The Shanghai copper premium rose from its lowest in more than a year because of a narrowing negative import arbitrage for bringing units into China that made buying more attractive.
The nearby LME forward curve switched to a solid contango as well, firming up sellers' positions globally. Shanghai cif premium rises by $3 per tonne from last Monday; bonded warehouse premium up by $5 LME cash/three-month spread trades in $19-20 per tonne contango. Scrap tightness bolsters sell side in United StatesNarrowing import arb loss boosts Shanghai premiumsThe copper cathode premium in Shanghai rose thanks to a narrower import arbitrage loss and a persistent contango in LME copper's forward curve. Fastmarkets assessed the Shanghai cif copper premium at $58-75 per tonne on January 8, an increase of $3 per tonne from the previous week's $55-72 per tonne.Fastmarkets' Shanghai in-warehouse copper premium also rose by $5 to $63-80 per tonne from last week.Importers stood to lose $20.32 for each tonne of copper brought into China on...