Copper and zinc stocks in the Shanghai-bonded zone went down amid opened arbitrage opportunities by the end of July, while nickel stocks edged up supported by stainless steel demand and a negative arbitrage kept aluminium stocks unchanged compared with last month.
Assessed range for copper stocks down Copper stocks in Shanghai-bonded warehouses stood at 475,000-491,000 tonnes on August 1, compared with 517,000-538,000 tonnes a month earlier, according to Metal Bulletin's latest assessment. Data from July 31 also shows a decrease of 42,000-47,000 tonnes over the past month. Market participants attributed the decline to the open import window for some time over the second half of July as well as slightly recovered buying appetites, supported by a healthy contango on the London Metal Exchange. Losses made when importing copper into China had narrowed to around $38 per tonne in mid-July from about $150 per tonne in mid-June, but then slightly widened to around $50.20 per tonne on August 1, according to Metal Bulletin's calculations. "The window was not fully open for all of the second half of July, it opened for some time during transaction hours, and some have taken the opportunity...