Copper stocks in Shanghai-bonded warehouses rose slightly in April compared with March, while muted trading activity last month pushed the bonded warrant premium for the red metal to a 13-month low.
Despite the slight increase, market participants expect copper inventories to decline in the coming weeks and months because the second quarter of the year is traditionally associated with high metal consumption. Cu stocks increase in April but participants expect inventories to decline in near term Zn inventories increase again amid high import losses, demand said to be weaker than expected Ni stocks dip on occasional opening of import window in Shanghai Al inventories tick downward amid 'regular fluctuations' Shanghai-bonded Cu stocks tick up in April but near-term downtrend expected Fastmarkets MB assessed Shanghai-bonded copper stocks at 572,000-576,000 tonnes on Monday May 6, marking an increase of 9,000 tonnes or 1.6% from the 563,000-567,000 tonnes recorded on March 25. The May 6 stock assessment also marks an increase of 16.1% from 480,000-509,000 tonnes on May 7, 2018.A closed import arbitrage between the London Metal Exchange and the Shanghai Futures Exchange deterred...