopted a wait - and - see attitude. The sudden surge in copper price at the end of the week further suppressed the downstream's willingness to pick up goods, and the main orders were still existing orders [5][35] - Inventory: Domestic inventory has changed from an increase to a decrease. As of September 26, the copper inventory on the Shanghai Futures Exchange was 98,761 tons, a week - on - week decrease of 6.65%. As of September 25, the domestic social copper inventory was 140,100 tons, a week - on - week decrease of 5.91%. As the National Day holiday approached, downstream inventory replenishment increased, leading to a decline in inventory. As of September 26, the LME copper inventory was 144,400 tons, a week - on - week decrease of 2.20%, and the LME copper continued to reduce inventory. The COMEX copper inventory was 32,230 short tons, a week - on - week increase of 1.74%, with a slight increase in inventory [6][43] - Strategy Suggestion: The Grasberg mine in Indonesia will take until 2027 to resume pre - accident production levels, and the 2026 output may be about 35% (about 270,000 tons) lower than previously estimated. The accident has deepened the short - term expectation of copper mine tightness, and the copper price has broken through and risen sharply. The long - term central price of copper will continue to rise. In the domestic market, affected by high copper prices, market consumption has weakened, and some downstream buyers' sentiment of pricing and taking goods has become more cautious. The pre - holiday stocking situation was lower than expected. As the end of the month and the National Day holiday approached, some holders showed a willingness to sell at low prices to recover funds before the holiday, resulting in an expansion of the spot discount. Currently, domestic smelters are in a high - maintenance period, the market arrivals are average, and the inventory has decreased slightly, but there are still imports of copper, and the supply - side pressure is not obvious. China's economic data in August showed a weakening trend month - on - month, and the consumption side in Q4 faces greater pressure. It is expected that China may introduce economic support policies in Q4. Overall, the impact of the Grasberg shutdown in Indonesia has been digested in the short term, and the price has fallen due to profit - taking, but the impact on copper supply, demand, and price may be long - term. Copper prices are likely to rise easily and fall hard and may continue to fluctuate at a high level in the short term [7] 2. Macro and Industry News - Macro Data Overview: In September, the LPR quotation remained unchanged, with the 5 - year LPR at 3.5% and the 1 - year LPR at 3%. The central bank stated that it would implement a moderately loose monetary policy. The US September Markit manufacturing and services PMI declined. The eurozone September manufacturing PMI unexpectedly fell into the contraction range, while the services and composite PMI expanded. The US Q2 GDP growth rate was revised up to 3.8%, a two - year high, but inflation pressure was more stubborn. The US August core PCE price index increased by 0.2% month - on - month, in line with expectations [15] - Industry News Overview: The El Teniente copper mine in Chile is recovering slowly after the accident, and the annual copper production will be lower than expected. China's August scrap copper imports decreased by 5.64% month - on - month. After the accident at the Grasberg copper mine, Freeport's metal production will face significant losses. The ICSG reported a global copper market surplus of 101,000 tons from January to July. The Antamina copper mine in Peru expects its 2026 copper production to increase to 450,000 tons [17] 3. Spot - Futures Market and Positioning - Premium and Discount: The high copper price has weakened downstream stocking sentiment. Near the holiday, the downstream stocking pace was slow, and spot transactions remained around flat water. After the sharp rise in copper price, Shanghai copper spot transactions were weak, with transactions around a small discount. The LME copper 0 - 3 discount narrowed slightly, the New York - London copper spread increased slightly, and the refined - scrap copper spread widened [20] - Domestic and Foreign Positions: As of September 26, the Shanghai copper futures position was 229,050 lots, a week - on - week increase of 32.38%. The average daily trading volume of Shanghai copper this week was 137,568.8 lots, a week - on - week increase of 87.48%. Both the position and trading volume of Shanghai copper increased significantly. As of September 19, the net long position of LME copper investment companies and credit institutions was 12,188.6 lots, a week - on - week decrease of 36.00%. As of September 23, the net long position of COMEX copper asset management institutions was 43,389 lots, a week - on - week increase of 3.07% [24] 4. Fundamental Data - Supply Side: The Freeport Indonesia mine has suspended production due to a mudslide accident, and the copper production and sales of the Grasberg mine in Q4 2025 are expected to decline significantly. As of September 26, the copper concentrate spot rough smelting fee was - $40.35/ton, remaining at a historical low. The domestic copper concentrate port inventory was 478,000 tons, a week - on - week decrease of 18.01%, still at a low level over the years. In August, China's electrolytic copper production was 1.1715 million tons, a month - on - month decrease of 0.24% and a year - on - year increase of 15.59%. The growth rate of domestic refined copper production remained stable. In September, smelters entered the peak of shutdown and maintenance, and combined with the impact of policies on anode copper supply, electrolytic copper production is expected to decrease [31] - Downstream Operating Rate: As of September 26, the weekly operating rate of major domestic refined copper rod enterprises rose to 73.78%, a week - on - week increase of 3.28 percentage points and a year - on - year decrease of 11.14 percentage points. Last week, enterprises mainly stocked up before the holiday, driving the overall operating rate to recover. In terms of actual consumption, although the copper price dropped slightly at the beginning of the week, downstream buyers mostly adopted a wait - and - see attitude. The sudden surge in copper price at the end of the week further suppressed the downstream's willingness to pick up goods, and the main orders were still existing orders. In August, the operating rates of copper plates, strips, tubes, and foils were 65.87%, 65.70%, and 78.44% respectively. The increase in copper price has reduced the purchasing willingness of downstream manufacturing enterprises, and the growth of downstream orders was lower than expected. The operating rate of copper tubes decreased due to US tariffs, while the operating rate of copper foils increased due to strong downstream demand for lithium - ion copper foils [35] - Import and Export: As of September 26, the Shanghai - London ratio of electrolytic copper was 8.03, and the ratio remained stable this week. The negative value of copper spot import profit and loss widened slightly. In August, China's refined copper import volume was 263,000 tons, a year - on - year increase of 5.37%. The scrap copper import volume in August was 179,400 tons, a year - on - year increase of 5.93%. The imports of refined copper and scrap copper increased steadily. In August, China's imports of unwrought copper and copper products were 425,100 tons, a year - on - year increase of 1.22% [39] - Inventory: As of September 26, the copper inventory on the Shanghai Futures Exchange was 98,761 tons, a week - on - week decrease of 6.65%. As of September 25, the domestic social copper inventory was 140,100 tons, a week - on - week decrease of 5.91%. As the National Day holiday approached, downstream inventory replenishment increased, leading to a decline in inventory. As of September 26, the LME copper inventory was 144,400 tons, a week - on - week decrease of 2.20%, and the LME copper continued to reduce inventory. The COMEX copper inventory was 32,230 short tons, a week - on - week increase of 1.74%, with a slight increase in inventory [6][43]
铜周报：矿端扰动再起，铜价易涨难跌-20250929
Chang Jiang Qi Huo·2025-09-29 04:49