沪铜日报：宏观支撑铜价上行-20260114

Group 1: Investment Rating - No information about the industry investment rating is provided in the report. Group 2: Core Viewpoints - The macro - environment supports the upward movement of copper prices. The US inflation data in December 2026 increased the market's expectation of an interest rate cut in April. The supply side has issues such as unprofitable long - term contracts for smelters and potential production decline in January. The demand side has strong terminal demand but a cautious copper products sector, and there is a large inventory build - up. Concerns about US tariffs and inventory hoarding support the copper price [1]. Group 3: Summary by Directory 1. Market Analysis - The Shanghai copper futures opened higher and rose during the day. The US December inflation data showed that overall CPI was up 2.7% year - on - year, core CPI was up 2.6% year - on - year, both were flat with November and lower than market expectations. After seasonal adjustment, CPI was up 0.3% month - on - month as expected, and core CPI was up 0.2% month - on - month, lower than expected. In 2026, copper smelters can't profit from long - term contracts, and the spot market is weakly stable. By - products like sulfuric acid and gold are the main profit points. The refined - scrap copper price difference is still abnormal, but weak downstream demand restricts scrap copper trading. Five smelters plan to stop production in January, and one new smelter's start - up is postponed. Mining giants Rio Tinto and Glencore restarted merger negotiations, and if the deal is completed, they may control 15% of the global copper supply. Terminal demand is growing strongly, but the copper products sector is cautious, and there is a large inventory build - up. The market is worried about the US proposing refined copper tariffs, which supports copper prices [1]. 2. Futures and Spot Market Conditions - Futures: Shanghai copper opened higher and rose during the day. Spot: The spot premium in East China is 150 yuan/ton, and in South China is 30 yuan/ton. On January 13, 2026, the LME official price was 13310 US dollars/ton, and the spot premium was +75 US dollars/ton [3]. 3. Supply Side - As of January 12, the spot rough smelting fee (TC) was - 45.1 US dollars/dry ton, and the spot refining fee (RC) was - 4.6 US cents/pound [5]. 4. Fundamental Tracking - Inventory - SHFE copper inventory is 149,300 tons, an increase of 27,212 tons from the previous period. As of January 12, the copper inventory in the Shanghai Free Trade Zone is 111,000 tons, an increase of 9,200 tons from the previous period. LME copper inventory is 141,600 tons, an increase of 75 tons from the previous period. COMEX copper inventory is 529,500 short tons, an increase of 9,056 short tons from the previous period [8].