Group 1 - Pan-Pacific Copper (PPC) proposed a record-high copper premium of $330 per ton for domestic customers in Japan for 2026, more than three times the $88 premium in 2025, reflecting supply-demand fundamentals [2] - The current price increase is attributed to a significant decline in processing and refining fees (TC/RC), which has raised raw material procurement costs, prompting PPC to pass these costs onto customers [2] - Concerns about potential U.S. tariffs on copper ingots later this year have tightened Asian supply, impacting the market dynamics [2] Group 2 - China's copper industry faces three major challenges: increasing reliance on foreign upstream resources, overcapacity in the midstream processing sector, and suppressed downstream demand due to high copper prices [3] - Shanghai Nonferrous Metals Network (SMM) collaborated with copper industry enterprises to compile a bilingual distribution map of the Chinese copper industry chain for 2026 [3]